Homeschooling My Kinetic Kids

My family loves Safari Ltd toobs for homeschooling, which is why this printable is one of the first things I put onto my blog.  Over six years later and it's time for a quick update on an old favorite.  These Montessori-inspired 3-part cards match the Safari Ltd Insects* toob and can be used in numerous ways for learning about bugs.  Scroll down to grab the printable for free! *Insects seems to be more of a suggestion than a scientific term for the manufacturer of these toys, but that can be a great lesson in itself.  What is an insect and what is not?  Finding names for all of the generic creatures in the tube was much more challenging than it usually is for me.  I did a lot of research and made my best guess to find names that match the look of the bugs. Originally published on May 13, 2015 and updated on April 17, 2021. This is a Member's Only Printable! Sign Up for the Newsletter to Get It! (If you're already a subscriber, add your email agai...

Every year about this time, the kids start wishing for warmer, drier weather, so they can start looking for worms.  They love finding tiny babies and fat older ones and carrying them around as their pets for a long time.  Spring is the perfect time to capitalize on kids interests of worms and add in lots of other learning too.  1- Read Some Great Books One of the easiest places to start when you're looking at a new subject is at the library.  These books offer both information about worms scientifically and tell fun stories featuring the wigglers.  Speaking of  Wiggling Worms at Work , this book explains how worms enrich the soil to help plants grow.   Yucky Worms  focuses on how worms move and where they live.  For a good look at their life cycle and anatomy, check out  Garden Wigglers , which includes all that and more.   2- Make a Worm Sensory Bin The blogger mom at  Montessori From the Heart  had a great idea...

Known for their bright orange wings and striking black pattern, Monarch butterflies are some of the most well-known lepidoptera species in North America.  From their amazing metamorphosis to their astounding migration, the butterflies make a great study for preschool and elementary aged kids.  If your kids are interested in beautiful, flying insects, fuzzy caterpillars, and fascinating transformation, then it's the perfect time to learn about Monarch butterflies!  Here are some fun and useful resources to help you get started. Monarch Butterfly Life Cycle Set   <>   Monarch Butterfly Kite Monarch Butterfly book   <>   Butterflies Scratch and Sketch book How to Raise Monarch Butterflies   <>   Monarch Butterfly Grow Kit The Little Guide to Butterflies   <>   Monarch Butterfly Stuffed Animal Monarch Butterfly Wings Costume   <>  Wild Republic Butterfly Tube Magnetic Life Cycl...

It's now the beginning of March, and we're starting to thaw out, get muddy, and think about fishing in the sunshine.  Springtime is also a good time to finish blog posts that I've had in my queue since last summer (haha).  This project started last spring, when I asked my artistic husband to paint me some fish for my blog.  He painted some trout and sold them, but never finished my paintings.  I had been waiting for him to finish to launch a big fish learning unit with lots of printables.  Well, I'm tired of having this unfinished project in my blog dashboard, so I've decided to get it out in the world anyways.  All this week, I'll have lots of fun fishy activities for creating your own theme unit. I was very surprised how hard it was to find fish products for kids!  There are very few freshwater books , especially nonfiction ones, and even less fish toys that are realistic.  There's a lot more options for ocean fish, which is good news if yo...

We got our first real snowfall of the winter today (Jan 7), so naturally, I've started to dream of spring.  I also updated my chicken life cycle post today, and decided to make some more chicken-themed printables for learning.  I may end up turning this into a series of printable, so check back on this blog to see what happens. As I was writing about the chicken 3-part cards today, I said that the life cycle labels could be spelled out with a Montessori-style movable alphabet.   Since making creative, printable, themed alphabets is one of my favorite things to create, I decided to make some chicken egg letters. These simple white eggs with capital letters can be printed on plain white paper (or cardstock) and cut them out to work on letter identification or spell out words.  The eggs could work for a chicken or bird theme unit or even a cooking study.  Need some letters for an Etsy shop or Instagram flatlay?  These letter cards would work for...

I was very surprised in my watermelon homeschooling research that I never ran across a watermelon life cycle printable.  There's plenty of stuff for apples, pumpkins, and beans, but I couldn't even find clip art the illustrated the process.  When I decided to use real life pictures, Montessori-style, I had a lot of trouble even finding images for each step.  These cards are a labor of love to my readers and my family, and I was very excited when I finished them. Like most of my Montessori-inspired printables, these cards are meant to be used in a 3-part matching activity.  Download the PDF and print off two copies of the watermelon images.  To make them into a 3-part cards, cut out the cards, separating the pictures from the label on one set, while keeping the other ones whole.  The child can then match the pictures to the pictures and the labels to the label. > > > Click Here to Download Cards < < < This is a subscrib...

I probably should have posted this a month or so ago when everyone was talking about getting their  Butterfly Growing Kit  from Insect Lore in the mail.  I'm a bit slow to catch on to those things, but I decided to post this Montessori-inspired life cycle set anyways.  Perhaps someone who is still considering getting caterpillars and growing butterflies will have use for them, and I know they will be useful for years to come. These 3-part cards match the Insect Lore Painted Lady figurines, and are a great companion to the  butterfly kit .  The cards go through the four life stages of butterflies, from egg to caterpillar to pupa, and finally to adult butterfly.  Print two copies of the cards to make the traditional Montessori 3-part card activity (see the picture at the above for instruction).  Have the child match the figurines to the picture, the label, and the whole card (pictures and label) for reading and spelling practice. This i...