It can be a challenge to keep our tamariki occupied with so much time at home during Level 4 restrictions. The children are missing their friends and teachers as well as the routines and activities they normally enjoy each day. Our whanau has been practising Montessori at home by recreating some favourite activities from the Capital Montessori classroom.
Marlon is a member of the Koru classroom. His current favourite exercise is Sink and Float. We put our own lockdown spin on it by comparing items found in the natural environment to items found at home. During our daily walk/bike around the neighbourhood we stopped along the way for Marlon to collect some interesting items from nature. When we got home we collected items from around the home.
Marlon helped fill a large bowl with water and arranged all of the items we had collected around it. He had a lot of fun testing whether each item would sink or float and then putting each item into a corresponding bowl. Then tipping them all out and doing it all over again...and again!
This is a great activity that enables you to discuss what objects are made of, whether they are filled with air, and in this case, whether they were from nature or manufactured. Marlon noticed that most of the natural objects floated.
He even took some time to spontaneously practise using a peg. This is another activity he enjoys working on in the classroom and he has improved a lot since his days at Rata!
Make sure you have a bucket, cloth and mop handy. Marlon enjoyed playing with the water and emptying the bucket and he took pride in cleaning up the spills when he had completed the activity.
“most of the natural objects floated”