Your kids will absolutely love this activity they can make themselves using just a penny and a balloon. The end result is super cool, somewhat resembling an atom smasher. (An atom smasher, or particle accelerator, by the way, is a device used to accelerate microscopic particles to high speeds in order to collide them with target ... Continue Reading
Ice Cream Sudoku
It has been a long time since I've created a Sudoku game to share with my readers. But with the end of summer vacation approaching, I thought it would be a good time to celebrate the summer staple of ice cream with an Ice Cream Sudoku Printable. Sudoku is a great way to exercise one's brain with fun, engaging, puzzles that stimulate ... Continue Reading
Introduction to once living
In a previous post I shared some hands-on activities and links to free printables for giving kids an introduction to living and nonliving objects. Once my kids understood the characteristics of living and nonliving things, I introduced the concept of once living. Once living things are objects that used to be alive, but now ... Continue Reading
Introduction to living and nonliving
For the past year I have been taking an online Montessori class from KHT Montessori. While it would of course be ideal to take an in-person class, I have still learned a ton about Montessori education from the online class. As we officially start homeschooling for kindergarten in a couple of weeks, I plan to use many of the activities in the ... Continue Reading
Montessori-inspired activities for kids
My own approach to working with my kids is very much influenced by the Montessori school of thought. Regular readers know that I feature a lot of Montessori activities at Gift of Curiosity. So far, I have found Montessori to be a good fit for me and my kids in all of our homeschool activities. I initially became familiar with Montessori activities ... Continue Reading
Practicing advanced sorting with Venn diagrams
Sorting is one of the basic cognitive skills that we want kids to develop during their early years. Sorting is an important skill because it requires kids to be able to categorize and group objects by particular characteristics. In fact, kids begin learning to sort and categorize objects from a young age. Much of this practice comes ... Continue Reading
Fire Fighter Do-a-Dot Printables
My son is a big fan of fire fighters. Lately he has taken to spending much of his free time drawing pictures of fire trucks. His favorite birthday present were the pieces of fire fighter equipment we gave him. And when he gets dressed up, it's usually as a fire fighter. I'm sure there are lots of other boys and girls out there who enjoy fire ... Continue Reading
How to assemble a flashlight {Practical life skills}
I've been inspired lately to put more practical life activities on our Montessori shelves. Because my kids have always shown an interest in flashlights, I decided to create a tray to teach them how to assemble a flashlight. I hoped this would be a great practical life activity that would keep their interest. And boy did it ever! This was ... Continue Reading
11 ocean activities for kids
Summertime is a great time to hit the beach and enjoy the beautiful ocean. It is also a great time to learn about the ocean and the magnificent creatures that live there! This past week, the contributors at the Weekly Kids' Co-op shared lots of great ideas for doing ocean activities for kids. In this post I'm sharing 11 of my favorite ocean ... Continue Reading
Children’s books about starting school
Do you have a child who will be starting school this fall? A new preschooler, perhaps? Or a student about to enter kindergarten? My kids will both be transitioning away from their preschool to a new school experience this fall. Although my kids will only attend their new school one day a week (since I will homeschool them the rest of the ... Continue Reading
