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lapazfarm
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| Posted: April 08 2008 at 9:41pm | IP Logged
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Seeing as it's spring, I made up some Montessori trays with a gardening theme for my littles.
Come check them out at my blog:Montessori trays for spring
and then lets come back here and brainstorm some more spring-themed trays for our littlest learners!
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Eleanor
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| Posted: April 09 2008 at 2:58am | IP Logged
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Those trays are lovely, Theresa! 
It's funny -- I was just looking at the gardening section on the Montessori Services web site, and noticed that they carry the PotMaker. We have one of these, and it's a somewhat addictive pastime. You just tear off wide strips of newspaper, roll them around a wooden cylinder, and press them down into a specially shaped tray to squash the bottom. This produces a little paper pot, which can be used for starting a seedling. Hmm, that doesn't sound too exciting... but there's something very satisfying about the whole process.
The PotMaker itself is durable, simple, beautiful, compact, and made of natural materials, but it's also a bit of an investment, around $15 or so. It's possible to improvise something similar, using a bottle or can. This blog has some discussion of the subject. Unfortunately for us, we're not in the right climate to be starting seedlings indoors, and my children are probably too young for this activity anyway, but maybe someone else can have fun with it!
(This is my first post here in months; I took a long break after our baby came home from her NICU/surgery marathon. She still has some medical concerns, but you wouldn't know it to look at her. She's full of smiles and growing wonderfully, praise be to God. So now we're starting afresh in our homeschooling adventures, with a 4-year-old, a soon-to-be-3-year-old, and a baby who isn't yet mobile.
This is probably the best opportunity I'll have to create a "pure" 3-6 environment, so I'm determined to seize the moment. Our whole family is in dire need of normalization. The house is a mess, battery-powered toys have begun taking over the playroom, and my eldest just confided in me that she wants to go and live with the Care Bears. Hey, some days I feel that way too.   )
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earthmaven
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| Posted: April 09 2008 at 10:09am | IP Logged
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We have the PotMaker too, and both our girls really enjoy working with it. The 5 yo needs a bit of help keeping the newspaper tight while she rolls, but her older sister (7.5) is a force to be reckoned with!
We decided to run a little science experiment with these newspaper pots versus the pricier self-watering propagation trays I purchased for our spring seed-starting adventures. Given all other conditions being equal (light, germinating mix, seed selection), we're going to see how watering the newspaper pots ourselves (or forgetting to) fares against the steadier wicking action of the capillary mats in our self-watering trays.
I'm really interested to see how this turns out--we'll see how much bang for my buck I got out of those fancy trays
Tracy
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Mackfam
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| Posted: April 09 2008 at 5:47pm | IP Logged
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Eleanor wrote:
(This is my first post here in months; I took a long break after our baby came home from her NICU/surgery marathon. She still has some medical concerns, but you wouldn't know it to look at her. She's full of smiles and growing wonderfully, praise be to God. |
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Not hijacking! but wanted to say hi, and glad you're back Eleanor! I have been thinking of you and your little girl, praying for her and hoping you were all back home and doing well. Glad to hear all is well!
Theresa, your trays are just delicious! I have taken the time to set up my nature center to reflect our gardening theme with some beautiful books, but I haven't yet set up any trays. These are the tray plans I have right now:
1. Soil analysis set with different soil samples.
2. Baskets set out for collecting "signs of spring" on our nature walks.
That's all I have thought of right now, I'm hoping to brainstorm this one a bit more this weekend using some nature experiment books I have (and hopefully gather a few ideas from you guys!  )
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Jen Mackintosh
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: April 09 2008 at 8:52pm | IP Logged
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Oooh! What will you have on your soil analysis trays? Sounds interesting!
I'm also going to set up a tray with some bean and corn seeds, clear jars, paper toweling, tape and marker for labels, and water. We'll use these to observe the different structures/growth patterns between monocots and dicots.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
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AndreaG
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| Posted: April 09 2008 at 10:03pm | IP Logged
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Theresa you have awesome ideas! I love the gardening trays.
Eleanor! Good to "see" you again and congratulations on your new little girl!
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Andrea
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Maryan
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| Posted: April 10 2008 at 8:01am | IP Logged
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Great ideas! Soil analysis intrigues me too!!
We just did dicots in a plastic trail mix container (holes drilled in the bottom). I didn't even think about following up with corn!!
I have to admit that my hands are full these days, so I'm not really presenting ala Montessori and just going out and doing stuff together (like weeding, hoeing, raking, planting seeds, looking for slugs in the soil  and then going for nature walks). We did set the stage a bit by doing some botany puzzles and activities.
ETA: And welcome back Eleanor!
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Maryan
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Mackfam
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| Posted: April 10 2008 at 8:32am | IP Logged
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I got the soil test kit from Nature's Workshop. I planned on including each of the test kit containers with several different soil samples from different locations like soil next to the river here, from our garden, from my folks in Tennessee, and from our compost pile. I'd like to come up with a soil test tracking sheet for their garden container's soil. My plan is for the kids to test their garden soil before adding compost, after adding compost, then throughout the season.
I didn't even think of having a seed sprouting tray - what a great idea!! We're just finishing up our Botany study and it would be so neat to have a few seeds to sprout and compare monocots and dicots!!! I knew you guys would have awesome ideas! Thanks Theresa!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: April 10 2008 at 11:02am | IP Logged
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Doh! I have that same kit! I am such a ninny sometimes.LOL! I think I just have so much junk (way too much!)that I forget what I have!
Thanks for the reminder!
I also have some pH strips, which would be an easy test for the littles to do: a pinch of soil, a vial, some water, shake and test. Check color against chart.
Shake jars would be an easy soil activity, too: Get some soil in a bucket with a scoop, a tall jar with a lid, and a pitcher of water. Child adds a scoop of soil(real soil, not bagged topsoil) to jar, fills jar with water, puts on lid, and shakes vigorously. Then sets jar down and observes layers formed as soil settles.
This would also be a good time to set up a flower arranging tray. If your kids are like mine, they are picking wildflowers and bringing them in daily.
Flowers in colored water tray: flowers (carnations work really well for this), a pitcher of water, a clear vase, spoon for stirring, scissors to snip end of stem, dropper of food color. Child fills vase with water, adds drop of food color and stirs.Then he snips end of flower stem and puts flower in colored water. Set in window and observe over a couple of days. I've heard this can be done with celery stalks as well, but I have not tried this.
Flower dissection and labeling: A large flower like a lily is best. scissors or a knife to slice flower in half. Card stock and pencil. Tape. Reference material to check labeling. Child slices flower in half and tapes it to card stock. Uses pencil to draw lines to parts of flower and label. For younger children provide pre-written labels to glue on (provide gluestick). Check against reference material.
That's all for now!
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: Montessori gardening trays
