Montessori Monday~ "M" is for Maps, Money, and Monarchs!

Well today really just didn't go as planned! :) Oh well! It turns out that having such a busy day at the fair, the girls were rather tired and not interested in quite work! Neither were Bug and Tadpole! So Instead of forcing work time, I gathered up the kids and some lunch and we headed out to the park! Now being that this is Tuesday and since we didn't have much work time, I was starting to feel that familiar pressure to get them doing what I thought they should. I mean, I made all new plans and new trays. But then I thought that we will have time for that later! For now we needed to get out, and I am so glad that we did! My plan was to work on learning about Money and Maps. This is not really possible out on a walk, but looking for Monarchs was! So "m" is for money, changed into "m" is for Monarch!!! We were lucky that we were able to spot a few flying and to see the compete life cycle in the gazebo that is reserved for their Monarch conservation!!! Bug, Bunny and Pup loved to see them! As we headed into the butterfly garden, a monarch butterfly flew right into us! I was able to catch it and the girls got a chance to see a butterfly up close! It was one of those special learning moments that really made an impression on the girls! I can see why Montessori always started with real things! They are so much more meaningful! After that the girls were so excited to look for more! It really was a great trip and it made us all feel better!
After that it was nap time, and Bunny and I had some time to work in the kitchen. Earlier in the morning I had done the Teen Board with her and I was so proud of her for mastering it! We picked a number, put it on the board and she picked out the proper beads! She did it all perfectly! So later I wrote out different numbers between 10-20 and she made to make then out of marshmallows! She did they all perfectly! She even remembered the names of the numbers! She of course was rewarded with being able to eat some of those marshmallows! ;) She loves math she can eat! So anyway, here are the pictures of our day! Beware there are alot of them! :) I will start with this weeks trays and move on to the work and the walk!

Book Basket

Whole hand transferring (mostly for Tadpole)

Money sorting

Magnetic/ Non magnetic

Penny Polishing

Our "M" basket

~ Math (Bunny's giraffe card)

~ Mary, Jesus' Mom

~ Man

~ Maraca

~ Marker

~ Mushroom

~ Muffin

 (this was taken out due to the fact that Bunny and Bug both said that this was a cupcake and that doesn't start with "M". Cant sneak anything past them! )

Penny designs on the Hundreds Board.

Tracing around coins

Pup and Bunny were working again this morning before we got dressed! I'm starting to be embarrassed by the amount of pics I have with the girls in their PJs! :) But I cant kill their enthusiasm!

Bunny put all the pennies on the board! She thought it was fun!

Here is Tadpole (after we got dressed).

The whole hand transfer turned into whole hand throwing!  Oh well we will try it again another day!

I did pull out the Honey Bear with cotton swabs. He really LOVED this! He really seems into putting thing into containers. The coin box was a hit and now this. I need more ideas of activities like this. Hmmmm....

Bug did a puzzle map! This is pretty hard for her and It took a little persuading to get her to finish!

She also tried coin sorting.

Here is Bunny coloring her Mallow Fairy coloring page. She really works hard to make it look like the picture!

Here is Tadpole working with a work I threw together real quick. All it is is little wooden sticks that he needed to stick into the bottle! He really liked doing this for a while!

Bug made some new flower arrangements for our tables!

Here is Bunny working on the Teen Board.

After she did the board, I took the tiles from the Hundreds board, put them face down, and let her "draw" one and make the number! She did great with this too!

Here we are at the park. Bug is looking at the conservation gazebo!

Here is a newly emerged butterfly drying its wings!

Here they are looking at the life cycle poster.

Here is the Butterfly that we were able to catch!!!!

 Bunny was able to get a picture for me (those are my hands)

Bung found a flower that was her favorite color!

Here are the maps that are along the trail! So we were able to talk about maps and how they get us to places!!!! Yeah for spur of the moment learning! ;)

Another Monarch we saw!

Here is a caterpillar that we almost squished! It was really pretty!

Another great chance to talk about the butterfly life cycle!

Here is a seed pod thing that Bunny found. She really thought it looked like the flower bud the Mallow Fairy was holding. It maybe from a Swap Mallow. I have to look it up!

Here is marshmallows math! ;)

She really did well and loved it!

And it was yummy too!  ;)

So that was our day! I hope yours was good too! I am linking this post up to Montessori Monday over at

One Hook Wonder and Living Montessori Now! There are, as always, awesome ideas! Check it out!