Montessori-Inspired Mitten Activities Using Free Printables

By Deb Chitwood from Living Montessori Now 

I LOVE The Mitten by Jan Brett! It's a great winter book for preschoolers even if you don't live in an area with snow. 

I've used free printables today to create Montessori-inspired activities to go with The Mitten 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'll also find ideas for using free printables to create activity trays here: How to Use Printables to Create Montessori-Inspired Activities.  

Disclosure: This post contains Montessori Services affiliate links at no cost to you.
 

The Mitten Lacing, Sequencing Cards, and Putting Animals in the Mitten 

  

For this activity, I used the Put the Animals in the Mitten (mittens PDFs) from Jan Brett and the sequencing cards from The Mitten Printables (kindergarten add-on) from Homeschool Creations. This would be perfect for a table featuring a few activities for The Mitten.

I put two activities on a large plastic tray from Montessori Services. The mitten printables could be used to create a lacing activity with the mitten left open at the top to put the animals in the mitten.

 

Before putting the animals in the mitten, the child could place the sequencing cards on a rug in the order from the story. I put the layout on a large hemmed work rug from Montessori Services.

After the sequencing cards are placed in the proper order, the child could put each of the animals in the mitten.

The Mitten Roll and Graph Game 

In case you didn't see my Montessori-Inspired Winter Math Activities at PreK + K Sharing last January, I want to share this activity again.

This activity uses water beads, which are fun for many ages. The Mitten Roll and Graph Game uses The Mitten Printables from 1+1+1=1. For roll and graph games, children can roll the dice and color in the graph, but you can also create a fun hands-on game that's perfect for fine-motor coordination. The Mitten Roll and Graph Game has a 1-5 version and a 1-10 version.

To make the cube, I printed out the cube on cardstock, cut it out, and put it together with glue before adding clear packing tape as a laminate and a way to seal the cube.

Water beads are wonderful for the pincer grasp. I wouldn't recommend using water beads for this particular activity for a child who has difficulty with fine-motor coordination and becomes frustrated easily, though. The water beads require fairly good fine-motor coordination skills and tend to move around easily. For children who have quite good coordination and would enjoy a challenge, I think the water beads are a fun addition.

I've read that it's good to keep the water beads completely covered in water so they don't get moldy. I added a bowl of water beads covered with water to the activity. If you have the cardstock graph laminated and leave a laminate edge, it's fine for it to get wet from the water beads.

his could be made into a cooperative game where each child takes a turn rolling the dice and placing a water bead on the graph for the appropriate animal. I like the cooperative aspect of having the children work together to add water beads to the graph until one of the animals in The Mitten reaches 10.    

This could be made into a cooperative game where each child takes a turn rolling the dice and placing a water bead on the graph for the appropriate animal. I like the cooperative aspect of having the children work together to add water beads to the graph until one of the animals in The Mitten reaches 10.  

Even though the game is cooperative, you can still use it to teach sportsmanship. At the end of the game, the children could shake hands with each other and say, "Good game!" 

It's helpful for children to learn the social etiquette for games without the emotions involved in winning and losing. Hopefully, that will make it easier for them to remember to show good sportsmanship during an actual competitive game. 

You'll find more ideas on creating cooperative games here: How to Use Cooperative Games to Teach Sportsmanship. 
 

"Where Is the Mitten?" Book-Making Tray 

This activity uses a printable from The Mitten Printables (kindergarten add-on) from Homeschool Creations. I didn't add glue to the tray, although you would need to add glue if you don't keep your glue in a central location. It's a great cutting activity, gluing activity, simple reader, and activity focusing on positional words. It's easily adapted for children at various levels.

Animals in The Mitten Book-Making Tray 

 

For this tray, I used The Mitten Unit and Lapbook Printables by Kelly Cooper and Ami on Homeschool Share. This is a fun cutting and gluing activity as well as a way to learn more about the animals in The Mitten.

More Free Mitten Printables and Montessori-Inspired Winter Activities

Go to my post at Living Montessori Now for links to lots of mitten freebies from around the blogosphere: Free Mitten Printables and Montessori-Inspired Mitten Activities.

You'll find many Montessori-inspired winter activities and ideas in these posts here and at Living Montessori Now: Montessori-Inspired Snowman Color Activities, Montessori-Inspired Snowman Letter Activities, Montessori-Inspired Winter Activities, Montessori-Inspired Winter Playdough Activities, Montessori-Inspired Winter Math Activities, 25+ Snow-Themed Sensory Tubs 

If you'd like to focus on manners with children, please check out my new eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to Teach Grace and Courtesy! It's written for anyone who'd like to feel comfortable teaching manners to children ages 2-12.

I hope you have a great rest of the winter!

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 38 years and their cat of 12 years. She blogs at Living Montessori Now. 

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