Pin It to Win It from www.pinterestmama.com #1: Willow Play Kitchen

Hello Readers! 

If you were directed here by http//www.pinterestmama.com or if you came by way of @pinterestmama on Twitter, you are in the right place!

It's me! I am @pinterestmama and www.pinterestmama.com is my new venture!

What is Pinterest Mama all about?

Well, let me tell you:

Pinterest Mama is a place you can use as a go-to source on how to make the most of your Pinterest experience. For those who are already familiar with Pinterest, you know how awesome it is!
I'm un-offically the world's biggest Pinterest fan and want to help you make the most of your Pinterest experience.

But for those who are not yet familiar with Pinterest, here is the exact quote of what Pinterest has to say about themselves from their own website (This is the exact quote from their own website):

"Pinterest is a Virtual Pinboard. "

"Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes. Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests."  Source: www.Pinterest.com 

Simply stated, Pinterest is an awesome place where you can Dream BIG!
You can dream - pin - plan - organize - make a reality!
So my thought was to create a place to share ideas on how to make the most of Pinterest.
There are so many possibilities for using Pinterest!
Well, as an intro. of what Pinterest can do for you, here is a beginning idea for those of you who love giveaways:

Giveaway Prize:
Willow Wooden Play Kitchen and Metal Utensils Set.
Perfect for a an unschooling family, or a Waldorf - Play Based - Reggio Emilia  - or Montessori inspired classroom or homeschool!
Also would be great for a nonprofit that works with young children!
This is just a gorgeous set, has two shelves for storage, is made of pine and is 37" tall 22" wide and 12" deep. No ply wood or MDF. Solid, sturdy, and handcrafted.
The Willow Wooden Play Kitchen retails for $250.00
The Stainless Steel Cookware Set retails for $22.50
So, the prize package is a wonderful prize worth $272.50!!!
Wow!!!

Here is the thing:

You have to either pick this up locally or make plans for shipping or pick up. 

This package does not include shipping or packing.

If you live somewhere that is not close to where we are near Tampa, Florida, then if you want to win, you will have to make your own arrangements as far as how this awesome prize will get to you! You could pay to have it shipped or you could make arrangements for it to be picked up on your behalf if say you have relatives or friends planning to head to Florida during the next few weeks.

A little on the back story of this lovely set:
Had purchased this set thinking that it would be something neat for some friends of mine, but the shipping was going to be somewhat cost prohibitive.
So when I contacted Pinterest, purchased www.pinterestmama.com and set up @pinterestmama, decided that what might be a great way to get the word out about Pinterest would be to give this away to a lucky winner!!!

Update: 

This giveaway is now closed. Comments are now closed.
The winner, as determined by Random.Org, is comment #19, submitted by tlb.

Congrats to tlb!

tlb said...

Would Love to Win! Enjoy your blog!! and pinterest looks very informative and Fun for all! Willows products quality look wonderful and play stands could be used for so much imaginative play, Thanks!

Drawing started 11/10/2011 and ended 11/25/2011.
Winner, tlb,  will be notified on or by 11/28/2011 following the review of all submissions.
Winner was chosen randomly via Random.Org


Some Disclaimers are here, but for the complete disclaimer post, please click to read here.

Contacted Pinterest and have permission to go as Pinterest Mama, @pinterestmama and www.pinterestmama.com as long as it is very clearly stated that I am not an employee of Pinterest.

Also contacted Willow Toys and have sent them a link to this giveaway!

Here are some photos of Big Bro and Little Bro in our kitchen with this lovely prize! 

 

Wouldn't this be awesome to win???

Fabulous Willow Kitchen Set!

Stainless steel utensils set is in this bag.

Gorgeous Willow Play Kitchen!

Stamp from Willow showing that it is authentic.

My goal is for all of you to want to Dream BIG...
Follow your heart and pin what makes you happy and what you feel passionate about as far as creating - visualizing - and learning for your family and for yourself.

Did You Know That October 4th is World Animal Day?

Yes, it is true! 

October 4th has been designated as World Animal Day.

According to the World Animal Day website, the mission of World Animal Day is as follows:

MISSION STATEMENT - WORLD ANIMAL DAY

• To celebrate animal life in all its forms

• To celebrate humankind’s relationship with the animal kingdom

• To acknowledge the diverse roles that animals play in our lives – from being our companions, supporting and helping us, to bringing a sense of wonder into our lives 

• To acknowledge and be thankful for the way in which animals enrich our lives

So what can you do with children to promote World Animal Day?

Well, that is really up to you...but there are loads of possibilities...here are a few:
Visit an animal shelter.
Send financial support to your choice of a non-profit that works to help animals.
Build a bird feeder or put out bits of materials that birds might want to use to make a nest.
Adopt a shelter animal.
Help care for family pets or class pets by helping to feed and care for the pet.
Make an animal enrichment for a pet, such as a new animal-safe toy or else make homemade animal- specific treats, such as homemade doggy biscuits, etc.
Learn about endangered and threatened animals and see what you can do to help them.
Read several books about animals and their habitats.
Our personal favorites for animal books include:
Maurice Pledger books, Leap Frog Nature Books by Jennifer Boudart and Sarah Toast, and One Small Square books by Donald Silver.

There are also some neat projects from around the world listed on the World Animal Day website, including:
Worldwide WAD - sharing experiences

Malta - Animals and Art

Nigeria - Cultivating Kindness

Romania - a School Visit

Singapore – Safari@PL: a Celebration of World Animal Day

United Kingdom - an Early Years Perspective

USA - Classroom Management and the Teacher's Pet

USA - Super-Humane Kids

United Kingdom - Minny's Dream - the nightmare world of the battery hen house

Big Bro loved reading about what was done in the USA by a school about Class Pets. Little Bro loved reading about what was done in Malta about animals and art.
 

How does this tie in with Montessori inspired learning?
Dr. Maria Montessori felt strongly about caring for animals and highly encouraged middle school aged children to work on caring for animals, such as those on a farm.
Caring for a family pet falls under the realm of practical life.
Learning to be gentle, compassionate, and peaceful towards animals in general and in particular, towards family pets, is a great life lesson.

How does this relate to discovery based, Reggio Emilia style, Malaguzzi inspired learning?
Well, in a Reggio Emilia environment, projects arise from the interests and the environment of the child and his or her community as a whole. The environment is considered to be the third teacher. How this relates to learning about animals is learning about animals that are indigenous to your area and how to protect native species from being overtaken by non-native ones. Examples of that here in Florida are snakes, fish, and pigs that are not native to Florida that have wrecked havoc on native animals. Florida Fish and Wild Life does different programs throughout the year to educate families about the problem with releasing animals into the wild that do not belong to them. People who have not been educated about the harm of introducing non-native animals to ponds when they are tired of having them as pets need to learn how that harms the environment.
Taking a young child out to see and learn about the animal habitats near their home is a good way to have a child develop an appreciation for the circle of life and native species in their region.

What are we doing as a homeschool family here in Florida?
We have been reading many animal books and learning how people can impact the habitats in which animals live. We try to do things that are eco-friendly and animal safe.
We have done several art and science projects related to animals and protecting their environments.
We have visited animal shelters, animal sanctuaries, nature centers, organic farms, and zoos.
We have had our sons take nature classes through various co-ops to learn about wildlife native to Florida.
We encourage our sons to actively help out with our family pets here in our home, consisting of three frogs, one fish, and a pup. The boys love their doggy and their doggy loves the boys!
Our dog likes to have the boys play with him, take him for walks, and keep him out of harm's way.
One problem that we face here in Florida is that there are several little creatures that can make a dog quite sick if they come in contact with them, from frogs to toads to snakes, so one of the things we do here is to always make sure that we walk our pup in a well lit area.
We have worked at educating how important it is to keep a watchful eye not only on our dog and what he does manage to get into while walking but just the general area around where we walk our dog.
The boys know what a Marine Toad looks like, as well as Cotton Mouths and Coral Snakes, and they do their best to stay away from any of these creatures in our neighborhood.
they also have learned as to where the armadillos nest near our home and try to keep our dog away from their den, as they would not want our dog to scare the armadillos or for the armadillos to scare our dog.
Also timely is the release of the wonderful movie based on the true story called A Dolphin Tale. Pulls at the heartstrings on many levels because the Clearwater Marine Aquarium where Winter, the dolphin,  was rehabilitated and where the movie was filmed is in Clearwater, Florida...a short hop, skip, and jump away from our home. We have been to that aquarium, we have seen the dolphin, and we knew about the subject of the movie long before it was in the theaters.  Also special is that the boy who helped the dolphin is a homeschooled student!
Yay for homeschooling!!! He was able to be so devoted to his beloved Winter, the Dolphin, because he had the time to devote to his passion of caring for the dolphin! How cool is that?!?

Well, hope that you and your children had a Happy World Animal Day Today!

Here are some photos of some of the books that our family enjoys, as well as some World Animal Day posters and some photos of our pets:

Little Bro showing some of his favorite pets!

Big Bro working on some posters for World Animal Day!

Some of Big Bro's pet pictures for his poster...

One of the neat animal books that we have read...very timely, as with the release of the movie, A Dolphin Tale. The movie was filmed at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium nearby our home.

Checking out pets for adoption with a family friend. This is something that we do once in a while, to go visit animals that are up for adoption. We did not go today to visit animals, but it is something that we do pretty regularly to think about helping animals in need.

Visiting a show about animals at G-Wiz Science Museum in Sarasota, Florida.

All About Pets Lapbook...Big Bro made a Pets lapbook when he was five so now, it is Little Bro's turn to make one!

Pockets for Little Bro's work about pets...

Pet cards for Little Bro. He can copy these cards using his movable alphabet.

Bendaroos Pets that Big Bro made. Bendaroos work well to make tiny, colorful animals.Both boys love using Bendaroos for animal themed art projects.

Holding a little lizard on our lanai...this is a daily occurrence. The boys love to catch and release the various lizards they find by our home. They are very gentle and know to wash their hands thoroughly before and after handling them.

Pets artwork created by the boys. Boy, how they love animals!

Doggy love!

Walking our doggy!

In addition to lots of lizards, snakes, toads, frogs, and alligators, we also have all kinds of turtles living nearby our home.

Did you do anything for World Animal Day? 

We would love it if you would link up your post in the comments section.

Have you done a neat Pets theme or Animal Conservation theme with your children?

Would love to see and read about what you did about animals in your homeschool or classroom!

Have you gone to see the movie, A Dolphin Tale?

What did you think about the movie?

Did you know that there was a homeschool connection to the movie?

Please feel free to share a link to your animal themed posts in the comments section of this post.

Reggio Emilia Wednesday: Glitter Glue Fun!

We have been busy getting back into the swing of things here in the Sunshine State.
The boys have been working on a variety of new Montessori inspired works, as well as a neat, long term, Reggio Emilia inspired project on indigenous peoples of North and Central America.
But things are still a work in progress so there is not much to show in the way of photos just yet.

Tonight, after dinner, we needed a fun little sort of art project to get them to settle down and unwind a bit. They had been having a blast chasing each other around with flashlights but in the process, they both started to wheeze and cough...so I quickly tried to get them to come up with something that would require sitting and taking it easy at the kitchen table. They are still not 100% better and as soon as they get wound up and start chasing each other, you can really hear both of them wheezing.

So, when given a choice of something to do at the table to wind down, the boys ended up opting to do an art project.

This one was very easy to set up and to have fun in a short amount of time...
Here is an overview of the Glittery Fun Project:

Materials needed:
Paper
A variety of glitter paint pens and glitter glues placed into a basket
Smocks
Wet paper towels or wipes, in case any of the glitter gets onto the table top or hands.
Optional: Additional items, such as self inking stamps, stickers, etc. 

Directions:
Children should put on their own smocks.
Each child should then take a paper or two for themselves and should then select the glitter paints and glitter glue pens they wish to use.
They should squirt their glittery designs onto the paper.
They can choose to either leave the designs as is or else, they can layer a second sheet on top of the first to do a resist.
If they choose, they may want to add other fun items to the paper.
The key if you wish to make this more of a Reggio Emilia project is to try to observe what they say and do as they are working...to take some notes and to record what they have to say about the process and the products that they create.
My sons both had fun mixing the colors and discussing how the glitter shined under the light of our kitchen chandelier.
They made several comments about their creations...
I just worked on being an observer tonight and sat back as they playfully designed their works.

Tonight, Little Bro decided to add some robot stamps to his glittery picture. It was refreshing to see that he was willing to add another element to his art without worrying about whether or not the robot stamps and the glitter glue should be mixed in an art project.

Big Bro chose to instead make two glittery pictures using the resist method and then, he made separate stamper pictures with the robot stamps after completing his glittery ones.
Big Bro has more of an idea that things should serve distinct purposes and is not as comfortable with mixing mediums for his art. If he is doing a drawing, then he does not want to add paints or glue to the work. If he is working with glitter pens and paints, adding robot stamps is not a logical thing to be added, so he did both, but kept them totally separate.
The key as an adult in this environment is to try to be neutral...to not make either child feel as if they have to choose to either mix mediums or else keep things separate.

No right ways or wrong ways, just different ways to have fun doing art.

The focus is on them understanding their own art, not for them to do what they perceive an adult wants them to do...key tenets for both Montessori and Malaguzzi / Reggio Emilia.

 All in all, a super fun, easy project to pull out anytime, but especially nice if you need something that is low maintenance and encourages them to sit and relax as they create.

What Reggio Emilia inspired projects have you been up to lately?

Please feel free to share your links to your posts in the comments section. Can't wait to read through your posts and see what others are doing!

Reggio Emilia Wednesday: A Little Something to Think About...(Thanks, Alfie)

As I was working on preparing my post for Reggio Emilia Wednesday, happened to come across some You Tube clips of Alfie Kohn. Very interesting to think about what he is saying in his talks.
Here is one that resonates in my soul: Achievement vs. Learning.
Kind of hit home this week, as recently, while we were eating dinner, Big Bro posed the question,"What does A, B,C, D mean"?
Asked him to elaborate a bit, as I did not know if this was his attempt at a joke along the lines of, "Why was 6 afraid of 7?...because 7 8(ate) 9...ha ha ha...or his attempt at a math question, or a reading question...so, he added, "You know, what the kids in public schools get...the letters...does B mean Bad? Or does it mean Better"? at which time, Little Bro chimed in that B cannot mean bad, as there is a B in his name...B must mean better.
Then, Big Bro continued,"What happens if a kid gets one of the letters"?
He was curious bordering on nervous about what these letters would mean.
Was along the lines of his curiosity about what happens when a kid gets chicken pox...
Asked him why he had a sudden interest and he said he heard neighbors talking about the letters at the park and he wanted to know what they mean and why a kid would want a particular letter.

At that very moment, it dawned on me that the boys have absolutely no concept of grades. 

They just learn for the sake of learning, and they love learning for the sake of learning, not for some arbitrary letters. 

The only thing that came close to a concept of grading for Big Bro is that when he went to VPK (preschool for 4 year olds here), back when we still worried about socialization so we thought sending him to VPK would be a good thing for him, right???, his teacher used to put smiley faces on the tops of all of his papers. She also gave all of the "Good Boys & Girls" a Skittles candy every day that they were "Good"...
Big Bro liked that at first but then, since he was getting Smileys & Skittles all of the time, and he finally asked if he could please do something a little more interesting, she brought in a second grade math workbook and started giving him sheet after sheet after sheet from the workbook to keep him busy while the others finished their work...
Big Bro went from being happy doing the math he enjoyed to totally dreading it and actually, when we started homeschooling, he told me that he loved learning about everything but math...
His interest and love for this subject had been sucked right out of him.
It has been so refreshing to see Big Bro come full circle and love math again.
He loves learning for the sake of learning and so does Little Bro.
Homeschooling drawing on inspirations from Reggio Emilia, Montessori, and a few other approaches thrown into the mix has made this a way of life for our family. We work on projects as a family. We see the value in lifelong learning and learning while living.
Experiential learning, not workbooks and skills and drills.
The children look forward to their work, which is largely play based, and get up happy and ready to take on the day.
Well, later in the day, will post some photos our family completing the final steps of the project we have been working on since shortly after Thanksgiving. It has been an awesome, long range project for our whole family and we look forward to sharing it with you...just need a little more time to wrap the last bits of the project up enough for some photos...
Until then, here is the You Tube clip of Alfie Kohn and his very wise two cents regarding achievement vs. learning, plus a little cheer for this wise man:
Go Alfie, Go Alfie...
Go, go, go Alfie!!!



Please feel free to comment on this post, as well as to link up if you have anything related to Reggio Emilia or even something related to Alfie Kohn and Unschooling, as he is more along the lines of Radical Unschooling, but hey...just gotta love the guy for his thoughts on education...and a shout out to a new blog I discovered called Homeschooling Belle. Jenny has a big family and she and her hubby homeschool via un-schooling, and are Radical Unschoolers. Her take on life is very interesting, so be sure to pop by and check out her nice blog and her thoughts about un-schooling. She actually has a different Alfie Kohn clip embedded in her blog, so pop over and hear more from Alfie.
Also, for this week's link ups, though, please just add your links through the comments section, as I have yet to decide whether to continue with Linky for weekly link ups or whether to try out something new like Inlinkz...if you have thoughts on using either link up service, please leave your thoughts about this too:)

Reggio Emilia Wednesday: Environment as the 3rd Teacher & Giveaway #5

One of the key tenets of the Reggio Emilia approach is that the environment of the child is the "Third Teacher"...

How Dear Hubby and I have interpreted that for our family and our boys is that our home should be inviting, comfortable,  and somewhat orderly with a wide variety of materials to encourage the boys to think, to create, and to expand upon their interests...
We also have to think of the larger picture in terms of "thinking globally and acting locally"...

Since we live in Florida,we need to keep in mind the environment that our boys are in contact with day-to-day...we might try to explore other climates and other environments but our day-to-day is here...pretty tropical, sunny much of the time, loads of flora and fauna to explore.
What we are not in contact with day-to-day is the cold, snowy environment during winter time that Dear Hubby and I grew up in, went to school in, etc.
We have not been in a snowy environment in over four years.
Little Bro was a tiny baby the last time we were in a cold, snowy place during winter time. 
Little Bro really, truly does not have a concept of snow. He actually refers to Parmesan cheese as "snow". When we have gotten photos from friends showing their children playing in the snow, he comments how it looks like they are having fun playing in foam. Why foam? Well, in Celebration, Florida, which is a reasonably short road trip from where we live, they cover part of their shopping district with white foam during a few weeks in December. Then, children can play in this foam, can take horse drawn rides on the streets, all the while surrounded by this fake stuff that is similar to shaving cream. They go all out and even have cotton batting on some of the roofs to look like snow...still looks like cotton batting, but they do at least try to make it look like a northern wintry scene.
When Little Bro has seen picture books depicting children wearing scarves, he routinely will say something about "the rope around their neck" or "the extra sleeve they hang on the hooks when they hang up their jackets"...
He does not automatically distinguish mittens from gloves, snow pants from overalls, and could not properly explain how a toboggan works, what snow shoes do when you put them on your feet, or how plastic bread bags can be of any help if you plan to go sledding.

I have had to do a bit of a shift since we have lived here, for my childhood environment is so vastly different than my sons here...

 Also, have had to work to get up to speed about what you can and cannot do with a palm frond, how you should not walk across the grass in your bare feet and whatever you do, you should not roll on the lawn, as it could either contain fire ants or if it is in the winter, when St. Augustine Grass goes dormant, it turns into the most prickly feeling stuff and is like stepping into a pile of splinters...ouch!!!

So, how does a northern mama who grew up used to "lake effect snow" and "wind chill advisories" as regular winter happenings deal with this environment so that this environment can be the third teacher for her southern born sons who view anything below 70 as "sweater weather"???

Well, simply put, I have to learn about our Floridian environment as the boys learn about it too...and so does Dear Hubby. 

Well, hope that you have enjoyed this Reggio-Emilia inspired post...

If you have a post that you would like to share that deals with having to shift your thinking to make your children's environment their third teacher, please add your linky. 

Or, if your children have been working on a Reggio-Emilia inspired project, please be sure to share. 

Would also love to hear from folks who try to integrate Reggio Emilia into their Montessori programs or Montessori into their Reggio Emilia programs, or any combination of these.  

For starters, I am adding the Linkys from last week, in case any of you missed these...but hope that we will get some new link ups from my readers. Am also linking up some neat information about a program that is going to be offered soon in Illinois. The presenter, JH Helm, highlights Reggio Emilia, Montessori, Godly Play, and Project Based Learning, so I found it to be an interesting read and if we lived close enough for me to easily attend, I would wanna go for sure...if any of you live or can easily travel to attend this workshop, sounds pretty cool...may wanna check it out for yourself.

Also, am providing a Linky to the Learning Materials Workshop Blog, as Learning Materials Workshop is  endorsed as an Official Reggio Emilia Resource. They have started to do workshops in conjunction with AMS. If you contact them and order from them, please tell them that you were directed from a Linky on Sunrise Learning Lab. I love their products and would love, love, love to be able to attend one of their workshops. Their Linky to the blog is in the Linky section of this post and the link to their Reggio Emilia inspired store, is in the Links in the link bar above the header of my blog. Learning Materials Workshop makes the most interesting beautiful looking block sets that I have ever seen. In addition, they sell other wonderful resources about the Reggio Emilia approach to learning.

Also, for today's Whole Lotta Love Giveaway:

Neat plane construction kit from Alison's Montessori. 

Disclaimer: 

Plugged the Geometric Solids and Plane Figures from Alison's Premium Quality Line  during the time frame of this giveaway, as they deserved to be plugged and I was just thrilled to have won them from Montessori for Everyone! 

Am providing links to Alison's Montessori Premium Line as well as Montessori for Everyone because I was impressed at how professionally this giveaway was conducted and how cool it was to win from them!

I did not have to give one of the plane construction kits away, as they actually mailed both kits for my sons, but since we have been so blessed to have won the beautiful Premium Quality Geometric Solids and Plane Figures from Alison's, I wanted to share the love and give one of the two plane construction kits to a public follower or subscriber of my blog to just say thanks for being a reader of Sunrise Learning Lab. The opinions I have expressed are my honest opinions and this is something that I chose to do and was not asked or required to do.

Update: 

The winner of this giveaway, as chosen by Random.Org,  is comment #2, Jennifer. 
Congrats to Jennifer!

Here is part of Jennifer's comment:

Well, if Big Bro loved it, I have a feeling my Ryan will love it as well. He's so mechanically inclined... LEGOS, blocks, even sculpture... he absolutely loves building with his hands! As for the environment as a teacher, we'll we've go about 3 inches of snow and counting outside... so my FL-born boys are learning about environmental differences as well...

This giveaway had ended and comments on this post are now closed. 

Reggio Emilia Wednesday: Pipe Cleaner Fun and a Giveaway, Too!!!

We Play: With Pipe Cleaners!

For Reggio Emilia Wednesday (which we actually completed here yesterday on Tuesday), we have something that is really more of a craft versus an actual fine arts project...but since it was completely conceived by my sons to do this project, it actually falls somewhere in the middle.
 They were not given any direct instructions of what their project should look like or how to weave the pipe cleaners back and forth.
They have done many Montessori style weaving projects as handwork in our home and for those sorts of works, the technique of actually weaving by going in and out in some sort of orderly fashion is important (process), in order to end up with an actual woven piece of cloth (product).
But for this, as is true with many Reggio Emilia projects, the main focus was on the process...namely, the process of using and experimenting with pipe cleaners on a new medium, the piece of bath mats. The boys were able to not only decide freely how they were going to integrate the bath mat pieces and the pipe cleaners but also as to the size and shape and orientation of the pipe cleaners and the bath mat pieces.

They were not given instructions insofar as "here is a work for you to try to replicate a particular animal"...
Instead, it was left totally open ended with them in the lead trying different techniques with the pipe cleaners as they saw fit.
There was not a control of error for this, as there normally would be if it was a Montessori work...they were just allowed to play and enjoy the freedom of doing whatever it was that they felt like making with the pipe cleaners...
Both ways of using pipe cleaners provide a child with the opportunity to develop skills...
Both ways offer a child a way to practice fine motor skills and practical life skills (handwork)...
But, keeping it open ended allowed them to work on visual-spatial skills, higher order thinking, creative expression, and metacognition.
When we started the day, both seemed to show an interest in the large quantity of pipe cleaners that we happened to have in our home...we have an ample supply of pipe cleaners, as the boys had recently picked out packs of them in the Target Dollar section recently...
We also happened to have some scraps from a bath tub mat that had big enough holes in it to poke the pipe cleaners through the holes.
Big Bro got the idea to make "a coral reef as well as a sea monster and sea monster hair"

Little Bro decided it would be fun to make "some fish, a stripy tiger, a snail and a snake"...

They really enjoyed bending the pipe cleaners, trying out different configurations, and seeing how the pipe cleaners worked with the bath mat pieces. 
All in all, they had a great time making their creations.

They have done more organized crafty projects using pipe cleaners, such as making actual pipe cleaner animals. We have purchased several of the Martha Stewart pipe cleaner animal kits in the past and used them to not only make pipe cleaner animals but also to be the base for wet felted animals, too...
The pipe cleaner kits from Martha Stewart make wonderful shelf work for our Montessori mornings, as the kits have a built in control of error in that you can only make something based on the pieces that you have and instructions are provided that a child can use to compare and contrast how they made their work versus how the kit suggests it to be made.
There are loads of neat pipe cleaner projects that might be of interest to your family if your child enjoys using pipe cleaners like my boys do here...

Here is a list of links to some great pipe cleaner projects:
Martha Stewart Pipe Cleaner Creatures
Squidoo Pipe Cleaner Crafts  - Fun Activities for Kids
Pipe Cleaner Fun as Part of Playdough Playtime by Not Just Cute
Dr. Seuss Pipe Cleaner Fun by Wendy Piersall

Now, for Today's Whole Lotta Love Giveaway - Giveaway #2: Pipe Cleaner Fun Prize Pack

Giveaway ran from 1/19/11 thru 2/2/11. this giveaway has now ended and the winner has been contacted.

Disclaimer: 

I was not asked by anyone to do a pipe cleaner giveaway. This is just something that I thought would be fun, as it  is something that my boys have enjoyed doing so I thought that your family would like it too. 

This giveaway has ended and comments for this post are now closed.

Reggio Emilia Wednesday: Bahamas Blast!

We are going to the Bahamas in the near future, so to prep Big Bro and Little Bro for our trip, we have started to do some work about The Bahamas.
We have learned about the food, clothing, customs, sea and land animals, homes, restaurants and shops of The Bahamas.
What was really neat was to learn about an interesting holiday called Junkanoo. Junkanoo starts on December 26th. It involves a big parade and wearing ornate masks. The holiday has African roots, and originally coincided with Christmas but was moved to be on Boxing Day instead of Christmas. Sometimes, the celebrations go on well into the first week of January.
Both Big Bro and Little Bro made Junkanoo inspired masks, sans the feathers as feathers make us a bit sneezy here. They had such a fun time making these scary masks.
Mask making seems like it is going to morph into a long range Reggio Emilia inspired project about masks, as making the masks and learning about them seemed to really pique the interests of both Big Bro and Little Bro.
We have other masks in our Montessori inspired continents boxes from Italy, England, South Korea, and The Bahamas so it has some real potential to develop into more than just a one day Junkanoo mask project.  Discussing how emotions are portrayed on masks was very interesting to the boys. They also liked looking at how ornate the various masks were, as well as how the masks were pretty symmetrical...so this should be a fun start to an ongoing mask project here in the Sunshine State.

Dear Hubby helped me to format some three part cards and a bingo game of sorts all about The Bahamas.
Here are some photos of our Bahamas inspired work:

Big Bro working on making his Junkanoo mask.

Big Bro adding some detail to his mask...

Little Bro making his mask and imitating the look on his mask.

Big Bro's scary Junkanoo mask. All Junkanoo masks tend to look a little scary.

A little twist on three part cards....at Big Bro's request, we made an extra set of the cards and laminated them as "gameboards" so that we could play Bahamas Bingo for Family Game Night.

One of the picture cards for our Bahamas three part cards. This is the flag of The Bahamas.

Little Bro and Big Bro sporting their Junkanoo masks. Mask making was such a cool project! This is the spring board for more mask making fun, to be certain!

In addition to a long range Reggio Emilia inspired mask making project, we are also going to make some  snacks inspired by The Bahamas for this week, include some made of plantains and coconut. Yummy and fun!

Getting closer and closer for the real Bahamas experience...hope we will be able to pick up some real Junkanoo masks when we go there.

What are you doing in your classroom or homeschool this week?

Any long term Reggio Emilia inspired projects?

How are you integrating Montessori and Reggio Emilia in your home or classroom?

Any cool Reggio Emilia inspired projects you have discovered and think should be linked up here?

Please link up if you have something that you would like to share:

Learning All About Pets

Theme: Pets
One topic that has continued to develop as a theme for what the boys want to learn about is pets.
Both Big Bro and Little Bro just adore pets of all kinds so we did a pets study of sorts,  primarily focused on pets that our family already has, including dogs, frogs, and fish, but then, we also added pets that the boys would like to have, including turtles and hamsters.
Since we had some resources to go with cats, birds, and rabbits, we touched upon these animals as pets too...

Using themes based upon their current interests gives us a way to bring the activities together for both boys but in new ways. This way, Little Bro gets to learn these concepts without it having to be a total repeat of how Big Bro learned these.
Big Bro had already learned about the parts of a fish and the life cycle of a frog, but now, we were able to revisit these concepts through doing a pets unit, keeping it interesting for both boys.

Montessori Inspired Work:
We have a set of three part cards about pets that Big Bro had already used as language work with the movable alphabet,  but then, this time, as we discussed pets, I made additional copies of the cards and the corresponding picture story starter and encouraged Big Bro to use them in new ways.
Both boys ended up cutting out a set of their own cards and made their own activities to go along with the cards. Little Bro was still able to choose to do the pets work as a language work with the movable alphabet, but it opened up new options for Big Bro...

Little Bro had some shelf work about pets where he was able to match the pet shapes to their correct homes. He enjoyed doing this work... 
For language work, Big Bro read his appropriately leveled books about pets, both independently and with me, Little Bro read his beginning reader books with me, and then, I read books to both boys, including nonfiction themed books, picture books, and longer chapter books about pets.
Little Bro also designed his own Find the Puppy book to go with our pup.
To make this book, as a fun extension after you have read Find the Puppy, have your child to make their own Find Your Pet book...
To do this, take shots of your rooms and then, have your child draw your pet. then, make copies of your child's drawing and glue each one onto its own book page. Cut flaps on your photos so that they can be lifted and your pet will be revealed underneath. Then glue the photos over the book pages and voila! Your own personal version of Find the _______(Your pet).
Little Bro had a blast making one of these!
We used the dogs that we normally have as part of our continents box for Europe as part of maps work but also as part of math work.
The boys worked together and found each dog's country of origin.
Then, from that point on, they used the dogs for different works...Little Bro used the dogs for math work, doing ordinal counting of the dogs, one to one correspondence of the dogs to little balls that he made for them out of Play Doh, and ordering them in size from biggest to smallest, etc. 
Big Bro has been working on the concept of sets and subsets, as well as greater than / less than so for his work, he used the dogs  by putting them into groups / sets such as: farm dogs, search and rescue dogs, military / police dogs, service dogs, and those considered to be toy dogs.  He made subsets that included separating out the service dogs into different types of work that they do, etc.
Then, he made sets based upon characteristics, such as those holding a toy, those showing their tongues, those showing their teeth, dogs with similar types of fur, etc. and then, he compared and contrasted the size of each set.
For a cooking project, we plan to make two kinds of homemade biscuits, one for our pup to eat and one that is meant for people to eat. Decided to wait until this weekend to make these, as I know that two kids plus a cooking  project involving flour will be a little messy but fun! Plan to let the boys use pet shaped cookie cutters for these...will have to post some photos when we do this...

Reggio Emilia Inspired Activities and Community Events, including Special Co-op Days & Field Trips
For art, we will convert the space on our lanai over to be a studio to make and create pets art projects all next week. Have been trying to get back into the groove of using the book, The Language of Art: Inquiry-Based Studio Practices in Early Childhood Settings, by Ann Pelo, as both inspiration and guidance for setting up and doing Reggio Emilia studio art with the boys. But have found that what works best for us is to do one week on, one week off, with respect to setting up the studio space itself. This is because initially, we had a dedicated space to do art projects on our lanai but the boys like being out there so much to do both schoolwork and to just hand out and play out there that every other week is the best compromise for the space...
We will have materials out on the lanai for the boys to try out making watercolor and chalk pastel pets pictures, as well as clay pets. Should prove to be fun.

We have been visiting some area pet stores to learn more first hand about pets.
We had a special day with some of our co-op friends and did a "Pizza & Pets" Day.

First, we met at a pizza shop and did a little class about pets and then, we had some great pizza. Thanks to Marchello's for being good sports about letting us do a homeschool project before we had our pizza party. Worked out so perfectly though, as we had everything wrapped up by the time our pizzas were ready. We talked about how to care for a pet and then, each child drew a picture of their idea for a perfect pet and then, we went around the table and everyone shared their art and what they had learned about taking care of pets.
After we finished our yummy pizza, we walked to the nearby pet store.
The children had a fun time for the most part, although Big Bro and Little Bro learned a life's lesson: sometimes, pets bite.
Big Bro was bitten twice on his hand by Robo  / Dwarf Hamsters. He said that it only felt like a pinch, but was quite devastated to have been bitten, because he knew that this would probably put the idea of getting pet hamsters as pets to rest...and he is right, as he had not provoked them when they bit him. He was being very gentle and kind like he is naturally with all animals.
Little Bro also learned this painful lesson, only his bite and the subsequent aftermath of the bite was a bit more scary...
Since Little Bro has Von Willebrand's, when the turtle bit him on his hand, it bled and bled and bled, even though it was a rather tiny bite. Then, to make matters worse, Little Bro immediately stuck his hand into his hand into his mouth...and turtles carry salmonella, so that made us a bit nervous. Little Bro ended up vomiting around 12 hours later, so that made us worry...but it turned out that his sickness was a virus, not from the turtle bite. We took him in to be checked and they said it was not salmonella, but it made us also decide to rule out adding a pet turtle to our pet collection.
We are sticking with the pets we have and are having fun with them for now. The boys both ended up drawing pictures of their bites and we talked about what we had learned from this.

Just as we were starting to study pets, we visited the Miami Children's Museum.
Both boys enjoyed their Pet Central exhibit they had there.
Also, went to the Glazer Children's Museum, both before this unit and during this unit, to check out the Vet Clinic exhibit there, as it deals with pets as well...

We still have a few more pets related field trips in the works for next week: we are going to visit an animal hospital and a local pet shelter. Loads of real life experiences here related to pets!

For additional in-home practical life, the boys have been helping to care for our pets by feeding them and by helping to take our pup for a walk.  They helped to choose new fish tanks and new stones for our fish, as well as prepping sticks and moss for our frog. 

My awesome and very artistic cousin gave us a hand painted a vintage children's suitcase with a painting of her dog on the side. Inside the suitcase are all of Little Bro's pet stuffed animals.
He likes to take these animals out and then, with his veterinarian's kit, he pretends to be a vet and cares for the pets. Sometimes Big Bro will join in to play vet clinic with Little Bro, but most of the time, Little Bro enjoys playing this by himself.

One other material I plan to get to go along with our pets unit is made by Laughing Star Montessori called Pets Story Writing Masters.
Students trace, copy, compose and illustrate stories about pets and practice writing on lines...
Students trace or copy or compose the story. (Then) They draw a picture!

It is a neat little book of black line masters all about pets. Am in the process of reviewing some excellent Laughing Star products.
While reviewing their products, I saw that they have this neat booklet and plan to order it from them.
The products they have sent as pdf's for me to review are excellent.
Am going to run the reviews next week for all of you to read.
Please be sure to check out their website. They have some very nice free downloads  and you can also sign up to receive their newsletter. Their newsletters are great and sometimes offer some savings to their readers.
Everything I have seen about Laughing Star Montessori has been impressive, so if you are looking for some nice products, please come back next week to read my reviews and please visit their website to check their products out for yourselves.

The American Veterinary Medical Association developed a series of twelve lesson plans for National Pet Week, which is in May, but you can really use these any time of year...
These nice lesson plans, appropriate for approximately ages 4-10, can be downloaded for free and with a little tweaking, they are perfect for a Montessori inspired homeschool or classroom.

Would have uploaded more photos but got an error message that I am out of space, so will have to figure that out before I can upload any more photos or blog posts...oops!

Well, hope all of you are having a happy weekend.
We are having a good one here in the Sunshine State.