Fall activities

So while most of the activities in a Montessori classroom stay constant (the pink tower is ALWAYS out!), and others are modified to keep the children interested (like adding a rolling pin to go with the modeling clay), we still like to do some seasonal or holiday activities.

This week I introduced pumpkin scrubbing. It wasn't something I had planned (a parent brought in a bunch of small, decorative gourds for our upcoming festival) but boy have the children loved it! The first day I put it out none of them really noticed it on the shelf. So when I kept seeing one of the younger three year olds wandering I invited him to be the first one to try it out. I had to change up a few things mid-presentation (that's a big no-no there!) but I wasn't quiet willing to deal with the gallons of water that were going to end up on the floor if I used the bowl and pitcher I had originally intended to....No idea what I was thinking there. While I try not to be bothered by it when the children spill or make a big mess, that doesn't mean I need to ENCOURAGE it!

So after outfitting J with the proper equipment I proceeded to watch as all the other children gathered around, now eager to try the new work (of course!) and eagerly asking if they could be next.

Well J did keep saying yes, but then he kept scrubbing. And scrubbing, and scrubbing. And then it was time to go home. There were about 10 little pumpkin gourds scattered around the classroom and no too much water on the floor. Now that's such a nice change from the aimless wandering he was doing earlier in the day!

I was a little concerned that he was going to repeat that again today; good for him, but frustrating for the other children. But M beat him to it! When she gets an idea in her head she's bound and determined to follow through and after seeing her keep her eye on the work yesterday I wasn't too surprised that that was the first thing she rushed to do!

So she scrubbed pumpkins for about half an hour and emptied the basket of them. C came up to me, all concerned that there were no pumpkins for her to scrub. So, I invited her to grab the basket and go with another teacher to fetch more from the back hallway. I might have made a bit of a mistake there since she went back at least once, possibly twice for even MORE pumpkins!

Basically at the end of the day I needed to use the dishes trolley in order to haul all the clean pumpkins out of the classroom. And I have to say I'm quite impressed by all the places they thought to put them!

Montessori Sunday: Celebrating Holidays

Ok, so how to celebrate  a holiday isn't exactly a Montessori material in any regard, but it is something that is approached a bit differently and since I didn't get to talk about our 'visitor' on Friday I'll do it now. There usually aren't 25+ copies of the same art project made by the children displayed around the classroom. Bulletin boards aren't updated with the usual holiday colors. Though there are some similarities though that seem prevalent in every preschool environment. Special songs and stories surrounding the season are shared with the children. Also, the diversity of holidays (especially around the winter season) is introduced with the idea of exposing children to many different points of view.

Here's how our All Hallow's Eve 'party' went as an example. Our class has spent two days preparing a jack-o-lantern. The children helped gut the pumpkin, then sorted the seeds from the flesh to save for a snack. The next day they each drew a part of the jack-o-lanterns face and I carved it out. I also set the seeds out on a table to dry and the children were very excited to remember that they were going to be our snack on Halloween.

On the day of Halloween I waited for all the children to arrive before asking them to put their work away and wash their hands for a special snack. While they did so I darkened the room. Together we passed out napkins and the roasted seeds, as well as some warm apple cider from our Fall Festival the weekend before. The children were very careful with being allowed to eat on the carpeting and were very careful and neat with their snack.

I lit the pumpkin and read one of my favorite Halloween stories, "The little old lady who wasn't afraid of anything." The children munched on their pumpkin seeds and enjoyed their apple cider as the jack-o-lantern flickered and I read the silly story to them. They were so attentive and well behaved that I wish I had a video of the event. When I finished the story the candle was blown out the children who were done took care of their dishes and napkins before getting back to work. They all agreed they wanted the Jack-o-Lantern to visit our classroom for the rest of the morning so I left him out for them to admire at leisure. Then I sat and enjoyed my own snack with the stragglers and that was it. That was our entire Halloween.


There was no big hoopla about candy. No tears and uncontainable excitement around costumes. Just a peaceful snack with friends and a silly story in a slightly spooky setting. Then they were done and over it. I didn't hear another word about Halloween for the rest of the morning. They were content with what we had. I only hope we can do it again.

Trick or Treat!

Well the kids have been practicing and preparing their 'trick or treat' steps all week. Leaves on the play ground make great 'candy' at recess to both collect and hand out. Building forts in the daycare even creates different 'houses' to practice saying trick or treat at. Yep, I'd say they should all have been well prepared for whatever adventures they had tonight. I can't wait to hear all about it tomorrow...and then have it be over. Now I"m glad with how enthusiastic they are about holidays, in fact I think it's wonderful how over the top excited they get. But we basically had no regular work time today because we knew that they would be so distracted.

Halloween at our school means costumes for all ages, and a little parade of the Children's House around the Elementary classroom. Then the Elementary students usually read poems or sing some Halloween themed songs for the younger children. It's a fun break from routine, and we did a great job this year as adults with helping the children get their costumes on without losing any pieces (I don't think!). Three of us zipped, snapped, Velcro'd and attached countless fairy/angel/princess wings (the accessory of choice for most of the girls in our class) while Mrs. C snapped pictures of the children with our freshly carved pumpkin.

Remember the ones I featured about a week ago? Yeah, they got a little bit soft but luckily we got a donation later and one of our extra staff had time to carve it for us. Hooray!

I do have to say that we had some unique costumes, and even all those fairies and princess were different (though I have never seen so many glittery wings!). We had-

-A squishy Puff the magic dragon
-Olivia the Pig
-A Beaver (with a tail almost as big as the boy in the costume!)
-Princess Lolly from Candy Land (anyone else remember that game?)
-A young king with his older brother Knight
-A plump pumpkin
-A cobra (complete with hood containing heat sensing pits!)

My favorite though was Princess Leia, and not just because it was a home made and well done costume, but from how the boy who was in it explained why he was Leia. "Because Dad is R2D2, my little sister is going to be Yoda, and Mom is Chewbaca." Ahh, family themed costumes, gotta love em.