Montessori-Inspired Flower Math Activities

By Deb Chitwood from Living Montessori Now
 

Last year, I had a post here with Montessori-Inspired April Showers Activities. Today, I decided to add some Montessori-inspired May flower activities. I used some great free printables I found online to create the activities.

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 from 2012 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.

This post contains Montessori Services affiliate links (at no cost to you).

Roll and Build a Flower Activity

The Roll and Build a Flower Activity uses the Flower Unit {Expanded} from 2 Teaching Mommies. I just used an inexpensive wooden tray and a basket from a hobby store for the activity.

Leaves on the Flower Stem Counting Activity 

This activity uses the Leaves on the Flower Stem Counting from Mr Printables. You could make this activity easily by printing out and laminating the 2-D printables. I had found 3 adorable little clay pots for $1 at the Dollar Tree, so I wanted to make a 3-D activity. The activity as I made it required delicate cutting after I printed and and laminated the printables. 

Then I added Velcro circles to the numbered circles and the flower. I added Velcro circles to the leaves as well. I glued a bamboo skewer to the back of the stem so it would stand up, and I inserted the stem into the pot filed with black beans. The tray was an inexpensive tray from the grocery store. I used small containers to organize the numbered circles and the leaves.

You could make the activity a game by turning over the numbered circles and having the child draw a number before adding the leaves. The numbered circles could be 1-10 as in the photo or could be a smaller number of circles according to the child/children's age and ability.

The flower is rather fragile, so I wouldn't recommend this version for children who aren't able to handle a delicate flower. Of course, when children are told that a material is delicate and shown how to use it carefully, they'll often be extra careful.

Hundred Chart Art Flower
 

For this activity, I used another 2 Teaching Mommies printable - from Flower Unit {K Extension}. The flower in the photo is the control chart with the numbered chart and directions underneath it. I used glass gems from the hobby store and a small glass bowl from Montessori Services.

Although older children can use the activity as intended, younger children could simply place the matching colored gems on the colored squares on the control chart.

Grid Work Tulip
 

The grid work tulip uses Grid Work Tulip from Making Learning Fun. This is a fun introduction to grid work that will be useful later on in math. It's also a good way to emphasize number- and letter identification. I used mini glass gems and a glass candle coaster to organize the gems on the tray. I also used a sugar tong from Montessori Services for an added practical life activity.

Add the Flowers Activity 

Add the Flowers printable is from 3 Dinosaurs' Spring Pack Update. I used glass candle coasters to organize plastic flower gems from the hobby store (Michaels).

You can find some ideas for presenting hands-on addition activities in my Montessori-Inspired One Fish, Two Fish Math Activities post. You'll also find ideas for counting, subtraction, and greater than/less than in my PreK + K Sharing posts. There are printables for those concepts as well in the 3 Dinosaurs pack, so you can choose the concept or concepts that are best for your child or students.  

Place Value Flowers
 

Place Value Flower Pots is by Sarah Ridley at Teachers Pay Teachers. I added a felt mat and Montessori golden bead materials for hands-on decimal system work. Montessori-Inspired St. Patrick’s Day Math Activities also has a decimal system activity and resources for making your own bead bars.

More Free Printables 

Go to my post at Living Montessori Now for links to more flower freebies from around the blogosphere: Free Flower Printables and Montessori-Inspired Flower Math Activities.

More Montessori-Inspired Spring Activities

For more Montessori-inspired spring activities, see my Montessori-Inspired Spring Themes and Activities post. If you'd like ideas for calendar-based themes throughout May, see May Themed Activities for Kids. Have a happy end of the school year!
 

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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