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Donna Marie
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Ok...I'll start a new thread! 
Montessori Materials...
What have you made that worked well...or didn't 
What are you making or what would you like to make?
I have a million ideas... My first project is making replacement parts for things that are broken or missing. Like my binomial/trinomial cube. I made one out of cm wood blocks and wood glue...it worked very well! There are a few cubes missing and I want to get it all back in working order. I thought the summertime would be a good time for this.
Another thing I am doing is frequenting the thrift store and garage sales with a discerning eye I am looking for pony beads (even if it is in something I can take apart) to repair my shoe lace squaring and cubing chains. I am even creating an everything tacklebox filled with things that can be used for language objects. There are "free" boxes filled with such objects at garage sales. I already have this list in my purse and on the inside of the tacklebox I want to use. I think I will hit up the old junk drawer at my mom's house first. It has some well kept treasures waiting to be discovered from my youth...
I am asking some family members to gather different things for me...like lids from milk containers to be used in games...and cereal box cardboard to back things with! (I did this before and the pieces for pink,blue,green phonics materials look great after much use and abuse!)
Does anyone else have the ENERGY to be creative or is it only a bug I contract this time of year I really am looking to build my materials at nominal cost. I make it look as nice as I can, be creative and settle the little voice in me to be a wise steward with our money...all at the same time...
God love you!
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 7dc
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God love you!
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 9dc!!
Finding Elegant Simplicity
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Mackfam
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Donna Marie wrote:
Does anyone else have the ENERGY to be creative or is it only a bug I contract this time of year I really am looking to build my materials at nominal cost. I make it look as nice as I can, be creative and settle the little voice in me to be a wise steward with our money...all at the same time...
God love you!
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 7dc |
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We're making a few things here. I had to, the budget just wasn't there to purchase everything I was hoping to add to the shelves. I'm making (ahem  dh is making a lot of these for me) these:
1. The not-so-pink tower (I hope)
2. The brown stairs
3. The red rods
4. Several trays to create from stuff I can find around the home and from thrift stores with buckles/latches/hooks requiring some fine motor practice
5. Sewing tray
6. Fabric sorting tray
7. Texture matching tray
8. Mystery match bag with a variety of small wooden objects that I know are in my attic somewhere????
9. Possibly the knobless cylinders - still thinking about this one, but dh insists he can do it.
That's all I can think of for now, or at least until I see your lists and can borrow some of your ideas. Can't wait to hear what you guys are doing. Oh - forgot to say - lots of baskets of goodness all over - bird basket, science basket, art basket - don't know if that counts as Make-at-home Montessori, but I'm still working on them.
BTW - thanks for your great post today Donna Marie. I loved it. I love frugal Montessori thinking, and I've spent my quota, so I'm back to thinking frugal thoughts - I have visions of thrift stores dancing in my head
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Jen Mackintosh
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Donna Marie
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Mackfam wrote:
lots of baskets of goodness all over - bird basket, science basket, art basket - don't know if that counts as Make-at-home Montessori, but I'm still working on them.
BTW - thanks for your great post today Donna Marie. I loved it. I love frugal Montessori thinking, and I've spent my quota, so I'm back to thinking frugal thoughts - I have visions of thrift stores dancing in my head |
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Thank you!! I found after trying to do this for the past 5 years that whenever I made anything myself...I LEARNED sooo much as well as the children. Sometimes I got additional insight into how brilliant the materials can be.
I LOVE baskets too. I always look for nice STURDY ones at garage sales. No sense in me picking up the pieces parts of the ones that couldn't make it past my 2yo trying to climb in it...
I find when I blog, I end up writing more about my ideal...please understand my real is as real as anyone else...crushed cheerios in the kitchen and all. I just set these goals for myself so I know where I am going and how to pick up when it doesn't seem to work right some days. Tweaking, tweaking...my dear great-aunt Sr. Agnes Joseph Peters called it...stick-tuitiveness. I have that gene to hang in there and try to transform our environment all the time! Basically, I bring out the uh-oh in my dc!
God love you,
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 7dc
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God love you!
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 9dc!!
Finding Elegant Simplicity
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SuzanneG
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Timely thread, Donna Marie. I spent about 45 minutes last night going through the "I can do it!" book by Labritta Gilbert. Have I mentioned enough how i LOVE this book? My dds are 6,5,3,1.
I made a list of 30 things that shouldn't be too hard or time consuming or expensive. I'm sure I won't get to all of them, but I chose 30 things to choose from! Some of these things I already have....they just need to be resurrected and reorganized.
Next to each "activity" I listed the things needed and the page number for making it.
Color Sticks
Magnetic Sort
Sandpapaper Sticks
Washer Bar
Pattern Cards
Sensory Bottles
Sorting Bar
Color Bottles
Magnetic Strip
Rings for counting
Puzzle Sticks
Pattern Sticks
Shape Stick
Feeling Sticks
Pegboard
PVC Pipe
Hardward Board
Insets & Templates
Weaving Board
Snapping Bar
Braiding Bar
Lacing Bar
Chip and Bean Bowl
Tee bowl
Hammer Board
Number Clips
Spindle Bar
Color Dropper
I also have told my neighbors things to save for me....certain sizes of containers,lids, etc. And, we're visiting my mom in MN soon who collects stuff like this for our "school" and then loves watching me go through all of it choosing what I want and brainstorming things to do with them.
We're really quite a pair!
I have a few things I asked dh to do while we're gone (things that involve tools ) and then I'll do a few each week when we return from MN. That is, if I can pry myself away from staring at my beautiful, purchased items that should arrive by then!
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Suzanne in ID
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Mom of 7 (Girls - 14, 12, 11, 9, 7 and Boys - 4, 1)
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lapazfarm
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Well, I've spent my entire budget, so it's back to making things for me.
The one thing I decided I would NOT spend money on was cards. I can make them myself with a little effort, so I will save some money that way.
Card sets I've designed myself and made so far:
Life cycles for chicken, frog, monarch, ladybug, ant, and bean plant
Living/non-living
continents
leaf shapes
My family (with pictures and names of family members)
Food groups
fur-bearing animals
In addition I've done a bunch of 3-part cards with definitions for ds's biology work. So far:
5 kingdoms, Archeae, bacteria types, protists, invertebrate phyla, porifera, cnidaria, echinodermata, mollusca, and platyhelminthes.
Card set's I've downloaded free and cut/laminated:
musical instruments
color mixing
solar system
moon phases
amphibians
animal habitats
common flowers
land/water forms
I've also made:
my own colored beads (10 of each, 1-10)
teens/tens board
several puzzles
shakers
lots of other stuff I can't think of right now.
Plus I have thrown together countless trays with activities such as sink/float, magnetic/not, and many sorting activities.
I really enjoy making things!
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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lapazfarm
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Next on my list is to find or build just the right box to fill with clay for a hammering activity (hammering golf tees into clay).
I just made the My Family cards yesterday and dd loves them.
Oh, I forgot! I made my own sand box for making letters in the sand, and I printed up my moveable alphabet. I really agonized over getting a wooden one, but then since I already have this one printed up I thought I'd better just stick with it. It works just fine!
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Angel
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lapazfarm wrote:
Next on my list is to find or build just the right box to fill with clay for a hammering activity (hammering golf tees into clay).
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I have the clay and the tees on my list of supplies to collect. I was thinking maybe it would just work on a tray, but a box would keep the clay from spreading, wouldn't it? I'm trying to set up a boy-friendly environment, with lots of hammering, bolts, etc.
Unfortunately I am still without a printer, haven't gotten a laminator, and have been up since 3 AM with a baby hyped on decongestants, so no energy for making things today... I do want to make some leaf cards for my botany cabinet, but that's about as far as I can think right now.
--Angela
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AndreaG
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This is a timely topic for me- I was just in the process of making my summer montessori project list. Here is what I have got so far:
1. Repair bead chains
2. Attempt to make colored bead squares and cubes
3. Make number bars (like the colored bead bars) that follow the RightStart math philosophy of having the groups of 5 one color
4. Sound boxes for each letter of the alphabet (I already have sound cards and objects to put in these)
4. Number boxes (I think I came up with this idea myself, similar to sound boxes only with a number on the top, the kids take a box and try to fill it with the number of objects)
5. 3-part card storage (probably a combination of Theresa's folders and zipper pockets and attempting to sew folders from the Montessori By Hand blog)
6. Continent boxes (Ideas Theresa?) I just saw on Playschool6 that Michaels Crafts is having a sale on photo boxes, I may try to get some white ones for this.
I might also make a plant and animal themed box.
7. Matching cards for Geo Cabinet- I need to print these from Montessori by Hand and laminate. I have been in Montessori Purgatory- my printer is broken and I am out of laminator puches.
8. Possibly finish my pin maps- or at least one of them! I am making one for each continent, but making all the label pins is taking forever.
9. As budget allows print and laminate from Montessori for Everyone, particularly the math equations, research cards, and plant and animal kingdom charts.
10. Presidents cards- I think I saw these at montessorimaterials.org so I just need to print and laminate.
11. Possibly finish my Timeline of Life materials- I think I might order the Timeline from Michael Olaf. I have been making classified cards for each time period using the free Albums from Miss Barbara's website:
http://missbarbara.net/greatlessons.html
12. Rock matching cards- I have googled pictures to match our rock collection, just need to make them into cards and print and laminate.
13. Life cycle cards- inspired by Theresa's list
14. Finish Animal Classification mat
15. Photo book for the baby with pictures of family
I love all the ideas here- I am off to read Donna Marie's blog post.
Oh materials I have made in the past:
Bead chains and colored bead bars(came out alright, a bit flimsy)
color box 3 with embroidery floss
rough and smooth boards (came out well)
sandpaper letters (pleased with these)
sandpaper number (actually I need to redo these, the cards I used were too thin)
All sorts of cards - these are so easy to print and laminate- most I print from online groups- my favorites ones that I created are Mysteries of the Rosary
Pink Reading materials
Golf Tee Clock
Math Charts, Strip Boards, equations, and booklets- I actually have a folder for each operation
fabric box
Animal classification and matching (I made matching cards for our rubber toob animals, then sorted them into tupperwares by (mammal, reptile, etc)
Constructive Triangles (from fun foam)
All the materials for Moira's Albums (well except the mass kit of course)
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Andrea
GrayFamilyCircus
Read Through the Catechism in a Year- For Moms!
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Meredith
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Mackfam wrote:
| lots of baskets of goodness all over - bird basket, science basket, art basket - don't know if that counts as Make-at-home Montessori, but I'm still working on them. |
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WE have these too, infact I've had a bird basket set up since before my home school days when I saw one pictured in Family Fun Magazine, it's one of our most *go-to* baskets in the house! Donna Marie, what is the bird chart you like to have on your wall, is is home made or a beautiful Usborne find?
DonnaMarie wrote:
I LEARNED sooo much as well as the children. Sometimes I got additional insight into how brilliant the materials can be.
I LOVE baskets too. I always look for nice STURDY ones at garage sales. No sense in me picking up the pieces parts of the ones that couldn't make it past my 2yo trying to climb in it... |
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Do we have the same 2 yo My dh keeps asking me why more baskets 
I too find that when I make it, or have the dc HELP me make materials there is a more energized learning right off the bat, I wish I could make so much more, but it just isn't going to happen for me this summer anyway...
{QUOTE=DonnaMarie]I find when I blog, I end up writing more about my ideal...please understand my real is as real as anyone else...crushed cheerios in the kitchen and all. I just set these goals for myself so I know where I am going and how to pick up when it doesn't seem to work right some days. Tweaking, tweaking...my dear great-aunt Sr. Agnes Joseph Peters called it...stick-tuitiveness. I have that gene to hang in there and try to transform our environment all the time! Basically, I bring out the uh-oh in my dc![/QUOTE] This is exactly why we are *Real Learner* Montessorians here, it just couldn't be any other way 
Besides the items listed in today's post I am also putting together:
-sewing basket (Theresa style, you better patten this girl )
-touch baskets
-texture & fabric baskets
-fabric matching (Violet already made this, forgot to post pics)
-Mystery Bags to rotate every two weeks or so....
I know there's more, but I'm a little sleepy this morning 
Great thread Donna Marie, thanks so much!!
ETA: Just finished painting my "Sand Tracing Tray". Just need some colored sand and Voila!!
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Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
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Angel
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Theresa (or anyone else),
What software do you use to make cards?
--Angela
Three Plus Two
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lapazfarm
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I just use Word.
The only tip I have is that when you open your document, type the title first and center it (ex: My Family").
Then select the rest of the document and format it to two columns. Then when you insert pics, they will automatically resize to a consistent width. Then type your labels below and center them within the column.
Hope that helps.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Angel
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Thanks, Theresa!
--Angela
Three Plus Two
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Meredith
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AndreaG wrote:
4. Sound boxes for each letter of the alphabet (I already have sound cards and objects to put in these)
4. Number boxes (I think I came up with this idea myself, similar to sound boxes only with a number on the top, the kids take a box and try to fill it with the number of objects)
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I love this idea, any chance you can show us a picture on your blog For the number boxes, do they collect items and place them into each box, or do you have items already in the boxes for them to discover and count??
AndreaG wrote:
Animal classification and matching (I made matching cards for our rubber toob animals, then sorted them into tupperwares by (mammal, reptile, etc)
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For these, did you take pictures of the "toob" animals and then print out your cards or find them somewhere on the web???
Great list, you are MUCH more ambitious than I in the homemade dept, bravo!!
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Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
Sweetness and Light
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AndreaG
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Meredith,
For the number boxes- I was thinking they could just go about the room (or whole house) collecting, my boys would appreciate the treasure hunt aspect. For my daughter (just turned 3) I may provide a dish of some sort of counters.
For the toob animals matching cards I found pictures of the animals on the internet- it makes for a slightly more challenging matching activity.
I will most definitely post pictures on my blog once I finish some of these projects, now that my camera is repaired! Now if only I could get my printer to print 3-part cards without streaking 
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Andrea
GrayFamilyCircus
Read Through the Catechism in a Year- For Moms!
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Donna Marie
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Meredith wrote:
Donna Marie, what is the bird chart you like to have on your wall, is is home made or a beautiful Usborne find?
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I have no clue! How is that for helpful? I THINK it came out of a National Geographic or some other magazine. We often pick up the library discard magazines in January when our library thins them out. or! maybe it was from one of those free things you can send away for....So I am not sure. Does anyone else have a good one...one that would have birds for your local area? I really could use a new one...
God love you!
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 7dc
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God love you!
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 9dc!!
Finding Elegant Simplicity
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Meredith
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Thanks for your unabashed honesty dear Donna Marie!! I'll keep my eyes peeled for something appropriate!!
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Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
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Mackfam
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Donna Marie - That's exactly what we do - pick up the old National Geographic posters and maps at our Friends of the Library bookstore. They have tons!!! usually for about 10 cents a piece. I was actually thinking of hitting them up in a week or two to see if there might be anything in there I could cut up and laminate for 3 part cards. You might check your library Meredith. We have a nice laminated bird chart we got at Walmart several years ago. It has some of the frequently seen birds, but not all, and it has been frustrating to go to the chart and not find the bird we see every day at the feeder. Here's my plan for the summer - I'm going to continue adding to my collection of Natl Geo posters of birds, and watch the library store for an old copy of a bird book. Then I plan on making my own chart with some more of our favorite homeschooling material - laminate and card stock!!! If you don't mind yet another DIY project Meredith, cause I know you won't be doing anything with the rest of your summer it would be really fun to make your own "frequent visitors to our feeder" chart.
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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lapazfarm
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Well, I just sat down for a break from rearranging all the school stuff for the tenth time!LOL! And I decided to make a set of cards to match the cute "Dolls of Europe" set I got from M&S.
The cards just have a blank space up top and the name of the country below. DD can match the doll to the country name, and then she can find the correct puzzle piece and trace it onto the card and color it.
I think it will be fun and I am going to put it in my Europe continent box!
I also have decided that once I finish the continent boxes I am going to make... ecosystem boxes!
My mind is just buzzing with the possibilities!
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Meredith
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lapazfarm wrote:
I also have decided that once I finish the continent boxes I am going to make... ecosystem boxes!
My mind is just buzzing with the possibilities! |
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Oh Theresa, what would we DO without ALL your fabulous ideas and creations!!! We LOVE them and appreciate you so much for keeping us all motivated!! 
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Meredith
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kathleenmom
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Does it count if I didn't make it, but my very talented and generous MIL? She has made me lots of beautiful Montessori inspired materials a la Workjobs and Workjobs II. I just added the first post today. This one is called Bacon and Eggs. They are made of felt. I hope to have more to follow shortly.
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: What have you made...what are you making?
