Spring Themed Activities The Montessori Way
Plants Some Seeds
Spring is synonymous with rebirth and growth. Explore the idea that spring brings new things by helping your little one observe blossoming life right before their eyes. Buy some peat pots or make use of a discarded cardboard egg carton to plant some seeds and watch daily for the little green shoot to appear. Fill each cup with a spoonful of soil and let your little one poke a hole with their fingers about halfway down. Plop in a seed and cover it with soil and lightly water. Sunflowers, radishes, mustard seeds, peas, and beans are fast-growing and you will be able to replant them outside once the gardening season begins. Add to the interest of the project by placing some pots in the sunlight, some in the shade, some in warmer areas, and some in cooler areas and talk about which plants grow faster and bigger.
Feed The Birds
As winter draws to a close some of our feathered friends who vacationed in warmer locales begin to return home and many of the birds who stay with us year-round may be finding it harder to find the berries and seeds that sustain them through the winter. Bird feeders are a great way to introduce the topics of migration and the food chain. Make a simple DIY feeder by gathering a few toilet paper tubes. Smear on some suet or peanut butter and roll them in birdseed. String them from your trees with twine and be astonished at how many creatures will notice. Make notes of the species and numbers that visit each feeder. Try to see if you can tell if certain birds are coming back multiple times. And don’t be surprised if your delicious feeders attract just as many neighbourhood squirrels as they do birds!
Do Some Spring Cleaning
We all know a certain feeling that often comes in spring. It is the urge to throw open the windows on a beautiful day and wipe away the stale feeling winter has left behind. Spring cleaning is a wonderful way to introduce a new life skill to your preschooler. Assign dusting a bookshelf, sweeping the floor, or give your child a spray bottle of water and vinegar and let them tackle the windows. Household chores teach your child the importance of self-care and care for our spaces, confidence in their abilities, family responsibility, and working together to get a job done.
Make A Wind Chime
Chinooks come with wind. Sometimes they are warm and gentle breezes. Other times, not so much. Making wind chimes is a great way to spend an afternoon with your preschool child. The best thing about wind chimes is that the possibilities are endless. Explore your craft box, your kitchen, your tool shed, even your recycling bin with your preschooler and identify items that will make an interesting sound. Coffee tins, old cutlery, pieces of wood, scratched CDs, juice and soup cans, nuts and bolts, and metal scraps are just some of the materials that you can string together to make this musical craft. Use colourful yarn or sturdy twine to suspend items at different lengths from an old wooden spoon, a branch, or a plastic spool. Paint items, colour them with felt pens, even cover them with stickers, the sky's the limit. Have your preschooler think about which spots in your yard or around your house might get windy. Listen throughout the day and experience the excitement of your child when they hear the tinkling of their very own weather forecaster.
Spring Into Inspired Preschool Education At Grey Matter Montessori
When there are days it feels like winter may never end, inject a little springtime with these Montessori-inspired activities. Spring is a great time to explore themes of rebirth, new beginnings, and the reawakening of the world around us with your preschool child. Let your child guide you with the natural curiosity that blossoms in children in the spring.
If you are interested in exploring the benefits of a Grey Matter Montessori education for your preschool or pre-k aged child, contact us to book a time for a school tour at our NW Calgary location. We are accessible just off of Symons Valley Parkway in the NW community of Evanston. Call us for more info on our early child education programming at 1-587-707-4739.
FAQ
Q: Is spring the best time to register my child for the upcoming school year?
A: Grey Matter Montessori has ongoing registration and even offers advanced registrations (up to two years). Contact our office for more information on the upcoming school year and register as early as possible to ensure availability for your desired days and times.
Q: What times and days of the week does the program run?
A: We find that at this young age, 3 hours is the perfect amount of time for our students to maximize learning. Your child can attend either a morning class (8:30am-11:30am) or the afternoon class (12:30pm-3:30 pm). We also recommend the 5 days per week program as our students benefit the most from the routine of coming to school every day. However, if this option doesn’t work for your schedule, we offer 2 days or 3 days per week as well.
Q: What types of enhanced activities are offered at Grey Matter Montessori in Calgary?
A: Besides the amazing variety of activities that are part of the Montessori program, the children are offered a variety of extracurricular activities such as art, dance, yoga, and martial arts. Meet some of our Calgary community partners here.
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