I have been inspired

After spending way too much time yesterday reading other mom's blogs, I came up with a couple of new activities for Sean. I could easily spend a small fortune on Montessori equipment. Since that is not exactly in the budget right now, I figured I would start with what I have on hand.
First he transferred toothpicks from a cup to a narrow-mouth water bottle. I was worried that it would be too easy and not hold his interest, but he loved it and did it three times in a row. It was neat to see how focused he can be. I am going to keep my eye out for a grated cheese shaker to make it more challenging.















Next we used the pattern blocks to do a sorting exercise. I put one piece of each color in a small cup, and sat back to see what he would do. He sorted out nearly the entire box before losing interest, often saying the color as he put it in the right cup. When he was finished I showed him to dump them back into the box and stack the cups. He finished cleaning up by himself. I think we're onto something here.