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Land O' Cotton
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| Posted: July 30 2007 at 4:57pm | IP Logged
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While my dd and I were out running errands today, I saw a game in the store that looked really neat. The only problem was, I wasn't ready to spend ~$33 for it just yet. It is a magnetic menu game, played with magnetic foods on a magnetic placemat. Well, I thought since I'm busy laminating I could come up with some ideas of my own. So here goes...
For the magnetic placemat, why not a laminated placemat with the plate, glass, and utensils pictured on it? Actually, a plain white placemat or handmade one from cloth with the plate, etc. appliqued would be cute too!
I'll start rattling off my ideas, and please add to them and help us all brainstorm!
* Foods on cards cut from magazines and laminated to represent those in the food pyramid
* Make up a sample blank "Menu", laminate, and it becomes a dry erase surface--right? You could either write a menu and let the child "prepare" it by placing the foods on the placemat, or let the child write it as he would like
* Laminated copy of Food Pyramid for reference
* Use the menu and game for breakfast, lunch, and supper
(the possibilities are endless here!)
* Possibly add velcro tabs to the plate, glass on the placemat and also to the foods which will be place on them
* Make cards of the food names and laminate (can be used as 3-part cards also) grouped as breakfast, lunch, dinner and sort, etc.
* Possibly calories/serving for math practice---give total calories and the child attempts to match this--you would have to write this on the back of the food cards--this would be a math exercise
* What about international/foreign foods for geography or even meals by the continents--
* Possibly some of the menu items could be prepared for practical life exercises such as stirring, mixing, etc.
* For Chinese or Japanese foods, make a different placemat with chopsticks and teapot/cups in place of the utensils
* Sort the food cards by food pyramid sections--carbs, proteins, fats
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Vicki
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Land O' Cotton
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| Posted: July 30 2007 at 5:03pm | IP Logged
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Okay, I used up too much space with the last post, so here's more...
* Make controls of the menus set up on the placemat for self-correction
* Menus for budget meals, special occasion, cook-out meals, favorite birthday meals
* Breakfast, lunch, supper all over the world (how they eat)
* Use food labels from packaging at home to resize and make cards of packages for which foods come from these packages to prepare the meal
* Recipe cards for items on the menu--this would help for math/fractions
* How much for the meal on the menu? Prices on food packages, how much does each package serve?
Okay, I'm rambling now..Any other ideas for this?
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Vicki
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Meredith
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| Posted: July 30 2007 at 5:51pm | IP Logged
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Oh my goodness, you're on a Montessori Roll!! Great game ideas! You are going to be busy!! I Love it!
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Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
Sweetness and Light
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KackyK
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| Posted: July 30 2007 at 7:36pm | IP Logged
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Wow! That's a lot of ideas...I don't know what you didn't cover!
Boy, if that game you saw is even close to what you came up with...no wonder it's $33! 
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KackyK
Mom to 8 - 3 dd, 5ds & 4 babes in heaven
Beginning With the Assumption
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: July 30 2007 at 7:43pm | IP Logged
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Wow! Fantastic ideas! I already have a bunch of laminated pics of food items I used for a food groups sorting activity.I could share them when I get home. They would work well for this. Also, Montessori by Hand has some fruit and veggie cards you could use.
What about making a laminated note-pad(like waitresses use) that has little velcro tabs, as well as food name labels. Then the child could "take your order" by placing the velco-tabbed food labels on the note pad. Then bring you your order (a tray with either laminated or wooden foods). You would know if they read the labels if they brought the correct items.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Land O' Cotton
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| Posted: July 30 2007 at 8:14pm | IP Logged
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Kacky, the game I saw was just kind of a simple version of a menu, magnetic food pictures and a placemat. I just didn't think I could bring myself to pay so much when I'm trying to budget for the Montessori items I want. I just really thought the idea was great and decided to run with it. While we were running errands I was jotting notes on scrap paper. After reading back over them, I'm not really sure they make sense, but I'm hoping ya'll get my drift.
Theresa, I love the idea about the laminated notepad! My dgs loves to take our orders here at home and play like he's serving us something. When I saw this game I thought that might be right down our alley. Then I started thinking about all the angles to look at it from, and I hoped that ya'll had more to add---ya'll are a really creative bunch!
Something else that made me think of this was a wooden children's cart with veggies and fruits at Target that was on clearance. I wondered if it was "too young" for our needs, but I would love to make one a bit larger. There were little baskets of wooden fruits and veggies to buy extra that I'm really kicking myself for not getting now! Oh well...
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Vicki
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Eleanor
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| Posted: July 30 2007 at 11:31pm | IP Logged
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One of my favorite places to find game ideas is at the "Toys for Life" section of the Nienhuis web site. They sell a large selection of well-designed educational toys and games, many of which can easily be made at home. (The ones they sell are really wonderful quality -- we've admired them when visiting the showroom -- but the prices are astronomical.)
Here are some of the types of activities that are found in their catalog. Maybe you could use some of these with your "menu" theme!
- "Lotto" games, sort of like Bingo, but with lots of interesting variations.
- "Concentration"-type matching games.
- Sensorial games involving matching a given set of objects with a second, identical set hidden in a bag.
- Communication games in which two people, each with an identical sets of items (e.g. blocks or figurines), sit on opposite sides of a divider. One person sets up his materials in a certain way, then has to explain it to the other person, who tries to replicate the arrangement.
And then there are lots of others that are hard to describe... you'd have to see them.
Even if we sent our children to a Montessori school, I could probably manage to spend all my "free time" on making, and teaching, these lovely games! 
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Land O' Cotton
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| Posted: July 31 2007 at 7:00am | IP Logged
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Eleanor, I recently ordered the Nienhuis catalog so I'll be drooling over all the neat stuff for quite awhile!
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Vicki
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: Menu Game~Montessori-Style
