pestilence & random photos

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like many of you, i am knee deep in holiday madness. to make things more interesting, the entire belfry has been hit with a pestilence of moderate proportions. i am not even going to tell you how i had initially spelled proportions; thank you spell-check!

fortunately we have enough food to last a few days longer, & plenty of holiday crafts & movies to entertain us. 

now that i have bored you with talk of pestilence, i shall bore you further with random photos. think of it as my gift to you.

the above is a letter of the week card that i made for elfling. i cropped an image i found by googling free vintage christmas, then added the text.

this is elfling's transferring/sorting bowl for the week (see here for an explanation) of christmas. i have been buying different colors & sizes of pom poms when i find them. these were all purchased at the japanese $2 store.

elfling made his first winter solstice luminary!

to make sure you know you have come to the correct blog, i have included a poorly lit photo, of a non-ironed sewing project. see? you know for certain whose blog this is now. this is elfling's cape, which i made for xmas. i used two beloved receiving blankets (the other side is clouds), & a velcro closure. basically it is a giant bib that is to be worn backwards. i did photograph the process, so perhaps i shall post a tutorial. stop laughing.

& finally my mother's yule cake. for some reason everyone proclaimed this my best attempt yet. i have no idea what i did differently, but it was insanely delicious.

now that i have bored you completely, i shall be off.

have a happy christmas (happy tuesday, to those of you not of a christmasy persuasion), do!

~peace.

ps :: yes, i did notice that this was a mostly elfling-centered post. i do still have thehobbit, it is just that he's dreadfully dull these days ;)

montessori - spooooooky

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elfling has enjoyed most of the montessori activities we have tried. by far, his most favorite is the transferring activity. it is simple: using chopsticks or tongs, the toddler moves little objects from one container, to another. quietly! for a really long time!

i tried a few set-ups (tray, bin, basket) before stumbling on the one that worked best: the oblong bucket & felt baskets! all of them were found at target, in the little $1-$2 section near the front.

to keep elfling from growing bored, i have been rotating the items. currently we are going with a hallowe'en theme! the felt basket on the left holds everything for the transferring activity, leaving the one on the right free for whatever. as you can see whatever at the moment is stamping.

we have a bin filled with stamps & ink, but he is too easily overwhelmed, so we only offer a few stamps & one ink pad at a time. the silver ink shows up fabulously on black paper, by the way.

in the transferring basket are: two small bowls, child-sized chopsticks with a trainer clip, skull rings, & a spider top. he calls the latter a spider dreidel, which i find hilarious.

all of the items go into one of the little bowls, & his job is to move them to the empty bowl. you can make this more advanced by the amount of items, or by offering different ones or colors. the rings work well for beginners. these were left from a hallowe'en party we'd had many years back.

not content to be spun, the wee spider dreidel enjoys being transferred too.

i was thrilled to find this bucket the other day. it is just big enough for the two felt baskets, & the handles make it easy for elfling to carry. also, i love metal buckets, so may have possibly perhaps bought more than one.

if you are going to try this activity with your wee ones, now is the perfect time to begin your search for items. the hallowe'en stuff will be on clearance soon, & the christmas stuff is filling the shelves. party stores are good sources for multiples of tinies as well. anything that is small, & not too slippery would work. i just bought some felt buttons for future themes.

a lot of people use the large tweezers for this. i think i have mentioned elfling's love of poking things, which is why i opted for mini chopsticks. ours were purchased, when thehobbit was much younger, from the japanese store. ditto the trainer clips.

if money is tight right now, you can still do this activity. you need not have fancy a set-up, i only do so because my happy place is a house in which all clutter is stored in containers. as for items: cotton balls, a felted wool sweater cut into small shapes, leaves, spiral pasta (uncooked) - you get the idea.

spooooooky!

~peace.

montessori - the second

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another, & so soon? oh dearest kat, you did say you would not become a montessori blogger! easy now tiger, i photographed both activities on the same quite overcast, sorry for the dark photos day, so am merely posting the second before i forget the photos exist. see? i would not lie to you.

this installment: sorting! elfling thinks this activity is the most fun ever. he will play & play & play with his sorting kit for toddler-eons. i did learn early on that i have to watch for signs that his attention is waning; if i let him end this activity on his own, he will start tossing the pieces into their baskets, which quickly leads to throwing them. occasionally at things. more specifically, brother-type-things.

according to the books i've been reading (a post for another day), they can sort bits by: color, size, shape, & so on. i wanted to test the activity before spending money, so just pulled wooden things from my shop's supply bins. now that i know he loves sorting, i am on the hunt for the perfect objects & containers.

you set out a few small containers, (you'll need one for each kind of object), & one larger, filled with the assorted bits. to show elfling how to play, i placed one different item in each basket. it did not take long at all for him to catch on. by the way, elfling calls this activity same-same. i took his cue, & began asking same-same? when he'd put a bit in the wrong basket. if he says it is the same, i don't correct him. i just say ok. he usually sees his mistake later.

once all the bits are sorted, elfling pours them back into the larger container, & starts again. he keeps at this until an object gets tossed - which is when i tell him it is time for clean-up. without (yet) making a fuss, he: stacks the baskets, places the stack in the bigger basket, puts the sorting bits into the top of the stack, shuts the lid, & slides it back on its shelf. all on his own! ok, i do help with the latch, but honestly, that's the extent of my aid.

this is not unique to my toddler. in fact, i did not fully believe it would work beyond a few oh this is interesting times. but it does work! the more i ask him to help me with things, & the more jobs that are specifically his to do, the happier, & calmer he seems. too bad it doesn't work with teenagers.

a few notes on this activity:

* i use smallish objects, because 1) he is not known to put things in his mouth, & b) this is not an activity he's left alone to do; someone is always in the room with him. opt for larger bits if this is not the case with your toddler.

* objects for sorting: blocks, wooden shapes, pom-poms, acorns, smooth stones or shells, & so on. decide how you want to sort, consider the ability & age of your toddler, & pick what you like. i only went with all wood, because it's what i had on hand.

* if you decide to use small baskets for your sorting bins, i recommend sturdy ones. the ones we are temporarily using are from my kitchen (small ceramic tart pans sit in them, when serving), & not meant to take the wear & tear of a 2 year-old.

* there are a lot of pieces to this activity, so make sure your box/basket/bag closes securely. the cute basket you see in the photos used to hold a small ceramic picnic set. i like it for this kit, because it's lightweight, large enough hold everything, has a latch & handle, & can double as the larger container.

*enjoy!

~peace.

montessori - part one

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back when thehobbit was a dinky guy, i stumbled upon montessori education. i looked into it, but didn't implement anything, because i had shortly after stumbled upon waldorf education. the latter suited thehobbit's personality & style of learning much better. i did send away for the fabulous catalog however, which i still get.

recently i realized that montessori would be a better fit for elfling, so began re-researching it. as elfling only just turned two, i needed more information on implementing montessori at home, as opposed to homeschooling montessori. one of my favorite blogs is written by a former montessori teacher, who now has a toddler of her own. i popped over there, & found some things to get us started.

i have no intention of becoming a montessori blogger, but i thought i would share, every so often, some things that we are trying out. this post is the first installment :)

a scissoring activity. don't freak on me, i bought toddler scissors. he can squeeze his finger between the blades as hard as he likes, but it won't cut him. i tried it. hurts like the dickens, but it left not even a scratch. like meg, i created a kit: a box, which holds strips of paper, & scissors.

elfling has yet to get the hang of the scissors, but that doesn't seem to keep him from having fun. i have to hold the paper for him, & he uses both hands to work the blades open & shut. he likes to have the cut bits fall into the lid of the box. when he's bored with the activity, he goes about taking each scrap of paper out of the lid, then tossing them all over the room. the tossing part he does have the hang of.

when even paper-tossing loses its allure, he puts his scissors & intact strips back in the box, shuts the lid, & hands it to me. i like to keep this kit on a higher shelf, so whilst i am putting the kit away, he walks around, picking up his tossings.

for those of you who don't believe little ones can pick up after themselves, take a look at meg's toddler in action, here. when i saw that, i knew montessori was just what elfling needed :)


~peace.