Flower Unit w/ Free Printables

Princess has been asking so many questions about plants and flowers lately.

She was ecstatic when I told her we were going to be studying them during learning time.

I had so much fun putting together this flower unit with free printables.

Any excuse to have lots of beautiful flowers in the house right?

Activities are designed for children in Montessori preschool and elementary classrooms.

Flower Unit with Free Printables

We kicked off our unit by visiting a local flower shop. The owner was extremely kind and gave the kiddos and I a tour and explanation of the whole operation.

By far, the kiddos' favorite place was the greenhouse where they saw all different kinds of plants.

When we were finished, each of the kiddos received a free carnation.

The florist would not let me pay for the flowers I needed for my unit.

This was a very pleasant surprise.

Before the tour, my kiddos didn't know that flower shops even existed.

After visiting, any time they saw someone during the day, they told them about their adventure.

One person we ran into mentioned how her mother is a actual botanist. I love that the kiddos are learning about the world around them in such neat ways.

Moving on to our activities this week!

Flower Identification with Nomenclature Cards

The kiddos will match up the flower figures with the flower cards, learning the names of some of the most popular flowers.

All three kiddos have been dying to get their hands on our new Safari Toob. I'm guessing this will be very popular on our shelves.

Source: I created the printable for this activity. The Flower Unit Printable Pack is a Subscriber's Only Freebie. For your free copy, follow the directions at the bottom of this post.

Flower Colors with the Movable Alphabet

Flower Colors with the Moveable Alphabet

A flower unit is a great time to review color names and spelling. The kiddos will practice spelling their color words, using the rainbow variety of flowers provided. If they're struggling to remember the spellings, they can match up the flowers to the color cards provided, before they attempt to spell the words.

Source: I created the printable for this activity. The Flower Unit Printable Pack is a Subscriber's Only Freebie. For your free copy, follow the directions at the bottom of this post.

Buying Flowers with Money

After I decided to visit a flower shop with the kiddos, I thought this math activity would be a perfect way to help the kiddos remember why the place is so important.

The money cards in no way represent how much flowers cost, but the concept is still the same. We can never review how to count money enough in this house.

Source: I created the printable for this activity. The Flower Unit Printable Pack is a Subscriber's Only Freebie. For your free copy, follow the directions at the bottom of this post.

Flower Arrangement Multiplication

My apologies that this picture doesn't do a great job of showing all involved with this activity.

There are six varied sizes and shapes of vases on this tray, along with cards that display the six times tables. The kiddos will show each multiplication problem as they make corresponding flower arrangements. If Princess was working on the problem 6x4=24, she would make six flower arrangements of 4 flowers each.

My kiddos LOVE making flower arrangements and have mastered the skill. This activity provides a way for them to continue practicing the skill, but adding more learning and variation to it.

Source: I created the printable for this activity. The Flower Unit Printable Pack is a Subscriber's Only Freebie. For your free copy, follow directions at the bottom of this post.

Parts of a Flower

There's no better way to review the parts of a flower, than to identify them using actual flowers. We've done this activity before. I'm hoping the kiddos get more out of it this time around since they're older.

Source: This free printable for this activity can be found at The Helpful Garden.

Studying Parts of a Flower Up Close

Dinomite received a microscope for Christmas from his grandparents last year. I've been taking advantage of every opportunity we have to use it during our studies.

This week we're looking at different parts of a variety of flowers. There's nothing like seeing things up close and personal!

Flowers of the World

Beautiful flowers grow all over the world. Though we may have the opportunity to grow and see a variety wherever we go, they all come from somewhere. The kiddos will sort flowers by continent in this activity.

Source: The printable for this activity was created by Anastasia at Montessori Nature. It is not free, but well worth the minimal expense.

Planting Flower Seeds

Over the past few years, one side of our home has been dedicated to the growing of beautiful flowers and bushes. The kiddos have planted rose bushes. We have the beginnings of a perennial flower garden.

This year the kiddos wanted to grow flowers starting from seeds. We'll start the flowers in containers and then transfer them to our flower garden when the weather gets a bit nicer. Each kiddo picked out a different type of seed.

The kiddos will transfer soil from the bowl to their container, plant the seeds, and then add water. Since the kiddos have been working on their pouring and spooning skills for quite some time, I thought this would provide a fun variation of the works.

Creating Flower Arrangements

As mentioned before, the kiddos LOVE arranging flowers. They're experts. To provide a variation to the activity, I provided a water pitcher (with funnel), scissors, and three vases of varying sizes, much smaller than the container that holds the flowers.

The kiddos will use the funnel and pitcher of water to fill each vase with water.

They will then select a flower for each vase and cut the stems to fit accordingly.

So many practical life skills are being practice here. I LOVE it! We have several small glass bottles that can be used for vases.

By the end of the week, our house will be filled with them. (I LOVE flowers!)

Smelling Flowers

Flowers can be quite fragrant, but all of them smell so differently. This arrangement is filled with flowers of varying fragrances. The kiddos can smell and compare each flower fragrance.

Once again, a huge thank you to our local flower shop for giving us a tour of their shop, and for donating flowers for our unit.

Most silk flowers for our unit were ones I already had in our home,

Others were purchased at our local dollar store. When putting this unit together, I had feared that it would be rather expensive, but it ended up being much less than I thought.

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If you liked this post, you may also enjoy the resources below.

Montessori-inspired Intro to Biology Printable Pack Bundle

Montessori-inspired Sequencing Activities & FREE Printables (KLP Linky Party)

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Yesterday I received a sweet message from a friend and reader on facebook. She was asking for ideas to help her child better understand the concept of sequencing. I haven't stopped thinking about this question, recalling the same struggle with Bulldozer for quite some time. I decided the best way to answer, would be to create a post with lots of fun resources and FREE printables.

I have four kiddos. Two of them (Dinomite and Princess) are all about order. Sequencing comes extremely easy to them. Then, there are my other two children (Bulldozer and Sunshine). They are the exact opposite. Whether it be understanding first, second, third, or big, bigger, biggest, or beginning, middle, end, or first, next, last, or yesterday, today, tomorrow, they REALLY struggle. Sequencing materials, events, stories, numbers, letters, and/or recipes is extremely hard. Anything that involves the concept of time can bring on tears and meltdowns. The struggles don't stop there. When it comes to subtraction and division, they are completely confused, because the sequence or order of numbers they finally understand, reverses.

Over the past couple of years, Bulldozer's ability to sequence has significantly improved. I attribute this to our change in focus from non Montessori to Montessori-inspired activities. Montessori education is FILLED with sequencing activities that are better understood and applied due to their visual and tangible components. I'm sure I will see the same improvement with Sunshine next year as she begins to work with the same materials and activities.

How is sequencing taught in Montessori education you ask? Below, I've included a list of materials with links to instructions, activities, and FREE printables that do just that! This by no means covers all sequence materials in the Montessori curriculum, but it's a great introduction.

Language:
The progression of Montessori language materials is a sequence in itself, but when it comes to stand alone materials and activities, the Montessori Small Movable Alphabets w/ Box and Pink Series are fabulous at teaching the sequence of letters and sounds.

Natural Beach Living has a great post about the movable alphabet along with a FREE printable. If you're looking for a larger sized FREE movable alphabet printable, you can find one here. An Everyday Story shares a super fun alphabet sequencing activity using the movable alphabet.

The pink series is the first of three series in the Montessori language curriculum that teach sounds and spelling. Our Montessori Home gives a fabulous explanation and break down of this series. Study At Home Mama also shares an explanation of the series along with giving some great storage ideas for small spaces. Inspiration Laboratories shares an adorable hands on pink series sequencing letter activity idea. If you're looking for a simple printable related to pink series work, focusing on the letter "o" click here! The pink series work is fabulous for those who need a hands on component and visual while learning to sequence letters and sounds. I can not tell you what a difference a little figure makes, as Bulldozer works to identify the first, last, and middle letter of each word.

Math:
Montessori math activities are all about order and sequence, but there are a few in particular I feel do so more than others. The Montessori math curriculum is full of hands on manipulatives and visuals that represent size and sequence. Some of my favorites include the Coloured Beads Stair, Montessori Introduction to Decimal Quantity with Tray, and Montessori Hundred Board.

Montessori math beads are by far one of my favorite Montessori materials. They are such a great way to teach sequence, numbers, and counting. Planting Peas has a great post that teaches about the presentation and instruction of the Short Bead Stair. There's also a super cute video in the post you can watch through youTube. As part of our Antarctica Unit, I created a FREE printable that highlights the colored bead stair.

The Montessori decimal materials, presentation and instruction are amazing. All of my kiddos love the work. I fully attribute their knowledge of quantity in numbers to these materials. Living Montessori Now has a great post full of information about these materials, their presentation and instruction. You want to be sure to watch the last video in her post.

When kiddos fully understand numbers 1-100, the Montessori Hundred Board is a great way to practice sequencing, whether it be counting just one row, working on odd and even numbers, skip counting, or successfully counting to 100. Buggy and Buddy has a great post explaining the Hundred Board. There are some really nice FREE printables offered in the post. When your child is ready to start skip counting using the Hundred Board and other methods, be sure to visit The Pinay Homeschooler for some great FREE printables to aid you in the sequencing process.

Science:
The Montessori science curriculum is FULL of sequencing activities. What better way to learn how to sequence than to study and understand the life cycles of plants, animals and more, especially when you can use FREE printables!

Cicada Life Cycle from Trillium Montessori

Moon Cycle from Noor Janan Homeschool

Life Cycle of An Insect from Every Star Is Different (Includes life cycles for a bee, ladybug, ant, and butterfly.)

Life Cycle of an Apple from Montessori for Everyone

Life Cycle of a Pumpkin from Montessori for Everyone

Life Cycle of a Sea Turtle from Every Star Is Different

Life Cycle of a Star from Counting Coconuts

Animal Life Cycles from The Pinay Homeschooler

Montessori-inspired Life Cycle Activities from Living Montessori Now (Includes life cycles for a bean, frog, chicken, and more.)

Life Cycle of a Bird from Every Star Is Different

Another way to practice sequencing in the area of science, is to study food chains. Here are a few activities and FREE printables we've used in the past.

Endangered Species Food Chain

3 Ocean Food Chains

Animal Teeth (Sorting by Carnivore, Herbivore, and Omnivore)

Geography/Culture:

Montessori Geography Curriculum follows the sequence of biggest to smallest, introducing the world as a whole, continents, countries, states, cities, etc. There are so many fabulous activities out there that teach this sequence.

Living Montessori Now shares some really creative ideas for teaching sequencing concepts in geography. You can also view an activity we've done in the past that helped the kiddos understand where they are on the map in a sequential way working from biggest to smallest.

When children start the Montessori elementary curriculum, they spend much time studying and creating time lines to document history.

Practical Life:
In my opinion all practical life activities include learning a sequence of some kind, as each activity must be completed step by step, in order to produce the desired outcome. The activities are very hands on and require children to learn spacial relations which is a prerequisite for understanding sequence. (At least that has been the case with my own kiddos.) Like all Montessori activities, materials are set up from left to right. Pouring, scooping, spooning, and other activities are completed by moving the hand left to right, to train the child and prepare them for reading and writing, and helping them understand that sequence.

In the past, we have worked on a few very sequential practical life activities. These include blowing your nose, washing hands, and brushing teeth. For more details about these activities and FREE printables visit my Immune System & Personal Hygiene Unit.

Sensorial:
When I think of sequencing and Montessori, the first activities and materials that come to mind are from the sensorial curriculum. These are the ultimate sequencing activities for young children and for those that need a hands on visual approach. The best part about the materials and activities is that the kiddos don't even know they're learning because they're having so much fun. Once kiddos complete the initial activities successfully, there are countless extensions for each individual set of materials and for them combined. Sadly, I have yet to purchase any of these materials for my classroom. They will be here before the start of the new school year in July though for everyone to enjoy!

You will notice just by looking at the sensorial materials they are packed full of opportunities for exploring and learning sequences of size, length, color, and more.

Carrots are Orange shares a great explanatory post about the Montessori Cylinder Blocks. The post is very detailed and should answer any questions you may have about the material.
Carrots are Orange also shares a great explanation about the Montessori Pink Tower.
The Natural Homeschool has written a post all about the Montessori Brown Stairs. She also includes some extension activities.
Carrots are Orange has a post all about the Montessori Long Red Rods.
Carrots are Orange also shares a great explanatory post about the Montessori Knobless Cylinders.
Study at Home Mama shares great information about the Montessori Color Tablets Matching Activity (3rd Box), and how to make your own!
Carrots are Orange has a post about the Montessori Binomial Cube
Montessori Primary Guide explains how to use the Montessori Trinomial Cube

Maria Montessori was truly inspired when she developed this curriculum. She created so many opportunities for children to learn sequencing at their own pace, focused around their own interests, and in a way that they could understand the concept. Visuals and hands on components to the concept are always provided. In answering my reader's question, follow your child's interests and create opportunities for him to learn how to sequence in ways that are enjoyable. There are options in every subject area. I highly recommend using Montessori principles, materials, activities, and printables. It has made all the difference for my own children.

It's been a while, but the Kids Learning Printables Linky Party has returned!

Welcome to the Kids Learning Printables Linky Party!

co-host Montessori Nature

From now on I will be sharing feature posts on facebook and Pinterest only, in hopes that they will receive more traffic.

Here's how this works!

You:

1. Link up to 3 educational printables for kiddos. Free, paid, and giveaway printables are welcome.

2. Add our Kids Learning Printables Linky Party Button to your post or blog.

3. Support your fellow educators by commenting, pinning, and/or sharing the post published before yours.

4. If you're not already doing so, follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and/or through my blog.
5. You give me permission to use and repost images from your blog.

Me:

1. Visit all posts.
2. Share and pin as many links as possible throughout the week.

2. Feature my favorite posts in next week's link up.

3. Get to know you, your blog, and your printables for future use.

Let's get this party started!

Kids Learning Printables Every Star Is Different

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Family Easter Tradition Ideas

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No matter how old the kids are, our Family Easter Traditions remain the same!

The kids look forward to them every year.

I love that we started these traditions when the boys were just babies, after discussing what we wanted Easter to look like for our family.

Our Easter celebrations have been truly magical throughout the years with so much joy and fun!

If you're looking for ideas, we hope you enjoy this post.

Family Easter Tradition Ideas

Our Easter celebration is usually two days long.

We celebrate the secular aspect of the holiday on Saturday with Easter baskets, egg hunts, and more. Our kids call it, "The Day of the Easter Bunny."

The religious aspect of the holiday is celebrated on Sunday.

I LOVE that we've separated the two. The holiday is extended, and Easter Sunday is such a special and sacred day, whether we're able to attend church or not.

Most of the kids do not believe in the Easter Bunny at our house. Kiddos who don't believe, know everything comes from my husband and I. The one who does believe, chooses to have the Easter Bunny do everything, instead of Mom and Dad.

Easter Baskets

Over the years, Easter baskets have evolved as the kids have grown. Usually I try to pick a theme to make it easier on myself, but sometimes, they're a bit random.

Easter baskets are filled with gifts, similar to those found in my kids' Christmas stockings, but with a little bit more shape options.

Dinomite's 2nd Easter

Easter Candy

I know some families opt out when it comes to Easter candy, but we're not one of those families.

Once the kiddos are about 2 years old, we start putting some candy in their Easter baskets.

I do not give my kiddos candy except on holidays. It's a VERY special treat.

For those with food allergies, I'm make sure they have special treats of their own.

Bulldozer's 1st Easter

Easter Eggs

Every year we do an Easter egg hunt.

Each kiddo has color coded eggs they are to find. Dinomite's are blue. Bulldozer's are green. Princess' are pink. Sunshine's are purple.

Most years we end up doing Easter egg hunts inside the house because of the weather. My husband and I hide them before we go to bed the night before.

The kiddos always love searching for them first thing in the morning.

It's rare that we hide candy in the eggs. Usually eggs contain tiny gifts or money.

Princess' 1st Easter

Over the years I've collected different sized eggs to fit a variety of items.

When the kiddos are little their eggs are usually filled with LEGO duplo pieces, hair accessories, and/or Safari Toob animals.

As they've grown older we've branched out and included LEGO figures and pieces, princess and fairy figures, Hot Wheels Cars, marbles, jewelry, etc.

This year, I decided to put cash in their eggs.

Easter Dress

Each year the kiddos receive new church outfits for Easter.

The boys receive new ties, pants and matching socks.

The girls receive new dresses with hair tie to match.

We also make sure to have our Spring/Summer church shoes purchased before Easter Sunday so they're ready to wear.

It has become tradition over the past few years that I receive a new matching Sunday dress with accessories, and Jason receives a new matching tie with pants and socks as well.

Easter Meals

Years ago, before autism, food allergies, foster care, Reactive Attachment Disorder, PTSD, and other disorders entered our lives, I used to host a BIG Easter Dinner for my extended family as part of our secular Easter celebration on the Saturday before Easter.

All of my siblings came with their significant others and children.

This hasn't happened since Princess was an infant.

Perhaps someday it will again, we'll just have to wait and see when and if the kiddos can handle it and a few other circumstances change.

Until then, each year I make a large Easter brunch or dinner.

Each of the kiddos pick a favorite breakfast item or summer salad/side for me to include in the meal. Items vary from year to year, but it's always delicious.

I purchase a bouquet of flowers for our centerpiece, bring out my Easter table clothe & napkins, and set the table according to the needs of those that will be eating.

Sometimes we've used paper plates, especially when we've had a lot of foster children with us. Other years we've used our nice dishes.

For those who don't know me well, I LOVE entertaining. The one and only thing I collect is tableware. This includes table clothes, fabric napkins, dinnerware, glassware, etc. Holidays are my excuse for using all of my favorite things.

Our Easter tables throughout the years.

Religious Traditions

In the weeks leading up to Easter, we read a children's version of The New Testament as a family. This always invites the spirit of the holiday into our home in the most appropriate way.

Usually we read scriptures as a family at dinner time. (This is one time during the day we can guarantee that the kiddos are sitting and willing to listen.)

I also try to put together a Easter related activities for the kiddos that are introduced on family night in our home and used during the week.

We attempt church on Easter Sundays, but on more than one occasion it hasn't been possible.

If we are at home, we make sure to make the day super special by listening to hymns, singing, and watching movies centered around Christ.

One of my favorite movies to watch on Easter is called The Lamb of God. It is a great depiction of the last week of the Savior's life. I will warn you, it is a very emotional film to watch. The younger kiddos prefer the movie, The Testaments instead.