all the pretty colors.

When my sister and I were wee little things, we went to a preschool that used the Montessori method of teaching. It is basically a teaching style that combines the use of fine motor skills and organizational exercises to produce children that are militant like in their need for order.

Activities that included things like using an eye-dropper to place a single drop of water on each little suction cup on the underside of one of those soap holder thingy-s (you know, the kind with millions of itty-bitty suctions). My sister and I still joke about the ways that our personalities were shaped by the education of our formative years...and how we each have residual effects (mostly good, hehe) of those painstaking little exercises...

So, naturally, I was delighted when she gave Hunter a "Montessori style" gift this year for his birthday. A box full of simple, inexpensive educational activities to help him become just like his momma (basically an organizational freak=).

Tomorrow, Hunter's buddy Declan is celebrating his first birthday, so I decided to make him a set of these wonderful little educational toys! Everything you need to make these treasures can be found at your local dollar store, and the entire gift can be made in under $8!!




To make your own little box of goodness you need to purchase the following:
A Plastic Shoebox
A bag of decorative rocks
A package of pom-poms
A package of balloons
Play-dough
Ice trays
Colorful little bins




The first activity I labeled "Moving and Sorting"with instructions, "Mix all the pom-poms together and then sort them back out, each to their own basket." These adorable little containers came in a four pack, so all I had to do was empty my pom-pom package and pick out the right colors.




The tag on this one states, "One at a time...take them all out and put them each back, or move from one tray to the other". I think this one is pretty self explanatory:)




This last activity, labeled, "Soft and Hard, Heavy and Light", helps kiddos to recognize the difference in how things feel when held and compared. The two red balloons are stuffed with the decorative rocks (heavy & hard), while the orange ones are stuffed with more pom-poms (soft & light), and the blue ones are filled with play dough (heavy but soft).

I put them all inside the box with their proper labels and wrapped them up for the party tomorrow=) now Hunter and his buddy will be the most organized little men around!

(Thanks Nicole for this awesome gift and idea...you know me so well;)