nature-inspired – WonderHouse of Littles

Cinnamon-scented Autumn Play Dough

admin — Wed, 31 May 2023 08:04:31 +0000

Cinnamon-scented Autumn Playdough

I love to make season-themed playdough invitations to play because they offer opportunities to learn about different aspects of the season while enjoying sensory play.

To make this sensory play invitation to play extra special, I made the playdough cinnamon-scented. It smelled amazing! I complimented it with different seasonal items, so there was lots to talk about.

To make this cinnamon-scented playdough you need:

Ingredients:

– 2 cups all-purpose flour

– ¾ cup salt

– 4 tsp cream of tartar (don’t skip this part. I learned from personal experience that if you do, the dough gets very sticky :D)

– 2 tbsp cinnamon or pumpkin spice

– 2 cups of water

– 1 tsp vanilla extract

– 2 tbsp vegetable oil

– food coloring (optional)

Instructions:

Start by combining the dry ingredients in a saucepan. Add the water, vanilla extract and vegetable oil and stir until well-combined. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture forms a ball and no longer sticks to the saucepan (not more than a few minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Knead until desired consistency.

This burgundy color was NOT intentional :). I was aiming for a brown color but ran out of blue and yellow food coloring so it turned out burgundy. 😊

Cleaning up is part of the learning process, so make sure to encourage your child to tidy up after they finish playing. Model how to do it until your child feels confident enough to initiate the tidying up process independently.

Bringing play to life:

Invite the child to make the playdough with you and you will see how many Practical Life skills are involved in this single step.

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10 – Counting Frame

admin — Wed, 31 May 2023 07:59:04 +0000

Counting Frame

When my daughter was around 18 months old I introduced this ten-frame activity. It was the very first step in our learning to count journey.

Counting frames help children begin to establish 1:1 correspondence and eventually learn to count to 10.

By having the child manipulate the counters into the spots on the frame, the child begins to make the connection from the concrete to the abstract – the understanding that one (a noun, an abstract concept) corresponds to one manipulative (a concrete material they can hold in their hand).

Activities like this one using a ten frame help them move beyond the memorization of numbers and into a deeper understanding of the mathematical concept.

Don’t want to invest in a wooden ten-frame? You can use an egg carton (with 10 spots) instead or draw your own ten-frame on a piece of paper.
You can also use any 10 similar items of your choice – make sure the items are similar or identical.

*** This post may contain affiliate links. That means we may make a small commission on items purchased through links in this post at no extra cost to you! Thank you for your continued support ♡

Pine Cone Growth Stages

admin — Mon, 29 May 2023 18:39:43 +0000

Pine Cone Growth Stages

The best way for children to learn is through hands-on experiences. And that is exactly what this activity offers. As toddlers, the world is so new to them that every little thing is fascinating, especially nature.

I wanted to show my daughter how things grow and evolve in nature and, since she loved picking pine cones, this was the perfect item to illustrate this concept.

I picked up three pine cones at different stages of growth and placed them on a tray with a magnifying glass so we could explore them together at home.

We touched and examined each of the three pine cones and talked about the different stages of growth and how they open up. This was a great activity not only for sensory input but also language development.

At around 19 months we were observing an explosion of language and so much cognitive development in our little girl! She surprised us everyday with how much she has been able to grasp about the world around her, so slowly I was beginning to create more complex activities to satisfy and nurture that innate curiosity.

I love how Montessori emphasizes our connection to the natural world, and immersion in nature is the best way to learn. This, as we know, is paramount to the development of the whole child.

“A child, more than anyone else, is a spontaneous observer of nature.” Maria Montessori

Bringing play to life:

How about presenting your child with their own growth stage, from mum’s pregnancy until today? What differences can they see from each stage?

*** This post may contain affiliate links. That means we may make a small commission on items purchased through links in this post at no extra cost to you! Thank you for your continued support ♡

Fall-inspired Sensory Play

admin — Tue, 16 May 2023 17:18:33 +0000

Fall-inspired Sensory Play

A season-themed sensory play setup is a great way to deepen a child’s understanding of seasons, seasonal changes and the items associated with each season. And since rice is one of our favorite sensory bases, I decided to use it for this simple fall-inspired sensory activity. I mixed red, yellow and orange rice (which I had previously dyed using food coloring) in a tray and added some pumpkins, pine cones and wood chips.

A enjoyed scooping and transferring rice, pouring it over the pine cones and hiding the wood chips in it.

While sensory bins are not Montessori, they can nonetheless be very enjoyable, calming and beneficial for your child, especially if you have a sensory-seeking child. You can create Montessori-aligned sensory bins – that are close-ended or have a specific purpose – but you can also simply embrace open-ended sensory bins for what they are: an invitation to explore with the senses, that provides children with an abundance of opportunities for open-ended, unstructured and even pretend play.

You can go on walks with your child and collect items to go in the sensory bins or even go on a scavenger’s hunt for specific items. If it aligns with your child’s needs and interests, go ahead and offer it.

*** This post may contain affiliate links. That means we may make a small commission on items purchased through links in this post at no extra cost to you! Thank you for your continued support ♡

DIY Mushroom Sensory Puzzle

admin — Wed, 10 May 2023 04:48:09 +0000

DIY Mushroom Sensory Puzzle

A was 21 months old when I made this DIY mushroom sensory puzzle. She had been loving playing with her wooden mushrooms at the time so I thought I’d make her a puzzle so she could deepen her understanding of the mushroom while enjoying some sensory play.

Around this time we witnessed an explosion of new vocabulary, which was so exciting! She loved to repeat words after us and also imitate certain expressions. It was adorable!

For this activity, I set aside some red rice for the cap, green lentils for the stem and white beans for the scales.

Sensory play provides so many opportunities for skill development. Here she practiced scooping and spooning, new vocabulary, including mushroom parts and colors, and experienced different sensory stimulation.

Eventually, A decided to mix everything in a bowl, which seemed to be her favorite part.

Bringing play to life:

How about exploring real mushrooms and even cooking a meal with them? Your little one(s) can help wash, break them apart (or cut them if they are older) and help you prepare a tasty meal with these fungi.

*** This post may contain affiliate links. That means we may make a small commission on items purchased through links in this post at no extra cost to you! Thank you for your continued support ♡

”It Starts With a Seed”- Bookish Play

admin — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 07:59:17 +0000

It Starts With a Seed – Bookish Play

A is in love with this book by Laura Knowles.

Beautifully written, the book takes you through the life cycle of a tree (the sycamore tree), following its transformation from a seedling all the way to a mature tree.

The poem uses rich language and is paired with gorgeous illustrations, both highlighting the essential role the tree plays for the web of life that depends on it – an array of woodland creatures. The book ends with a beautiful fold out page showing a mature tree shedding its seeds to continue the cycle of life.

I can’t recommend it enough. It’s definitely one for all seasons.

I paired it with a simple art activity using Q-tips and a printout of a tree (without leaves). A dabbed the Q-tips in the paint and then press them on the paper to “make” the missing leaves.

Cleaning up is part of the learning process, so make sure to encourage your child to tidy up after they finish. Model how to do it until your child feels confident enough to initiate the tidying up process independently.

Bringing play to life:

Have you intentionally observed trees with your little one(s)? You can try to spot their seeds and, why not, even plant a tree as a family!

*** This post may contain affiliate links. That means we may make a small commission on items purchased through links in this post at no extra cost to you! Thank you for your continued support. ♡

Polar Animals

admin — Wed, 12 Apr 2023 13:52:39 +0000

Polar Animals

I used this super simple setup with sensory snow so we could explore and learn more about polar animals. When it comes to sensory play, the simplest of setups are always a hit with my daughter. She didn’t use any tools, she just wanted to feel the “snow” and play with the animal figurines.

It was the perfect opportunity to learn about polar animals with the spread in the picture from The Big Book of Animals (from the Big Book Series). She matched the animals to their photos in the book, then we read the facts and discussed which pole they live in (North or South).

To complement it, we also watched a short documentary after. She was fascinated by all the info on it and especially loved to learn that walruses use their tusks to haul themselves out of the water and into the sea ice.

To make the sensory snow you need only two ingredients: baking soda and white conditioner. Star with the baking soda in a bowl and add small amounts of conditioner until you get to the desired consistency. It should be a little “crumbly”.

*** This post may contain affiliate links. That means we may make a small commission on items purchased through links in this post at no extra cost to you! Thank you for your continued support. ♡

Arctic-themed Playdough with DIY Stampers

admin — Sun, 09 Apr 2023 12:44:00 +0000

Arctic-themed Playdough with DIY Stampers

I’ve had these wooden shapes for a while – they were actually Christmas tree ornaments – but I decided to give them a new purpose 😁. So I made some DIY playdough stampers using blocks as the base.

For this Arctic-themed playdough tray I paired the stampers with white playdough, a few natural items and some colored rice. A enjoyed creating different scenarios with the stampers and natural items, and finally dumping all of the rice in the playdough 😂. It ended up looking pretty nice though!

Playdough is a great pre-writing activity. It helps strengthen hand muscles, improve fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, while allowing the child to use imagination and express creativity. It also fosters language development as the child is exposed to the different elements on the tray.

*** This post may contain affiliate links. That means we may make a small commission on items purchased through links in this post at no extra cost to you! Thank you for your continued support. ♡

Nature-themed Homemade Playdough

admin — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 18:03:20 +0000

Nature-themed homemade playdough

Manipulating playdough has lots of benefits for toddlers, as rolling, poking and pounding the dough helps develop essential muscles that are especially useful for practical life activities like cutting and eventually writing.

This was my first time making homemade playdough. A was 18 months at the time.

I used a really popular homemade playdough recipe from and it was actually enjoyable to make with A’s help.

You will need:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup table salt
1 tbsp cream of tartar
1 tbsp oil
1 cup boiling water

You can also add food coloring to the water if you’d like some color.

To the tray I added some sea shells we collected on one of our trips to Portugal, some stones we collected during our morning walk and a few loose parts I had at home.

She especially enjoyed rolling the dough, poking it and using the sticks and shells to make holes and shapes.

*** This post may contain affiliate links. That means we may make a small commission on items purchased through links in this post at no extra cost to you! Thank you for your continued support. ♡

Plant Watering

admin — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 17:45:15 +0000

Plant Watering

Practical life activities are a central part of daily life in a Montessori-inspired household and plant watering falls within the care of the environment aspect of practical life.

I first introduced plant watering at 18 months with a very simple setup consisting of just a tray with the plant and water already in the watering can so all A had to do was pour water over the plant. Be sure to demonstrate first by pouring just a little and then inviting the child to pour the rest. Expect spills, so be sure to provide a small cloth as well.

Once the child has mastered this sequence you can add more steps like we did here at 23 months. I set up the activity up in her functional kitchen and included a tray with the plant, the empty watering can and a washcloth for spills. She takes the watering can, fills it up with water from her water dispenser, pours it and then cleans up any spills.

Spills still happen and that is absolutely OK. The goal here is to instill a sense of responsibility and care for the environment, while practicing motor skills, improving hand-eye coordination and control of movement.

Involving your toddler in Practical Life activities will definitely require slowing down, supervision and some patience, but it is incredibly rewarding for the child. Although they may seem like chores to us, children often view them as opportunities to practice new skills and contribute meaningfully to the household. Therefore, it fills them with a sense of purpose, independence and confidence.

Practical life activities are also great opportunities for strengthening gross and fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, control of movement and concentration.

Extended learning:

If you have a garden, how about getting your child involved in caring for it as well?

*** This post may contain affiliate links. That means we may make a small commission on items purchased through links in this post at no extra cost to you! Thank you for your continued support. ♡