Photo by the artists at Dollar Photo Club
If you happen to be following my blog, then you might have noticed the article on forcing bulbs that I posted last week. Here's the link if you missed it: Artfully Outdoorsy Montessori: Let the Children Plant Bulbs!
The book, Festivals, Family and Foods, by Diana Carey & Judy Large has been a mainstay of our family. And, one of my favorites from this book is the idea of planting flower bulbs during Autumn, allowing them to "sleep" through the coldest days of Winter, only to emerge and cheer us all up on the first days of Spring! Here's that book at Amazon: Festivals, Family & Food book at Amazon.
Bulbs are some of the easiest plants to grow. The "seed" is nice and big for little children to handle planting easily. They are nearly fail-proof, even if you have a "brown thumb"! They can be planted in the ground, in planter boxes and even in bowls filled with pebbles and water (don't need soil!) When planted outdoors, they come up year after year and are prolific!
A very fun music & movement activity that is always a big hit with little children is dramatizing the cycle of the flower by singing the story going up the musical scale. This is a fabulous activity for using the Montessori bells if you have them in your classroom! The ones pictured here are from Nienhuis Montessori.
I have used an Orff-Schulwerk Glockenspiel in the video below for an example of the song the way I sing it with the children. However, you can use any pitched instrument (Xylophone, piano keyboard, recorder/ flute, autoharp, etc) that you have including just your voice unaccompanied!
Photo by the artists at Dollar Photo Club
Photo by the artists at Dollar Photo Club
It is helpful to show the children a visual of a flower growing from seed/bulb to roots, shoot, stem, leaves, bud and the open flower. I often create a simple felt board story with these parts set up to add as you show or sing the story. Then, the felt board story can be put on the shelf for the children to do individually at work time.
Photo by the artists at Dollar Photo Club
Photo by Carolyn at Magical Movement Company
Photo by Carolyn at Magical Movement Company
Photo by the artists at Dollar Photo Club
Lois Elhert's Planting A Rainbow, has some great pictures of bulbs being planted in the Autumn to go along with the lovely story of putting in a flower garden. Here's that link at Amazon: Planting a Rainbow book at Amazon.
Here's the link for a great youtube children's video about this lovely book at this link:Youtube Planting a Rainbow movie trailer.
If you've got a little flower child (or children) in your life, I would highly recommend purchasing some flower bulbs to plant this time of year!
Photo by the artists at Dollar Photo Club
This article is part of the link-up, "Montessori Mondays" at the site, Living Montessori Now where you'll find lots of great articles from Montessori bloggers all over the world! Here's that link: Montessori Mondays at Living Montessori Now.
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