Patterns, Color Sorting & Bead Counting

The inspiration for today's learning games came from the blog My Montessori Journey.

First, we did some pattern work. I made a couple of patterns using foam lacing beads and coffee stirrers. Then, I gave it to Arin to look at. We talked about what colors and shapes were on the coffee stirrer. Then, Arin was free to copy the pattern. I had to keep reminding her to look at my pattern because she was just so excited to put the beads on the stirrer, she wasn't as concerned about the order. But, once I had her slow down and look at mine again, she was able to do really well.

The next activity was color sorting. I labeled four clear plastic cups. One was labeled with a piece of green paper, the next with a piece of yellow paper, another with a piece of orange paper and the last with a piece of pink paper. I had cut the tops (the bendy part) off several straws. I gave the cups and the straws to Arin. I didn't even have to tell her what to do, she just started putting the correct colored straw in the correct colored cup. She likes to gather a bunch of the same colored straws at once and then count them as she's placing them in the cup. That was her own little twist that she put on the game :)

The last new activity that we did today was bead counting. I laid five squares of paper in front of Arin. On the papers, were the numbers 1-5 (one number per square). Then, I laid a pipe cleaner on each of the squares. I gave Arin a tub of beads. For the card labeled 'one', she was to string one bead onto the pipe cleaner. For the card labeled 'two', she was to string two beads onto the pipe cleaner. She is so funny because she doesn't randomly pick beads to string. She had to have all the beads matching on each pipe cleaner. It was ok to have different beads for different pipe cleaners, but whatever beads were on a particular pipe cleaner had to match.