Fall Sensory Trays for Little Kids

I have always loved the idea of Montessori trays. They’re a way to gather materials for kids to play with or manipulate that keeps things together and makes it easy to support a theme in the classroom or at home. We never had enough clear shelving to really do the idea justice, but I would set out things on trays for the girl from time to time and she really liked it.

I love these ideas for Montessori-inspired tot trays using natural materials from Uno Zwei Tutu. They’re all great ideas for fall, from painting pumpkins to pushing cloves into an apple to organizing leaves and moving pumpkin seeds from one container to another.

These would be great activities to add to your shelves if you have a Montessori-styled space, or just leave one out on a tray where your child can find it and see what happens.

Do you use trays in your learning activities? I’d love to know how you use them!

[Photo via Uno Zwei Tutu.]

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Easy Sensory Activities for Valentine's Day

I’m in deep denial about the fact that new year is almost upon us again! It’s been the fastest and the longest year at the same time, and I can look back and see some good things as well as some things I wish had gone differently.

Doing a year in review with your kids — whether in the classroom or at home — is a good way to capture some of their memories and the things they really liked about the year gone by.

There are a lot of different printable year in review worksheets you can use if you want to make this super easy. Here are links to a few (often part of larger posts about NYE celebrations with kids that are worth a read, too):

Teach Beside Me has lots of fun printables fro the end of the year, including a year in review that covers favorite memory, funniest memory and the best book they read, among other topics.
NurtureStore‘s version has space for a self-portrait and prompts like favorite toy, best day out this year and future dream job.
Remember favorites, their “best idea” of the year and have room for setting goals for next year with this one from The Keele Deal.
The year in review from Yes We Made This has room for drawing or writing and includes things like something they learned, a memory they made and a place they visited.

Of course you could pretty easily make your own year in review for the whole family to do that asks questions based on what you most want to remember. (Favorite video game? Best friend? Favorite family memory?)

And if after the year in review you’re ready to look ahead a bit, Mrs. Merry has new year’s resolution printables to inspired kids to look ahead and set goals for things they want to try. You can totally fill this one out as a grownup, too.

[Photo: Mrs. Merry]

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