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Hello sweet families! I wanted to share with you a shelf I set up in my house to help my kids to clean up after eating or after art, and a spot to take care of our plants. It is a Montessori Care of the Environment Shelf, a place to keep everything they may need to clean up after themselves. 

Table washing lives on the bottom shelf, which is this weeks first activity.

Monday

Table washing

Materials:

Tray
Bowl
Bar of soap
Scrub brush
Sponge
Pitcher

Activity:
Fill the bowl with warm water.
Have the child take the bar of soap in their hand and “ write on the table “ (they can make any designs or practice writing their name or numerals..anything to get soap on the surface)
Dip scrub brush in the water and scrub the table.
Take time to point out the sides of the table and any spots that need some extra love.
Sponge the soap off in to the bowl. If needed, show them how to wipe the sponge across the surface until it is soapy, then rinse it in the bowl, squeezing out all of the water before wiping another part of the table and doing it again.
Dry the table with the towel.
Empty the bowl of water and return materials to the tray.

Tuesday

Color mixing

Materials:

Tray

Paint palette or clear glass bowls 

Clear containers

Left over egg dye/ food coloring: red, yellow, and blue

Sponge

Eye dropper

Activity:
Put red, yellow, and blue food coloring in a small amount of water in clear containers and practice using eye dropper to transfer them on to the palette.  Then show how to mix colors and make orange, green and purple. You can then use the dropper to show the colors on a paper towel or water color paper.

Wednesday

LEGO Sorting

Materials:

Legos
Construction paper
Numerals 1 to 10 on paper

Activity:
Lay out a few colors of construction paper that match lego colors and show your child how to sort by color.
Count each color group to see how many are in each group and associate that numeral card with each grouping.

Thursday

Make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
Materials:

Bread
Peanut butter
Jelly
Butter knife

Activity:
Lay out a cutting board with everything neatly arranged.
Show your child how to spread the peanut-butter and then the jelly on to the bread. Slice the sandwich in half. Show your child how to plate their food and pour themselves a glass of milk or water. Pouring from a pitcher or smaller vessel will be helpful.
Young children love to be independent and take great joy in preparing food for themselves and others. Once you are confident in the food prep abilities expect them to make some snacks on their own.

Friday

Rainbow Color Hunt
Have your child play a Bring Me style game (see Bring Me with Numerals from April 6th-10th for guidelines on the Bring Me game) with all the colors of the rainbow.
I like to use the Spanish and English names of the colors. 

Once all of the colored objects are found line them up in the order of the rainbow.

Red: Rojo

Orange: Anaranjado

Yellow: Amarillo

Green: Verde

Blue: Azul

Purple: Morado