While it's definitely not required for Montessori at home, having themed toddler trays can be fun from time to time. Often these trays can be an engaging way for a toddler to learn about a specific holiday while also working on fine motor or language skills.
When creating these trays, keep it simple and isolate the concepts that each is focusing on. Make sure the tray includes everything your child needs to complete the work. When presenting remember to include how to restore the work and put it away.
4th of July Montessori Inspired Work
Here's a closer look at the 4th of July trays we had on our shelves with our older toddler. They included:
Bead Pouring: Red, white {well wood}, and blue wooden bead pouring. Working on fine motor skills and precision.
Dry erase matching: a simple DIY worksheet and some dry erase markers for more precision with a writing utensil. Plus some language work.
Map dot painting: another DIY sheet and some dot markers. Fun for artistic expression and for more precision (hitting the dots.) Plus a little less mess than other types of painting.
Pom-Pom Transfer: 1-to-1 red, white, and blue pom-pom tweezing into star shaped ice tray. Great fine motor work for summer time. I would now arrange the tray from left-to-right.
Pattern Matching: another quick DIY for language work, matching 4th of July themed shapes
Scooping: Red, white, and blue rice scooping for fine motor control. (2023 update: I generally wouldn't use food anymore for this kind of transfer work, similar effect with gems, glass beads, or pebbles.)
Make-your-own Flag: Probably best for preschoolers but a fun and hands on way to make a flag.
And, that's it! Choosing one or two themed trays can make the holiday a little more concrete and hands on for your toddler. These simple trays are also an easy way to incorporate a little more learning into your toddler's play. I hope you enjoyed these simple 4th of July themed Montessori activities.
