What is currently on Kian's Montessori-inspired shelves: fun and educational activities for preschoolers

Hi, thanks for stopping by!

Today I want to show you what activities are currently out on Kian's shelves. His shelving unit is pretty small and narrow to fit our small space. It works perfectly fine for us, though. 

I will first talk you through all the activities, and then I will answer some questions regarding them which my followers asked me on Instagram (@whatmumloves)

On the top shelf, there is a medium-sized Grimms rainbow. Kian uses it in many ways, but mainly he incorporates its pieces into his wooden block creations. We have the basket with the blocks right next to the shelving unit, that's why I like to keep the rainbow on the shelves. 

On the second shelf, there is a Nine Men Morris board game, which we use a little bit differently than intended. I made a few cards for Kian with different patterns of pegs, and he picks one of the cards and tries to copy the pattern onto the board. 

This activity not only stimulates concentration, problem solving and logic, but also allows the child to practice fine motor skills. These pegs are very small, so it takes practice to place them correctly in the holes. 

On the third and fourth shelves, we have some phonics works. I have collected some items, like animals, vehicles, magnetic and wooden letters etc. and put them into baskets and bowls. They provide a fantastic opportunity for hands-on learning for the child. It makes learning much faster and more effective. 

On the last shelf, there is a simple counting activity which comes with a bunch of conkers, a pair of handy scoopers, a dice, a bowl and a wooden plate. The child rolls the dice and then transfers an exact number of conkers as the thrown number of dots on the dice. If you want to recreate this activity but you don't have the scoopers, do not worry. Your child can use a spoon, and ice cream scoop or a ladle instead. 

After showing the shelves on my Instagram, I got two questions from my followers. I thought that I would include them in my blog post because I found them very helpful.

 

Q: How often do you put out new activities on the shelves?

A: It honestly depends on Kian. Usually, the activities stay on the shelf for two weeks. Also, I don't display all activities he is working on on these shelves, because I don't want him to get too bored too quickly. I just get them out of the stash when we want to work on them.

 

Q: What do you do with all the stuff after 2 weeks?

I put them back into my stash and we are going to work on them again and again sometime in the future. When he outgrows an activity, then I pass it onto another child. 

 

 

 

Please let me know in the comment section below, should you have any question. I will happily answer them all :) Have a great day, and thank you so much for your time!

 

Gosia x