Rainbow Stew & toddler village

A gal I use to share downloads with back a few years ago now has a pretty cool site called Toddler Village.  I was getting out our March stuff and saw all the St Patty's file folder games.  I thought...they'd enjoy some of this.  So, I hopped on the 'puter and went searching to see if anyone had done a blog.  I found her site and I think you'll enjoy all the lovely downloads she has.   

They're definitly for the toddler/preschool kids and I'm sure you'll get LOTS of ideas.  Pop in at the Special Monthly Section check out Rainbow Stew.  We plan on doing a Rainbow Salad instead of a stew.  I thought it'd be nice for the kids to cut up the fruit, I'd sing the little ditty while we're working so they 'learn' it, then see if they want to sing along as we assemble it.  We'll remind Sunshine that we chew with our mouth closed & that it is acceptable to say our prayers once & then eat. (Grace & Courtesy)
               
(Prayers, prayers! Prayers! is hollered out throughout our meal.  I swear the child has secretly found a way to get me to lose weight.  We're praying so many blessings on the meal that when we're half way through I don't have time to finish eating with all the work that needs done.  But it's really cute.  Oh, and you have to fold your hands & bow your head or she'll scream PRAYERS!  This was an issue the other day when we grabbed bean burritos to eat in the van while out shopping.  Let's just say we almost pulled the van over to say a proper prayer before she got it that Daddy couldn't just stop on the highway.)

If you're a Waldorf mama you could work on your colors with your rainbow puzzle as you follow the game.  I'm getting one of these soon.  I think they're so beautiful!  I just have to wait until all this house hububub is done & then...oh yeah...I'm buying some PRETTIES! 

Oh, and some really cool things you can do with File folder games & Montessori'ing them up is to skip the file folder & just laminate you board/bottom for you to match up everything & place it in a basket or stick with the file folders (I'm still using all mine.  Why toss out good materials that are usable, enjoyed & the child is still able to self correct just because they don't have a Montessori title to 'em?) and place them in a basket.  I have a couple hundred of them & I'll pull out ones that really go well with our materials we're currently working on.  I also store the extras downstairs with the extra games & science experiments.

You can join some really great File Folder Making groups by doing a yahoo group search.  You'll find a lot of materials for extensions, seasonal activites, etc.  And, they're very usable/easy to Montessori-ize.

By the way...the timeline's at Cultivating Dharma are excellent aren't they?  I forgot that after making mine I wasn't successful with the whole laminating with contact paper so I took it into Staples.  They're my home away from home!  They laminated it and it only cost me like 10bucks.  I do recommend you assemble it and tape it up.  Also, Kryon has this spray adhesive that's really awesome.  I was working with it to add printed paper to colored  cardstock so I could laminate them and it's really awesome.  I don't recommend doing this in the living room (despite using a box to "contain" the spray I still ended up with a sticky couch.  Lucklily it's a fake leather couch & washes off...Unluckily though Light's cage, Rhea's cockatiel,  is right there too & I swear he got high off the fumes cause I know I was buzzin with a headache.  I was worried about possibly glueing his wings to his body but he stretches them out just fine! ;) ), be sure to ventilate, plan ahead & decide to do these things during the spring, summer or early fall.  You'll thank me later.  Oh, and it said to watch it cause the fumes can burst into flames.  Yeah, that little tidbit I read AFTER I sprayed.  So...always read the full directions.  Don't be that kid that gets the joke quiz, starts doing all the silly stuff then gets to the end where it says if they'd followed the first direction which was read all directions first they wouldn't have just made a fool of theirselves & danced about the classroom.  No I wasn't that kid.  I was a better student in school than I am now.

Honey

Honey