The absorbent mind

We owe the concept of the "absorbent mind" to Maria Montessori, and we take it for granted. But it is so amazing to witness the process! Case in point:
I was reading "My Carthaginian cousin" to my 6 year old, which is a historic fictional story covering the time of the Carthaginian domination in antiquity. The language and sentence structure is pretty complicated, so I assumed my 4 year old was not really following it.
All of  a sudden, while working with clay, he told me that he had made a "Carthaginian ship"... It was pretty cool :)

Art and History: Making mosaic

I was always fascinated by mosaic. It is so amazing how this technique can create beautiful work of art that lasts for thousands of years, with so much perseverance and patience!

In our History studies we are entering the amazing Ancient Greco-Roman times, so this project aims at understanding the basics of the mosaic technique, without having to actually work with the real thing. I will leave that for when we revisit this times in a couple of years.

This stamping technique is quite easy. All you will need is a stamp, which you can make yourself, and acrylic paint. Here are the instructions:

The square design was made by my 6 year old son, and he was very happy with the results! :)

Color perception for toddlers (and preschoolers)

This activity proved to be lots of fun...

It is a very simple material, but the challenge of manipulating clothes pins adds up to the color identification/naming, so it really keeps the attention of little ones absorbed for a while.

All you need to do is divide a card stock circle into as many wedges as you want (I started with 8, but it can be simpler, with just 4, or more complex)

Choose the colors you want to use. This wheel is done with primary and secondary colors + black and white, but you can also experiment with monochromatic.

Paint the wedges and the sides of the clothes pins. (you can also use construction paper and glue)

 Have fun!!! :)

Science experiment - Digestion

I got the idea for this experiment from this blog. We just modified it slightly.
The objective is to show how our stomach acids aid the digestion process. There is a bit of gross factor here, so don't read on if you are sensitive :)

You'll need:
A zip lock bag
Some white vinager
A cracker (or cheerios or a piece of bread, etc)

Premoist the cracker. Explain to the child that this is what salive and mastication do for us.

Fill the bag with vinager. Explain that our stomachs hold acid inside, and briefly describe its properties.

Drop the food in. Close the bag tightly and swish the contents around, gently massaging the bag, too, to emulate the action of the stomach walls.

Describe what happens. Make notes and observations.

(My boys loved it!!!) :)