Montessori Summer Work at Home Ideas for Children

Another amazing and memorable school year ends. Through much change and uncertainty, we witnessed great adaptation and resilience in our students. Oh how we celebrate their successes and look forward to their return in the fall.

Many of you have asked how you can help encourage your child’s continued growth and independence while at home this summer.

Below is a hearty list of activity ideas for you to work from.

Fine motor

• Manipulating tongs, clothespins, clips, spoons, scoops, containers
• Stringing beads, putting beads on a wooden skewer or pipe cleaner
• Sorting shells, rocks, dried beans, silverware
• Modeling with playdough or clay (lots of different textured “clay” recipes online)
• Tearing strips, tearing paper shapes and gluing
• Cutting with scissors (plain paper strips, short lines, long lines, curved lines, zigzag lines, shapes, spirals)
• Lacing boards, peg boards
• Poking along lines with a push pin
• Placing stickers
• Sewing along a line (offer more complex sewing as skills develop)
• Drawing with crayons, chalk, markers, pencils
• Manipulating fastenings on clothing (snaps, buttons, buckles, zippers, safety pins, tying bows)
• Assembling puzzles, Legos, other building toys
• Peeling & cutting vegetables & fruits, tearing lettuce, cracking eggs, stirring ingredients, grating cheese

Large motor

• Balancing—walking on a line, walking across logs, walking on uneven surfaces, standing on stumps/boulders, etc.
• Jumping—hopscotch, jump rope, jump over puddles, hop on 1 leg, etc.
• Crawling—slither, army crawl, bear crawl, crab crawl, etc.
• Climbing—hills, trees, rocks
• Maneuvering over/under/around obstacles
• Kicking, throwing, catching balls
• Riding tricycles/bicycles/scooters
• Dancing, somersaults, yoga poses
• Playing Twister
• Carrying, pushing, pulling heavy items (wood, rocks, pails of dirt/sand, wagon, wheelbarrow, etc.)
• Raking, shoveling, digging, hoeing

Practical life

• Dusting—baseboards, furniture, leaves of houseplants, knick knacks, books/bookshelves, window sills (possible tools—small cloth, cotton ball, Q-tip, new household paintbrush, pastry brush)
• Swiffering, mopping with child-sized tools
• Sweeping floor, garage, deck, sidewalk
• Vacuuming couch cushions, vacuuming car seats and floor, lint brushing upholstery
• Watering indoor and outdoor plants
• Feeding, watering, brushing pets
• Sorting, folding, putting away laundry
• Sponging and drying dining table, chairs, shower doors, sliding glass doors, kitchen cabinets
• Scrubbing fruits/vegetables, outdoor furniture, toys, car mats, sinks, bathtub
• Washing dishes (1 basin with soapy water & 1 basin with clean water)
• Washing toys, bike
• Washing face with a washcloth
• Hanging up clothing
• Making the bed, removing the sheets & pillow cases for the laundry
• Setting the table for meals
• Pouring water into glasses for meals
• Planting and misting seeds
• Picking up sticks in the yard
• Trimming grass with clippers

Sensorial

• Smell and taste different spices and herbs—grate cinnamon sticks, grind spices with a mortar & pestle, chop herbs
• Taste food with eyes closed and guess its identity
• Feel different textures around the house and outside (carpet, tile, furniture, sidewalk, bark, glass, clothing, blankets, towels, pets, etc.)
• Make a “mystery bag” of common items & try to identify the items by feeling them without looking
• Organize items from lightest to heaviest, smallest to largest, shortest to longest, smoothest to roughest, darkest to lightest, softest to hardest, etc.
• Make sound jars/bottles that contain different items (sand, rice, beans, cornmeal, sugar, etc.)
• Identify sounds in nature, identify sounds in the home
• Listen for certain instruments in a piece of music
• Play a note on an instrument and try to match your voice to the tone
• Strum stretched rubber bands of different lengths and listen to the tones change
• Sing a song starting on a low note and then sing it starting on a high note
• Show child a tray with a few items, remove one item, then have child guess what was removed
• Make shapes with stencils, sticks, clay, etc. and name them
• Find different shapes around the house and outside

Vocabulary

• Read books/poems together
• Sing songs
• Name opposites (empty/full, light/dark, etc.)
• Name different type of something (spoons—teaspoon, tablespoon, wooden spoon, serving spoon, measuring spoon; cloths—washcloth, dish cloth, tablecloth, microfiber cloth; clips—paper clip, binder clip, hair clip, chip clip)
• Identify tools in your toolbox, kitchen utensils, plants in your home/yard, birds, insects, ingredients in a recipe, parts of the vacuum cleaner (hose, wand, crevice tool, switch, etc.), types of pasta, types of clouds in the sky, etc.
• Talk about events, destinations, family members, family history, celebrations, feelings, hobbies, plans for the day, etc.

Memory

• Play memory games with cards
• Learn new songs
• Memorize nursery rhymes and poems
• Give child 1 command at a time (clap), 2 commands at a time (stomp & wiggle), 3 commands…..
• Send child to retrieve items: 1 item at a time, 2 items at a time…., “bring 2 spoons and 5 forks”, etc.
• Read 1 page of a book and then ask questions about what was just read (listening comprehension)
• Have child recall the sequence of a common routine (morning routine, a recipe, taking a bath, etc.)

Writing

• Draw with chalk, crayons, markers, colored pencils, sidewalk chalk, magna doodle
• Paint with thick and thin paintbrushes, paint with water on the driveway
• Trace simple shapes than an adult draws (circle, square, triangle, zigzag line, X, etc.)
• Re-create simple shapes that are drawn by someone else
• Draw and color in shapes
• Trace cursive letters that an adult writes
• Write letters in dirt/sand/cornmeal on a tray, write letters with fingerpaint
• Write letters with chalk and later with pencil
• Write short words in cursive
• Write lists of things (grocery list, favorite toys, animals, words that start with a particular sound, etc.)
• Write messages (notes to family members, what book they’d like you to read, what game they’d like to play, etc.)
• Write stories

Phonemic awareness (hearing sounds in words)

• Clap rhythms together
• Identify sounds in nature
• Listen for instruments in a piece of music
• Clap syllables in words
• Read rhyming poems or nursery rhymes
• Say words that rhyme and then ask for words that rhyme
• Think of words that start with a particular sound
• Find items that start with a particular sound (spoon, scissors, sponge, etc.)
• Listen for and identify all the sounds in a short word (bag=b-a-g)
• Recite tongue twisters, create tongue twisters

Reading

• Write labels for phonetic objects around the house and have child read and label them (cup, hat, sink, rug, bed, etc.)
• Write phonetic commands for child to perform (jump on a log, drink milk, kiss mom and dad, sit still, flip a mat, sing a song, etc)
• Introduce 1 phonogram at a time (sh, oo, ay, er, qu, ow, etc.) and write words with that phonogram for the child to read
• Read simple books/poems
• Take turns reading sentences
• Ask questions about what they read (reading comprehension–this skill develops as reading improves)

Math

• Match, classify, order/sequence, talk about time (how long does it take?), talk about temperature
• Count together (how many shoes do you have?  Let’s count all the spoons)
• Have child make quantities with stones, beads, blocks, cars, etc.
• Write and identify numbers for child (only introduce 3 numbers at a time)
• Write and have child identify numbers
• Play board games with dice, play card games
• Play games with “more/less,” “longer/shorter,” “larger/smaller,” “thicker/thinner”
• Put quantities together to introduce addition
• Take quantities away to introduce subtraction
• Count by 2s, 3s, 4s…

Science

• Explore items that are magnetic vs. not magnetic
• Explore items that sink vs. float
• Explore what materials are soluble vs. non-soluble (sugar, dirt, rocks, etc.)
• Record the dates on a calendar that different plants sprout or flower in your yard
• Place the base of a bunch of celery, lettuce, onion in a shallow bowl of water & watch it grow each day
• Mix up materials in a jar of water & watch layers form as they settle (dirt, sand, pebbles, grass, mulch)
• Mix colored water to create new colors
• Place dirty pennies in vinegar with a sprinkle of salt to make them look like new
• Put fruit and vegetable scraps in a ziplock bag and watch it decompose
• Place a cut stem from a tree in water and watch it leaf out and form roots
• Watch the orientation and length of shadows change throughout the day
• Lift rocks and logs to see what lives underneath
• See how many different insects you can find in your yard
• Record the weather each day
• Lay on a blanket and watch the clouds
• Lay on a blanket and observe the stars at night

Art

• Dig up real clay and make shapes
• Make dandelion crowns
• Make sand castles
• Paint with water on the driveway
• Draw with sidewalk chalk
• Hammer flowers and leaves between 2 pieces of paper
• Create designs by laying out leaves, flowers, and/or stones
• Paint pine cones