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When I first learned that Renae of Every Star is Different was putting together a printable bundle focusing on the Montessori practical life concept of “care of self,” I admit that I had no idea how she was going to do it. That is a very hands-on part of the Montessori curriculum, and I just couldn’t see how she could make printable activities to go along with that

We began by talking about Theropods, Sauropods, Ornithopods, Armoured Dinosaurs, Ceratopians, Pterosaurs, and Sea Reptiles and the main characteristics that defined them using several of our dinosaur books [see full book list below]. When we began each time period, we read from our books about the climate and environment during that time and then spent one day for each of the different dinosaurs These are the dinosaurs we decided to study in depth (1 per day) for each period: For each dinosaur, we studied what they looked like, if they were carnivores or herbivores, how they moved, where they lived, how big they were compared to humans today, and what their fossils could tell us about other things. We rely heavily on wonderful children’s books for all of our themed studies, and here are the books we used to study the Mesozoic Era as part of our dinosaur study: The Complete Book of Dinosaurs, by Dougal Dixon Stay tuned as we continue our Montessori dinosaur study by examining different theories of extinction!

As the girls get older, their fine motor skills continue to get more advanced and I’m simply puzzled by what new works to provide to meet their needs. I remembered this work from a Montessori primary classroom back when I was teaching, so I brought it out for our homeschool preschool to work on balancing objects! I showed Nora how to line up the cubes, then gently balance a pom-pom on each one. This adds an element of hand strengthening to the balancing work, which is just the challenge Lila needed to hold her interest.

The Montessori Toddler is a finely detailed instruction manual for parents of toddlers, and how I wish it had been around for me to hand out to parents when I was still in a Montessori toddler classroom! The Montessori Toddler is a wonderful tool for parents of young children everywhere, full of invaluable tips and tricks for practically every possible real life situation. The book goes through everything from explaining Montessori principles, to creating Montessori activities for toddlers, to setting up your home spaces to encourage independence, to encouraging curiosity while setting limits, to how to adjust your own mindset as you go through all those things, and then continues on to the practical aspects of how to make it all work together — including the precise language to use and even how to prepare for the years after toddlerhood. This is a must-have for parents of toddlers, and it would make the best baby shower gift to help prepare future parents for the years to come!