From seed to fruit, the life cycle of a pumpkin offers many opportunities to learn about seasons, nature, and the way that plants grow. In this post, we’ll explore the six stages in a pumpkin’s life cycle and share some fun facts about this plant. The Six Stages of the Pumpkin’s Life Cycle Pumpkins have […]
Themes: Holidays
Free Printable: Get Ready for February
The February Seasonal Idea Book is ready! This resource includes ideas for your classroom that are easy to implement and designed to complement your existing Montessori materials. Whether you’re looking to add variety to your routine or bring in some seasonal inspiration, the activities in this book offer simple yet meaningful options. All materials featured here […]
Ramadan Activities for Preschool
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Muslim calendar. The Muslim calendar is a lunar calendar, which means that the months follow the cycles of the moon. This also means that the months do not correspond to the western calendar months. Each year, Ramadan is approximately 11 days earlier than the year before. As the […]
Learning About the Festival of Diwali
I am delighted to welcome Amruta Ram to the Trillium Montessori blog! Amruta lives in India and is passionate about early learning. She is the mom of a toddler who she is raising using Montessori principles. In this guest post, Amruta shares some of the activities she has created for her child as they get […]
A Pun for Father’s Day
Here’s an easy Father’s Day craft if you need to throw something together at the last minute! Even the preschoolers got a chuckle out of this one! “He’s cute!” “He looks nothing like my dad!” “I love his nose!” We talked about how this was a “pun”. “A pun is a kind of joke where […]
Earth Day Preschool Activities
Here are some of the activities we have on our Montessori preschool shelves while we celebrate Earth Day! On the Art Shelf Cutting Strips This is a great activity for who children who are just beginning to learn how to hold scissors properly. (Source: Earth Day Preschool Pack ) Cutting Lines Cutting on the […]
Easter Preschool Activities
This week I’m honored to share with you some photos contributed by one of our long time readers, Dagmar Brumovska! She has a lot fun ideas that you can try on your preschool shelves for Easter. We also have photos of the printable cards included in the Trillium Montessori Easter Preschool Pack. Between the two, your […]
Chinese New Year Preschool Activities
Here are some of the activities we have on our Montessori preschool shelves in preparation for the Chinese New Year! On the Fine Motor Shelf We kept our fine motor shelf pretty simple. We just have a red theme with some rice and dishes from China. Pouring red water Pouring 3 Tonging 1 Tonging […]
Hanukkah
These were some of the activities we had on our Montessori shelves in honor of Hanukkah last week. On the Fine Motor Shelf We kept our fine motor shelf fairly simple with a blue and white color theme. Dry Pouring Wet Pouring Funnel Pouring Tong Transfer Tonging and Making a pattern with pom poms Spooning marbles Spooning glittery […]
Prepare a Montessori Classroom Feast
By mid-Autumn our class was ready to combine lots of practical life skills to come together and prepare a classroom feast! Here’s our step by step process for preparing food, setting the table, and enjoying our meal together! 1. Decide what you want to prepare with your class. In our 3-6 classroom, we made apple […]
Preschool Printables for March and St. Patrick’s Day
Here are some ideas for St. Patrick’s Day themed preschool activities to help you get ready for March. These printables are available in the Trillium Montessori Shop. Sorting pictures of shamrocks and people Shadow matching 0-10 Number Cards 0-10 Number Clip Cards Where is the leprechaun? Prepositions Game Follow 1-3 step directions Related Products Click […]
December Activities for Preschool
Here are a few more December activities to round off the month! Sensorial Smelling and matching Christmas scented candles. Use a blindfold for a fun challenge! Language We LOVE this “I Have Who Has” vocabulary development game from Kindergarten Squared Matching Christmas erasers with their outlines. I don’t remember where I got these but they […]
A Celebration of Light – The Winter Solstice
By Lisa Anderson Spending this time of the year with children reminds me of the beauty the holidays have to offer. Our students come from a variety of backgrounds and we try to acknowledge each family’s cultural traditions and share the joys of the season. This year we are celebrating the winter solstice and preparing […]
Holiday Gifts Your Child Can Sew
Please welcome Aimee Fagan! Aimee’s work on the Montessori Works Blog has been an inspiration to me for a long time. Aimee is a trained Montessori teacher and she has some wonderful resources for the practical life area of the classroom. She also writes about her experiences raising her children in a Montessori home. Today she […]
A St. Patrick’s Day Theme
We’re getting the classroom ready for a St. Patrick’s Day and Rainbow theme! St. Patrick’s Day Fine Motor Activities Check out our St. Patrick’s Day fine motor activities post from last year Rainbows and St. Patrick’s Day Art Activities See more details in this post about rainbow activities from last year. Cutting shapes. I used […]
St. Patrick’s Day Phonological Awareness
These are some of the activities we have on our Phonological Awareness shelf for March! Activity 1: Word Awareness Poem and Sequencing Cards (Source: St. Patrick’s Day Phonological Awareness Pack) Activity 2: Rhyming Riddles (Source: St. Patrick’s Day Phonological Awareness Pack) Activity 3: Beginning Sounds Build-a-Shamrock (Source: St. Patrick’s Day Phonological Awareness Pack) Activity 4: Ending Sounds […]
On the Language Shelves in February
In another post, we shared some of the Valentine themed activities we had in the Fine Motor and Art areas of the classroom… like this heart-tonging work. This time we’re sharing some new activities we have on the Language shelves for February If you (or some of your students) are on heart-themed materials overload, you […]
Christmas Around the World
This month in our class we have been celebrating holidays around the world. We began in America with Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, comparing the similarities and differences between the two. We then departed for a ‘holiday globe trot’, some of which was inspired by A Year of Many Firsts, while also weaving in the heritage of our own […]
December Printables
Here are some of the materials on our shelves in December Play Dough Mats Add these to your play dough work and see what the children do with them. I’ve really developed a liking for play dough mats over the last few years! From the December Preschool Pack Cutting Cutting strips. Children can practice […]
Thanksgiving in Our Class
We wanted to share some pictures from last year’s Thanksgiving Feast. This is the one holiday we always celebrate together as a class. It ties in so well with our study of North America, of plants and food, and is a culmination of so many of the practical life skills we’ve been practicing since the […]
December Phonological Awareness
I find that most Montessori Language Albums (manuals) don’t provide enough information about the pre-literacy skills children need to develop before being introduced to the Sandpaper Letters. In my opinion, a lot of time should to be spent on oral language development and ear training before symbols are introduced. Phonological awareness is an umbrella term […]
Happy Mother’s Day
Trillium Moms are the best! You made our classroom look absolutely gorgeous with the stunning array of flowers you brought us for Teacher Appreciation week. Thank you for the love! We hope you enjoy the Mother’s Day books your children have been busy making for you all week! Mother’s Day Book Making Work Here […]
St. Patrick’s Day Fine Motor Activities
We have rainbows in the class, but St. Patrick’s Day won’t be complete without a little green! Here’s our fine motor shelf for March Pouring On the very top are our pouring activities, in various shades of green. The mini leprechaun hats are from the Dollar Store and the trays are from Montessori Services (affiliate link). […]
Valentine Theme Activities
It’s February – here are some of our favorite classroom activities for this time of year! Pre-Literacy This is a fun matching work that Ms. Rashidah created for us last year. I like how you have to look carefully to make sure you get the correct pair of valentine stamp stickers matched up. Math The […]