Montessori-Inspired Winter Play Activities

With the recent cold weather in Calgary and changing COVID restrictions, many families are spending a lot of time indoors, leaving many parents running out of creative and unique activities to do with their children. Doing something as simple as centering your activities around a theme is a great way to get your children interested and keep things feeling new and fresh. Here is a list of activities that are fun, engaging, and winter-themed, but best of all they are Montessori-inspired so that your child can learn and develop as they play. Try these 6 engaging activities with your children this winter season.

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6 Montessori-Inspired Winter Play Activities

Winter Sensory Basket. For a winter sensory basket, try to use materials that are all shades of white but that have different soft textures, such as pompoms, cotton balls, and feathers. This will allow your child to understand variations of the feeling of softness.
Snowflake Number Pickup. Draw out 10 sections on a piece of paper and number the sections from 1-10. Using snowflake confetti or sequins (available at most craft or fabric stores) or even snowflake cutouts you make yourself and tweezers, have your child pick up the snowflakes and place the correct number of snowflakes into each section with the corresponding numbers. This activity is designed to help your child with their counting as well as their finger strength and dexterity. To add a little more challenge, have the snowflake sections numbered out of regular counting order.
Orange Pomanders. Orange Pomanders are oranges studded with cloves, typically in a design. For this activity, all you need is a firm orange and some cloves. If your child is struggling to push the clove into the orange, use a toothpick to pre-form holes. You can also cut the orange in half so that it can rest on a surface instead of rolling away from your child. This is an easy way to develop motor skills and give your child an opportunity to make creative patterns with the cloves. It also allows them to use their sense of smell, as the original purpose of orange pomanders was to create a pleasant fragrance.
Spooning Jingle Bells. This works best if you have a container where each bell can have a section of its own, such as a chocolate box. Have a bowl of jingle bells for your child and have them spoon each jingle bell into an individual pocket without making noise. This will help develop their motor skills and concentration.
Pine Needle Sweep. Take the lid of a shoebox and draw a pine tree on the inside. Then go to your backyard or a park and collect some pine needles. Put the pine needles into the shoebox lid and push the needles to the edge of the box. When you give the box to your child, have them explore the needles first, touching them and smelling them, and then give them a paintbrush and tell them to sweep all of the pine needles into the tree. If you want the tree to be a Christmas tree, put some colourful beads in with the needles. This activity helps develop motor function, utilizes the senses of touch and smell, and helps them to stay within the lines.
Play Outside. While the other activities are great for a really cold day when no one wants to leave the house, when temperatures warm head outdoors. Play outside with your preschooler at a park or in the yard. Build snow sculptures or make snow angels and tumble in the snow. Playing outside allows your children to get fresh air, exercise, and be creative. And when you join in on the fun it’s a great bonding experience.

Foster A Love Of Learning With Grey Matter Montessori Preschool In NW Calgary

These Montessori-inspired activities will entertain your child while also developing their sensory experiences, motor skills, and problem solving. If you are interested in promoting this type of development in your child, enroll them in the preschool program at Grey Matter Montessori School in NW Calgary. At Grey Matter, we follow the Montessori method to develop your child’s practical life skills, sensorial understanding, mathematical abilities, language development, and cultural and scientific interests. Our Montessori teachers, with years of experience and from a wide range of backgrounds, are dedicated to providing quality care for our students and using innovative Montessori methods of child education and development. If you would like to register your child in top-quality preschool classes, call us at 1-587-707-4739 or fill out the online contact form.

FAQ

Q: How are games good for child education?
A: Sensorial play is a form of learning and very important as your child begins to understand the world around them. Games also help to develop their motor skills and foster inquisitiveness.

Q: My child doesn’t seem engaged with the activities I present to them. How can I get them interested?
A: Talk with your child and observe how they spend their time. Ask them the kind of games they want to play and what they are interested in and see if you can create something based on their reply. For example, if your child loves dinosaurs, you could find dinosaur stickers to use instead of snowflakes. If your child is too unsettled to sit at one activity for 10 minutes, try to gradually build up to it or do activities that let them move around more. The Montessori method emphasizes catering education and play to the individual child, so remember that you can adapt the games how you need.

Q: Are the Montessori and the IPC programs different?
A: At Grey Matter Montessori, we use the Montessori method to teach the IPC® curriculum. Montessori is characterized by a child-centered learning approach to teach students. The IPC® curriculum focuses on global, intercultural education in the context of current events and topics. By using both in tandem, Grey Matter Montessori ensures top quality child education.