Montessori-Inspired Water Cycle Activities Using Free Printables

By Deb Chitwood from Living Montessori Now  Today, I'm focusing on printables and activities that make learning the water cycle easier and more memorable.

 

I shared a list of free water cycle printables in my post today at Living Montessori Now. Here, I'm sharing some Montessori-inspired water cycle 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. 

At Living Montessori Now, I have a post with resource links of Free Printables for Montessori Homeschools and Preschools. 

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

R is for Rain Pom Pom Transfer 

 

For this activity, I used the free r is for rain Magnet Page from Making Learning Fun. The tray for this activity is a Multicraft tray with a Montessori Services basket. I added a toast tong for a practical life component and pom poms for the transferring and phonics activity. 

For the "r" is for rain part, I always emphasize the phonetic sound (/r/ for rain) rather than the letter name. I like that this printable uses the lowercase "r," which is consistent with the way letters are introduced in Montessori education.

 

My 17-month-old granddaughter is getting past the mouthing stage, so I allowed her to work with the activity (with supervision, of course). I showed her how to put the cotton balls on the cloud circles and then let her use her hands to transfer them from the basket to the cloud. She spent some time exploring the texture of the cotton balls, and she also enjoyed transferring the cotton balls. 

Water Cycle Songs and Poems 

This activity uses the free Water Cycle Song Handout (tune: “She’ll Be Coming Aound the Mountain”) by Jaya Maharajh at Teachers Pay Teachers, Water Cycle Song (tune: “The Wheels on the Bus”) by Susan Barr at Teachers Pay Teachers, and Water Cycle Poems by LR Teach at Teachers Pay Teachers. I added the printables to a tabletop easel I would place on a shelf with the other water cycle activities. Children who can read can use the printables to learn the songs and poems.

Water Cycle Bracelet

 

This activity uses Water Cycle Beaded Bracelet (good for younger preschoolers) from Making Learning Fun and Water Cycle Bracelet Project (good for advanced preschoolers and kindergarteners) from Mrs. Kimbrell’s Kindergarten. I added the printables for both levels along with colored beads in small containers and pipe cleaners to string the beads on. 

Making a water cycle bracelet is a great way to reinforce the water cycle. Children can string more than one set of beads, since the water cycle is continuous.

The Water Cycle Puzzle or Cut and Paste Activity

 

For this activity, I used The Water Cycle Chart and Activity by Meaghan Kimbrell from Mrs. Kimbrell’s Kindergarten (blog post). This part of the printable can be used more like a puzzle. It can also be used as a cut-and-paste activity.

Water Cycle Dominoes

 

This activity uses the free Water Cycle Dominoes by Erin Bittman at Teachers Pay Teachers. This is an advanced activity that's best for first graders or advanced kindergarteners. I loved the activity and had fun laying out the dominoes. It's a great way for children to reinforce knowledge learned in a water cycle unit study.

Here's the link to my favorite laminator ... inexpensive and great for almost any activity that needs to be laminated!

More Free Water Cycle Printables and Montessori-Inspired Water Cycle Activities

Go to my post at Living Montessori Now for links to water cycle freebies from around the blogosphere: Free Water Cycle Printables and Montessori-Inspired Water Cycle Activities.

You'll find lots of Montessori-inspired water cycle activities and ideas in these Living Montessori Now posts:

• Montessori-Inspired Cloud Unit
• Montessori-Inspired Weather Unit and Weather Blog Hop
• Montessori-Inspired Winter Activities (includes activities related to snow and ice)
• Montessori-Inspired April Showers Activities (my post at PreK + K Sharing)

If you'd like to focus on manners with children, please check out my 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.

Happy spring and Earth Day!

 

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 39 years (and lives in the city where her kids, kids-in-law, and toddler granddaughter live). She blogs at Living Montessori Now.