Exploring Weight {Sensorial Montessori Activity}

http://www.smilinglikesunshine.com/2012/10/exploring-weight-sensorial-montessori.html



A couple of weeks ago I prepared these treasure boxes for an activity to explore weight.
As you may know, sensorial activities are very important in the Montessori philosophy. Exploring the weight by the sense of touch is called the baric sense. In a Montessori classroom, children are supplied with baric tablets to develop and refine their baric senses.

Here are my Baric Chests:


Materials:


A blindfold (optional)
A mat
4 sets of wooden chests, filled with pebbles and bubble wrap to ensure the pebbles do not make any sound. Each set consists of two chests. Each of the wooden chests is plain and the same colour. To mark the same weight chests, stickers are used.
The weight of the sets is as follows:
The lightest set is empty, each chest is 40gr, colour coded with a green sticker,
The second set consists of chests each measuring 72gr, colour coded with yellow stickers,
The third set consists of chests each measuring 104gr, colour coded with orange stickers,
The heaviest set consists of chests each measuring 136gr, colour coded with blue stickers.
The difference between each set is 32gr.


Direct objective: Developing and refining the baric sense so that small differences in weight can be differentiated by the child.
Indirect objective:
· Becoming a good observer
· Gaining a perception of weight,
· Gaining awareness in differentiating the differences between weights
· Developing the language: At the end of the activity the child will have learnt the words: heavy, heavier, heaviest, light, lighter, lightest, as heavy/light as
Advance preparation for the lesson: Before starting the activity both the teacher and the student wash their hands as this helps sensitise the fingers.
PRESENTATION:
1. The teacher brings the materials to the rug. The teacher and the child sit opposite each other.
2. The teacher then takes out the lightest and the heaviest chests.
3. S/he puts the chests on his/her hands: palm up, arms relaxed.
4. The teacher shows the child how to weigh the chests, by moving both hands, with palm facing outward in an up down motion. The teacher moves her arms up and down slightly, to perceive the differences in weight.
5. S/he places them on the mat and invites the child to feel the weights of the chests
6. S/he puts the chests on the child’s finger tips, and then asks “Which one is lighter?” “Which one is heavier?” The teacher removes the chests and puts them on the mat
7. Carrying on with different chests, the teacher asks the child if they are heavy, light or are the same. The teacher continues removing the chests and putting them on the mat next to previously used chests as the child answers the questions.
8. When all chests are done,the teacher starts the activity again. This time s/he asks the child “Can you give me the heavier chest?” “Can you give me the lighter chest?” repeating until all chests are estimated.
9. The child takes off the blindfold and the teacher explains what has been done.
Differentiation:
If the child does not feel secure and does not want to use the blindfold, s/he can do the activity by averting his/her eyes.
Older children can use a scale to check if they have sorted the chests correctly.

As a control of error element, I added stickers on the bottom of the chests.

Jumping Cups

http://bkids.typepad.com/bookhoucraftprojects/2009/09/project-33-jumping-cups.html

What you'll need:
*2 disposable cups (paper or plastic will both work)
*2 rubber bands
*scissors
*different colors of paper scraps
*double-sided tape
*clear tape

Step one:
Use different scraps of paper, and cut out the shapes that you will need to decorate your cup as a flying rocket (or jumping frog, rabbit, kangaroo, etc.)
Step two:
Cut both rubber bands so that they are no longer circles. Tie one knot on each end of both rubber bands.
Step three:
Cut four small slits into the rim of one of the cups. (One cup will be used as is, so do not cut both cups.) Then stretch the rubber bands across the rim of the cup and slide each end into one of the slits. The knots should be enough to hold the rubber bands in place.

Step four:
Use double-sided tape to decorate your rubber band cup and turn it into a rocket ship.
Step five:
Use two pieces of clear tape to make two small tabs on opposite sides of the cup. You will hold these tabs to launch your rocket.
Step six:
Your rocket is ready to go. Place the regular cup on the ground. Put the rocket cup over it and pull down on the tabs. Then let go to see your rocket fly. Please supervise your children while using this toy!

Away in a Manger: The Animals

The Calf:

Create the same basic form as the sheep, but make the body and nose longer, use two 6-inch pieces for the legs, and bend each leg to form hooves.

Starting at the tail, wrap unrolled cotton balls around the body and once down the length of the nose.

Tie the yarn around the neck. Wrap the head, leaving the cotton tip of the nose and the tips of the ears exposed. Glue as needed.

Wrap the body and the legs, stopping at the hooves. Wrap extra layers around the back legs to create bulky haunches. Finish by wrapping the tail. Knot it tightly just before the tip, trim to 1 inch, and unravel the end.

Use the marker to add tiny nostrils. To add eyes, cut the sequin in half and glue in place.

Away in a Manger: The Animals

No créche is complete without a few creatures great and small. Your kids will quickly figure out how to adapt the basic shapes shown here into a splendid menagerie.

To get the instructions for making the entire manger, click here.
Materials
FOR THE SHEEP:
2 black pipe cleaners
Ruler
Scissors
Jumbo cotton ball, unrolled
About 7 feet of superbulky-weight white or off-white yarn (we used Wool-Ease Thick & Quick by Lion Brand; unravel it slightly for a fluffier look)
FOR THE CALF:
2 tan pipe cleaners
Ruler
Scissors
2 to 3 jumbo cotton balls, unrolled
15 to 20 feet of bulky-weight brown yarn (we used Homespun by Lion Brand)
Tacky glue
Fine-tip permanent black marker
5-mm sequin for eyes
Instructions








The Sheep:

Fold one pipe cleaner in half. Bend it to form a nose and ears. Twist the ends to secure.

Bend the folded pipe cleaner to form a ½-inch-long neck, a 1-inch body, and a tail (trim it to about ½ inch).
Cut the second pipe cleaner in half. Wrap each piece around the body to create legs. Fold the ends up so each leg is about ¾ inch long.

Twist one end of an unrolled cotton ball into the base of the tail and wrap the body.

Tie one end of the yarn around the neck and wrap as shown, covering the cotton. To finish, knot the yarn over itself at the tail, trim, and tuck the end under the wrapping.

Paper Birds

(source: familyfun.go.com)

Here's a super-simple way to assemble a flock of featherless friends. This nearly no-mess project is easy enough to make in minutes and lets kids add lots of inspired elements of their own.

Materials
Scrapbook paper
Scissors
Pencil
Colored paper clips
Tape
Glue stick
Hole punch or pushpins

Instructions
For each, draw a bird figure on a piece of scrapbook paper (or download our template). Cut out this figure, trace it, and cut out the matching shape.
Bend a colored paper clip or two into feet and tape them to the back side of one figure. Use a glue stick to join the two matching figures, sandwiching the paper clip legs between them.
Make an eye with a hole punch or pushpin and adjust the legs so that the bird can stand on its own.

Amazing Eggs-periment

You'd think that forcing a hard-boiled egg through the mouth of a milk bottle would be darn near impossible (or at the very least, result in egg salad). But with some hot water, you can harness the laws of physics to do the work for you. So, go suck an egg. You'll be amazed.

MATERIALS
Hard-boiled egg
Glass returnable milk bottle (ask at natural food stores)
Bowl of cold water
Hot tap water
Dish gloves

DIRECTIONS: First, try it yourself: Set a peeled, hard-boiled egg on the open mouth of a glass milk bottle and try to push it inside without breaking the egg (or the bottle!). Give up? Here's a better way. Place the egg into a bowl of cold water. Have an adult place the milk bottle under a stream of hot tap water for a minute or so, then, wearing dish gloves to protect her hands, empty the water down the sink. Immediately place the egg, tapered side down, on the mouth of the milk bottle. Watch carefully. The egg slowly gets sucked through the neck and--with a satisfying thunk--drops into the bottle.

WHY IT WORKS: The hot air inside the glass bottle is less dense (and thus at a lower pressure) than the cooler outside air. The difference creates suction, which pulls the squishy egg through the bottle's neck.

Weird Science

Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, behold the phenomenal power of ... a plastic spoon? Hard to believe, but this simple piece of disposable flatware possesses properties that can truly amaze those who aren't in the habit of playing with their eating utensils. Even more miraculous, it can keep everyone happy if the restaurant kitchen is slow in bringing out your food.

MATERIALS
Coarse salt
Ground black pepper
Plastic spoon




Wool scarf
Puffed rice
Cereal

DIRECTIONS: Sprinkle salt and pepper on a tabletop and mix them together. Challenge a lab assistant to use the spoon to separate the pepper from the salt. Have pity on him after a few seconds (hey, we said seconds, not hours!). Retrieve the spoon and rub it vigorously on a wool scarf. Then hold it about an inch above the mixture (but not touching). The pepper will leap to the spoon and stick to it.

WHY IT WORKS: Rubbing the spoon gives it a negative charge, which attracts the pepper. It also attracts the salt, but the light flakes of pepper rise up before the heavier grains of salt. If you lower the spoon, the salt will jump up too.

ANOTHER TRICK: Hold the rubbed spoon over some puffed rice cereal. The grains jump up to the spoon, hang there and then--if there's enough static charge--suddenly fly off.

WHY IT WORKS: The grains are attracted to the negatively charged spoon and cling to it until they, too, become negatively charged. Then, because like charges repel, they shoot off.

Psychedelic Lava Lite

Maybe it's the spirit of experimentation, but something about science reminds us of the very groovy seventies. So, it's only fitting that we offer this retro-vention, which uses the principles of immiscible liquids (fluids that just won't mix) and density to create a homemade version of that classic mind-expanding device, the Lava Lite.





MATERIALS
Glass jar
Water with food coloring added
Vegetable oil
Shaker filled with salt

DIRECTIONS: Fill a glass jar with about 3 inches of water and add food coloring until the shade matches the tapestries in your pad. Add 1/3 cup of vegetable oil and wait until the layers settle. Watching carefully, shake salt into the jar while you count to five. The oil and salt should form a glob and sink to the bottom of the jar. As the salt dissolves in the water, the oil should float back to the top. Keep adding more salt to watch the action repeat.
WHY IT WORKS: At first, the oil floats on the water because it's lighter--or, more accurately, it's less dense than the water. It also doesn't mix with water, so it won't dissolve. The salt, however, is denser than the water and does dissolve. When you shake it onto the oil, it clings and drags a glob to the bottom. In time, however, the salt starts to dissolve in the water. At a certain point, it can no longer hold down the oil blob, which then floats back up to the surface.

Groovy Lava Lamp

Just like its store-bought cousins, this mesmerizing homemade lava lamp relies on a simple scientific fact: oil and water don't mix. When you pour both into a bottle, the denser water sinks to the bottom, leaving the oil on top. A store-bought lamp uses heat to propel the water up through the oil, but here the fizz from an antacid tablet triggers the frenetic action. The carbon dioxide bubbles shoot globules of colored water upward, and the globules drift back to the bottom as the bubbles disperse.
Materials
Clear plastic bottle, cleaned and label removed (our is a 500-milliliter bottle)
Vegetable oil
Water
Food coloring
Pie pan
Effervescent antacid tablets such as Alka-Seltzer
Instructions
Fill the bottle just over halfway with the oil, then add water, to an inch from the top. Add 10 drops of food coloring.
Place the bottle on the pie pan to catch potential spills. Cut or break an antacid tablet in quarters and drop one quarter into the bottle. When the bubbling slows, add another quarter-tablet to get it started again. (Adding too many tablets at once will cloud the oil with bubbles.)
To store the lamp, let the bottle sit until all the bubbles have completely dispersed. This prevents the buildup of gas in the bottle. Cap it and put it in a safe place to prevent spills.

Lift an Ice Cube With String

It takes a secret ingredient — and a little old-fashioned chemistry — to amaze your friends with this neat trick.

What You Need
Glass of water
String
Salt
Instructions
Submerge an ice cube in a glass of water for a second or two. Let it float to the top.
Place one end of a length of string on top of the ice cube and sprinkle a little salt over it. Count to 5.
Pick up the loose end of the string. The ice will lift right out of the glass!

How it works: The salt is the secret ingredient. It lowers the freezing temperature of water, so it easily melts ice. That's why people in cold climates spread it on the road after a snowfall — and why the ocean rarely freezes. When you sprinkle the salt on the ice, some of the ice melts back into water, which is absorbed by the string. Seconds later, the water in the string refreezes (the ice underneath the string never touches the salt, so it doesn't melt). The result? The string is frozen to the cube, allowing you to pick it up.

3 Things to Do With Jars

1. LIGHT THE NIGHT

These striped lanterns cast striking patterns and add a crafty touch to patio dinners.
Start with a pint-size canning jar, a safe choice because it's made from tempered glass. Apply glue with a glue stick to the undersides of three 11- by 1/2-inch strips of cotton fabric, then adhere them to the jar. Wind 24-gauge wire three times around the neck of the jar, then twist together the wire ends and trim.
Cut three 12-inch wire lengths, loop one end of each around the neck wire, and twist to secure them. Thread on beads. Holding the three wires together, slide on a large bead, then twist the wires into a single strand. Wrap the strand around a fat marker to make a loop, twist the end around the strand, and trim.
Put flat glass marbles and a tea light inside the jar. Tip: Use an uncooked spaghetti strand as a "match" to light the candle (a parent's job).




2. FLOAT A FISH

Thanks to magnets hidden under the lid, this goldfish shimmies, quivers, and floats in its jam-jar bowl just like the real thing.
To make your own gravity-defying finned friend, cut a fish shape from paper and insert it into a paper clip. Measure the jar's height, cut a thread to match this measure, and tie it to the clip. Tape the other end of the thread to the bottom of the inside of the jar.
Hold the jar upside down: the top of the fish should hang about an inch from the opening. Stack four strong button magnets onto the underside of the lid, then screw the lid in place.
Invert the jar again so that the clip is caught in the magnetic field, then turn the jar upright. Your fish will "float." (You may need to tinker with the length of the thread or the number of magnets to get the effect just right.)
Pour in some beads to create a pebbled bottom.




3. SPOIL A PAL

Canine family members will snap to attention whenever this little pup shows up.
Rescue a large lidded jar from the recycling bin to make your own waggish treat-stash (ours began life as a pickle jar).
Cut out the dog's tail and head from felt, using the jar lid as a sizing guide for the face. With tacky glue, affix a black felt nose and button eyes to the face and draw on the mouth with permanent marker. Glue the face to the lid and the tail to the bottom of the jar.
For the collar, glue a strip of felt in a contrasting color around the lid's edge. Glue on four large buttons for feet.
Lay the jar on a towel with the feet up until the glue dries, then fill the jar with your pet's favorite treats.




(Source: familyfun.go.com)

You may not realize it, but we earthlings are under a lot of pressure. Air pressure, that is. The nine miles of air above us (really 460, if you include the thin atmosphere that extends to the boundary of space) may seem light as a feather, but when you add it up, it really weighs a ton. At sea level, an area of about 1 square foot, about the size of a washcloth, is under about 2,000 pounds of air pressure.

You can show your kids this powerful, invisible force in action by making your own barometer, a device that reveals changes in air pressure. The barometer works best when assembled under the low pressure of a rainy day, making it a great project when foul weather has your kids cooped up inside.

What you'll need
Water
Food coloring
Plastic cup
Plastic bottle
Marker



How to make it
Build It: Have your child pour a few inches of water and a couple of drops of food coloring into a plastic cup. Set a plastic bottle upside down inside the cup. It should be a snug fit but not airtight, and the mouth of the bottle should be well below the waterline but not touching the bottom of the cup. Mark the water level on the outside of the cup with a marker, then set the barometer where it won't be disturbed.
Check It: Look at the barometer after a day or two. If the weather has cleared up, you should notice that the water level in the cup has dropped, while the water in the neck of the bottle has actually risen.
What Happened: When the air pressure increased, as it usually does when clear weather moves in, it pressed down on the water in the cup, forcing it up into the neck of the bottle.

source: spoonful.com

Fabric Dancing

Materials
Pieces of colorful fabric or scarves -- anything shiny, silky, or draping
Instructions
Bring out a few pieces of colorful fabric or scarves -- anything shiny, silky, or draping -- and let her twirl them around as she moves.
You can use the fabric for a dancing game of peekaboo, hold some up for a makeshift curtain, or tie it on for a swinging skirt. Try holding two corners each and wave the fabric like a parachute, in time to the music.
If your child's pretty steady on her feet, hold one corner each and let your child spin toward you into the fabric, then pull it to send her twirling away again.

Crafty Doll with yarn & plastic bottle

Materials
Clean plastic bottle
Double-sided tape
Yarn (we used 24 yards to cover a 10-inch-tall bottle)
Scissors
Wooden spoon
Paint, markers, or crayons
OPTIONAL MATERIALS
Accessories such as googly eyes, ribbon, beads, and tacky glue

Instructions
Place 4 equally spaced strips of double-sided tape vertically up the sides of the bottle. Wrap double-sided tape horizontally around the bottom and top edges of the bottle and around any contours where the yarn might slip.
Attach one end of the yarn near the bottom edge of the bottle with a small piece of double-sided tape. Then, working from the bottom up, wrap the entire bottle with the yarn. Make your rows tight enough that you no longer see the plastic, but not so snug that the yarn is stretched thin.
To switch to a different color, simply knot the new shade to the old and snip off any dangling threads. Once the entire bottle is covered, tie off the yarn at the neck.
Draw facial features on the bowl of the spoon with paint, markers, or crayons. Decorate the rest of the doll any way you like. You might glue on yarn hair, tie on a pretty necklace, or add clothing, such as a doily skirt. Once you're finished, drop the handle of the spoon into the bottle. (If yours is top-heavy, put some dry lentils or rice in the bottom.)



(source: familyfun.go.com)

Sailboat
Made of sticks laid in a grid, this boat offers smooth sailing. Pick a lucky toy to take passengers on a ride.

For the boat's bottom, glue sticks, slightly spaced (they expand in water), onto support sticks. Leave space in middle for mast to fit snugly. Glue sticks across top (cut away part of middle stick to make room for mast).
For mast, overlap two red sticks; glue. Cut newspaper into a sail and stamp on name; cut slits in sail. Put sail on boat.

The Very Busy Spider: Spinning spider Web

source: crafttoart.com

Fish Tank Aquarium Fun - Recycled Glass Jar

source: crafttoart.com

1,2,3,4,5 once I got a Fish alive

source: crafttoart.com

We had so much fun creating Fish Tank Luminary that we made one for Valentine's Day. My Husband(Mr.J) is a music lover and works on music compositions during his free time. We(CJ and I) made a Music notes luminary as Valentine gift. He liked our gift. Though he is not using it as luminary, Music pen stand decorates his Music table.

Materials Used:
Glass Jar
white Tissue Paper
Gloss-Lustre Mod Podge
Thick Paint Brush
Recycled Styrofoam container to mix up mod podge
Sticko Music notes sticker
Tea light Or LED light

Science experiments with plastic bottles

PIPE CLEANER MAGNET BOTTLE

We cut pipe cleaners into small pieces and put them in a plastic bottle, then used a magnet to move them about inside the bottle.



MINI LAVA LAMP

We used a small plastic bottle to make a simple mini lava lamp. We filled the bottle three quarters full with vegetable oil and then filled the rest with a mixture of water and blue food colouring. This works best giving the bottle a good shake.



source: http://sunnydaytodaymama.blogspot.co.uk

MAGICAL HAND - NEMO AQUARIUM

Source: http://myhandicraftscollection.blogspot.co.uk

Hand Cut Butterflies

(Source: Notimeforflashcard.com)



Gather your materials. You will need 2 pieces of construction paper,scissors, crayons, glue,googly eyes and some sequins.



Start by tracing your child’s hands.



Next give them the 2nd piece of construction paper and have them draw whatever they want.
While they create a butterfly habitat or just scribble ( it’s all great practice and creativity!) cut out the hands and lay the thumbs on top of each other. Trim the bottom so it looks like a butterfly glue together. Older children can do this and should do the cutting if they can.



Glue onto the decorated paper.
I used a crayon to outline where the body was and some antennae.
Add the glue
Add the bling! Start with the eyes.



Next add lots of beautiful sequins. Picking up these tiny sequins is an awesome fine motor activity,encourage your child to pick them up making an O with their thumb and index finger,not by sliding them off the table.
Let dry !