Montessori-Inspired Kite Activities Using Free Printables

By Deb Chitwood from Living Montessori Now  

April is National Kite Month! In honor of the month-long observance, I've created some kite activities using free printables for preschoolers through first graders. 

You'll find many 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. 

In addition, I have a new post at Living Montessori Now with resource links of Free Printables for Montessori Homeschools and Preschools.  

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

Kite Counting Activity

 

For this activity, I used the free kite counting printable from the Prek Letter K Printables by Confessions of a Homeschooler. I added ribbons to each of the kites and included 10 miniature clothespins from a craft store. I used a large plastic tray and large hemmed work rug from Montessori Services. 

If you want to use 10 clothespins rather than 55 clothespins for a complete layout, you could turn the kites upside down, let the child draw one, and have the child attach the correct number of clothespins to the ribbon before removing the ribbons to draw the next kite.

I love that the clothespins look like kite ribbons and add a fine-motor activity at the same time.

Kite Letter Activities with Glass Gems 

This tray has three activities using the Romping and Roaring Letter K Pack from 3 Dinosaurs. I used the "Follow the K Path," "Find the Letter Kk's," and "Dot the Kk's" printables. I added a number of spring-colored glass gems and a sugar tong from Montessori Services for more work on fine-motor skills.

Cut and Glue Kite

The Cut and Glue Kite printable from 1+1+1=1 reminds me a bit of Montessori constructive triangles and is a great way to reinforce shapes. This activity is also a fun way to work on scissors skills.

Flying a Kite Word Family Activity

This activity uses the Flying a Kite Word Family printable from Really Roper at Teachers Notebook. There are "op" family words in the printable as well as "ake" family words. I like that the printable uses both nonsense words and real words.

Carp Kite Craft

This activity adds a cultural element with the Carp Kite Craft printable (for Children's Day in Japan May 5) from Activity Village. For first graders, you could print out the directions (similar to the photo), add the necessary materials, and allow children to complete the craft independently.

More Free Kite Printables 

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

For more April activities (and spring activities of all kinds), check out my April Themed Activities for Kids at Living Montessori Now.

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.

Have a great rest of the 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 San Diego with her husband of 38 years (and lives in the city where her kids, kids-in-law, and baby granddaughter live). She blogs at Living Montessori Now. 

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