North America Continent Box - Montessori

Finally!!!! I finished the first continent box! We live in North America so it is the first of all.

I bought the box in Ikea. It was inexpensive and it came four I believe (?)

This is what we have inside. Lets take a closer look.

Inside the small box I have souvenirs that I got when I travelled and

things my family gave me when they travelled. To the left I have the Empire State building, a New York frame, the Statue of Liberty, two magnets of the Twin Towers, a Jade pendant from Canada, a Mexican game, sand jar from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Alcatraz souvenir and San Francisco souvenir address books and a California driver license and behind it the US flag.

This are brochures that I got from free from the internet. You can google free online brochures  and they'll send it to you for free.

This a book I had with the pledge of allegiance.

This is the first thing my son wanted to read. We read it all in one sitting!

You can even do a unit study with this book!

Another book I had. It has beautiful pictures.

This is how I organized all the 3-part cards and other cards I have. They are 6 x 9 manila envelopes. 

It works great to keep it all contained and when it is time to use them I will display it in a tray.

I got this Flags of North America from Montessori Print Shop

This and the one below are little dressing laminated dolls I printed from Making Friends

This are postcards that I had and ones that I collected from my yahoo group Postcards Around the Planet

Sports Originating in North America from Hands on Homeschooler. In the cards it says Montessori Tidbits. Leann must have change the name of the blog?

This are homes of North America that I took from the homes of the world I printed from Montessori Print Shop

I got this cards from The Helpful Garden (scroll down)

This are flashcards that I bought in Target. I got two sets so it is a matching game too.

This is Mexico envelope from Little Passports

I display all the souvenirs on his shelf. I bought that book of North America in Amazon.

This is how it looks!!!

So today we looked at the souvenirs and read the "When grandma and grandpa visited Canada" book. Next time I will put on display the next activity it could be anything that I show you. Umi will choose what he wants to learn. And then I will put it on a tray for him.

I had fun getting this ready! I hope you find this post helpful and please feel free to post a link on how you set your North America box!!

Cocoa Chia Peanut Butter Oat Raw Cookies Recipe!!! Delicious!!!!

While looking for a raw and healthy recipe I came across this recipe and I made a few changes to make it a bit healthier even and I have to say that I LOVE IT!!!! They came out super delicious!!

So, for this recipe you'll need:

- 1/4 cup of organic coconut syrup
- 1/2 cup of organic oat milk (you can use any other nut milk. Do not use cow's milk! This is a raw recipe and cow's milk may get sour and yucky...and between you and me cow's milk is for calves not humans.)
- 1/2 cup of coconut butter (Place 2 and 1/2 cups of organic unsweetened shredded coconut in the vitamix (or any other blender or a food processor) and turn it on...you will have to stop it and use a spoon to put the butter down and then turn on again. To make the mixing work faster I add coconut oil (coconut oil or any oil is not really healthy....I think that adding a bit of water may do the job. I'll try that next time) It is not liquid when it is done. It has the texture of the coconut oil when is in the hard state.
- 1/2 cup of organic peanut butter
- 1 Tbl of vanilla extract
- 2 Tbs of organic cocoa powder
- 2 cups of rolled oats
- 4 Tbs of chia seeds (optional)

Directions:

Place all the wet ingredients and mix well. Then add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

You can enjoy them in these 3 ways:

1) Make them into small balls or flat cookies and eat them just like that!!!

2) Place the cookies and place them in a plate in the fridge and leave it there for about an hour before consumption.

3) Place them in the dehydrator. "Hearts in your food" recommends put it in 140 for about an hour...I like to use less temperature so I have them at 105 and I will leave it for about an hour and a half and check how they look...You really do not have to worry or stress this cookies can be eaten even without putting them in the dehydrator so you can look if they look ready to you then they are!

Store them in the fridge!!

When you eat them they'll melt in your mouth!!!! They are delicious!!! I hope you enjoy them as much as me and my children do!!!

Please let me know how you like it!!

Homeschool/Playroom Tour 2013

This is our homeschool room and playroom. I've been working hard to organize it and finally today I can say it is nice and ready! Although I know it won't last long I want it to share it with you before my kids "attack" it tomorrow!

It is a small room and it is not easy to store all the materials we have and display

all the materials I'd like but I am happy I have this space to dedicate to my children's learning journey.

My husband made the red shelving unit and we use it to hold the following subjects: math, language, zoology, sensorial and geography. Umi uses it the most.

To the left is Umi's desk I got from a thrift store for only 15 bucks!

This is to the right of the door. This shelf is mainly for my Little Princess. My husband made the blue picket fence shelf that is above the brown shelf and it holds all the paints and some of the art related things. The other art supplies, paper and more things I store them in the red art cabinet you can see to the left.

This is an Ikea trofast unit and I use it to store the circle time activities, flannel stories, puppets,  building toys and other toys.

Here is where I store the music instruments.

This is a close up of the art shelf

This is what we currently have in Little Princess shelves.

This is the magnetic black board my husband made for us!! 

Right above the black board is going to be a dry erase whiteboard my husband is currently making.

The North America box is ready!!! Is the Ikea box with the polka-dots. To the right is the sensory bin I made. 

 Video tour of our homeschool room.

Thank you for stopping by!!! See you soon!

DIY Sensory Tub

I made (put together) this very easy sensory tub. I used an apple crate I bought in Jo-Ann's Fabrics, the green tray is from IKEA and I used a paint stick to hold the tray. You can get crates in ebay or craigslist sometimes even for free. My husband was out of town and I really want it to make it so this is what I came up with. I am pretty sure he would have screw a dowel or a piece of wood instead. But if your husband is not so handy or out out town like mine you can make this very easily yourself.

Materials:

- A crate

- IKEA Trofast tray 

- Paint stir stick (free at a hardware store)

- 2 small nails

- A hammer

- Rubbermaid container (optional: I like to use it so I can use the cover and the rice doesn't get full of moths)

Is so simple...Use the hammer to attach the stick to the side of the crate....  

Place the 

green tray inside...

 fill the Rubbermaid container

a and put it in!! That's it! 

This is an example of one we set up. It is a bug sensory bin. This sensory bin is great

because it is raced from the floor without being too hight the child has to stand...so they can get on their knees if they are little or sitting if they are bigger.

You can even use the inside to store sensory bin items!!!!! 

What else? You can attach pockets to the side to store more things....or even attach a tray to hold spoons and cups and other utensils you are using.

What else? You tell me! What else you can do with it or add to it?