As Nora gets older, I am constantly looking for new ways to help her explore the world around her and enjoy new sensory experiences. Nora loves animals, so I especially love finding ways to incorporate her interests into something concrete for her to explore. To combine sensory and zoology, I created these mini-sensory bottles!
These small bottles contain natural elements -- grasses, sand, rocks, and dirt -- that might otherwise end up in Nora's mouth. While I'm fine with a little dirt-eating, these bottles allow for a different type of exploration. The bottles are designed to represent the ecosystem/home of the animal -- hippo, lion, elephant and pig -- contained inside the bottle.
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When used, the bottles make unique sounds and patterns. The animals {found here} and their habitats all move and feel different.
For babies, this exploration of the environments is probably enough to engage them for a long time. I know that Nora was very interested in exploring, mouthing, shaking and staring at each little bottle. However, one thing I love about this idea is how easily it can be transitioned from baby work, to engaging toddler and preschool work.
I did give Nora the larger animals for these pictures, but she is not ready for this type of complex matching work. She just enjoys exploring both the bottles and the animals without any pressure to match. In fact, the animals are some of her favorite Montessori-friendly toys. I almost died from the cute when she snuggled that elephant.
Preschoolers, like Henry, are ready for more. They are ready to learn about the actual environments and habitats of the animals. So, I made cards identifying the names of each habitat the animals live in -- farm, grassland, savannah, and river.
Henry and I talked about the habitats and I named them. Then, we matched the larger animals to their smaller counterparts. Finally, we matched the words to their proper environment.
Henry has loved this work as much as Nora. He has studied the smaller jars, the larger animals and matched the words. While Henry isn't reading yet, he is able to remember the names of each environment and match them based on their beginning letter sound. I hope these open up a larger conversation for us about animals and their habitats. And, I hope they inspire you to do the same!
This post is part of the 12 Months of Montessori Learning series. This month's Montessori and Montessori-inspired posts are all about zoology! Visit these amazing blogs for more great zoology ideas!
12 Months of Montessori Learning!
