Montessori-Inspired Spring Math Activities

By Deb Chitwood from Living Montessori Now
 
It's almost spring! Today, I want to share ideas for Montessori-inspired spring math activities using some awesome free printables I found online.

The hands-on activities in this post are for preschoolers through first graders. You'll find many more activities for preschoolers through first graders throughout the year along with presentation ideas in my previous posts at PreK + K Sharing.

You can find my previous posts easily in this post at Living Montessori Now: More Than a Year's Worth of Freebies and Montessori-Inspired Activities.

You'll also find ideas for using free printables to create activity trays here: How to Use Printables to Create Montessori-Inspired Activities.

 Spring Chick Count and Clip Tray 

For this activity, I used one of the count-and-clip cards from the Easter Printables by 3 Dinosaurs. There are LOTS of Easter printables at 3 Dinosaurs that can be used to create hands-on activities. 

I wanted to use this specific card because I could use the cute mini chicks I've found inexpensively in hobby stores. I bought mine at Michaels. Putting 3-D chicks on the cards adds interest as well as a hands-on way to reinforce counting skills. It's nice that the card has exactly 10 chicks for the child to count as he or she stands each chick on the card (also a great activity for fine-motor skills). 

I used a medium-size tray from Montessori services, a clothespin to identify the correct number on the card, and half a plastic egg to hold the mini chicks.

The child will need to take the chicks off the card after counting to 10 before clipping the clothespin on the numeral 10. I always put a color coding dot on the back of the card where the clothespin will be placed as a control of error. 

Of course, 3-D chicks aren't essential for the count-and-clip cards. You could just print out all the Easter count-and-clip cards and have enough clothespins for each card.

Where's the Bunny? Math Game

 

Where's the Bunny? Math Game comes from The Runaway Bunny Printables from Homeschool Creations. I love this activity because it's fun, educational, literature-based, and very simple to prepare. I used a clear acrylic tray from Montessori Services, a small plastic container to organize the pieces on the tray, and a large hemmed work rug for the layout.

Homeschool Creations gives directions for the game, which is a simple hide the bunny game. Whenever the child guesses incorrectly, you could give a clue such as the number is greater than or less than the guessed number.

Chick Addition Tray 

 

I created the chick addition tray with Chick Addition Sort from The Resource Room. You could also use the little numbers from the  3 Dinosaurs Easter Printables along with blank cards made into an addition sign and equals sign. Then you could have changeable addition equations.

I used a medium-size tray from Montessori services, small plastic containers to organize the pieces, a chick salt shaker from the bargain section at Target, two yellow pipe cleaners, and yellow opaque and translucent pony beads to match the addends in the equations. If you can't find chick salt shakes, you could just use one or two pipe cleaners for the child to string and then count (add) the two sets of beads. 

More Free Printables 

Go to my post at Living Montessori Now for links to more spring freebies: Free Spring Printables and Montessori-Inspired Spring Math Activities.

More Montessori-Inspired Spring Activities

For more Montessori-inspired spring activities, check out these posts with lots of activities and links to Pinterest Boards: Montessori-Inspired Spring Activities, Montessori-Inspired Easter Activities, Montessori-Inspired Easter Activities (2012), Free 3-Part Recycle Cards, Montessori-Inspired Earth Day Activities, Montessori-Inspired Activities for Earth Day Every Day, Montessori-Inspired Earth Day Activities (2012), Montessori-Inspired Lorax Activities, Montessori-Inspired Rainbow Activities, Montessori-Inspired Cloud Unit, Montessori-Inspired Weather Unit, and Montessori-Inspired April Showers Activities. If you'd like ideas for calendar-based themes throughout March, see March Themed Activities for Kids. Have a happy spring! 

Deb Chitwood is a certified Montessori teacher with a master’s degree in Early Childhood Studies from Sheffield Hallam University in Sheffield, England. Deb taught in Montessori schools in Iowa and Arizona before becoming owner/director/teacher of her own Montessori school in South Dakota. Later, she homeschooled her two children through high school. Deb is now a Montessori writer who lives in Colorado Springs with her husband of 37 years and their cat of 11 years. She blogs at Living Montessori Now. 

Linked to Tuesday Tots, Tactile Tuesday, The Mommy Club Resources and Solutions at Milk and Cuddles and Crystal & Co. Enchanted Thursdays Blog Hop, The Weekly Kid’s Co-op, Learn & Link, TGIF Linky Party, Preschool Corner, Sharing Saturday, Saturday Show & Tell, Show-and-Share Saturday, The Sunday Showcase, Link & Learn, and Afterschool Express. 

This post contains affiliate links for Montessori Services.