As requested, here is a few photos of our Montessori-type materials we are still using at home. My 6.5 year old no longer uses any these materials, but my 4.5 year old does so quite often. He is currently doing lots of ‘letter and number work’ at his Montessori school and likes to practice some of those things he has been learning at home, especially writing.
Keep in mind that some of these items are ‘imitation‘ Montessori materials and I will make note of those items under each image.
I have been surprised at how much these items have been used over the years, but they have been so great as concrete working materials for exploring and discovering. My youngest has been wanting to practice addition lately, so sometimes his older sister will write down equations for him and he uses the coloured or the golden beads to help him find the answer. They also use the dice in the same manner by adding what is rolled on the first die with what has been rolled on the second die.
The 3D shapes have been popular. Initally I had them with a control card I printed out online so my children could learn the names of the shapes and learning which ones can roll or can be stacked, but these days they use them more to explore how many faces, edges and vertices each 3D shape has. My eldest recenlty was showing her brother how to make paper 3D shapes using the wooden shapes for reference.
A couple of other items we have on my children’s language and math shelf is a ruler and measuring tape for measuring, alphabet stamps as well as an analogue clock and interactive calendar on the wall. Both of my children are very interested in clock and calendar work.
Once we have finished using these items they will be passed onto family friends.
You can read my previous post here on our math materials we used when my eldest was 4.5 years of age. We passed on our sand writing tray to a friend to use with her children a few months ago.
