Mortar and Pestle and Santa Claus

I love Montessori and try to bring it into our daily routine.  Although I haven't figured a way to introduce our trays, mats, and work to this group yet, I am still working on it.  So, in the mean time, I try to bring in special materials or equipment to get the children to practice the different goals I have for them.  Today we brought out the mortar and pestle.  I brought it to the table with some potpourri for a craft we were doing.  I really wanted the big girls to use it and grind the potpourri up, but, although they enjoyed touching it, using it, and learning about it, they didn't enjoy it as much as I thought they would.  That doesn't meant it wasn't enjoyed though, the little ones absolutely LOVED this activity.  I had a very hard time getting them to put it away and Scamp wanted nothing to to do with a morning nap after she got her hands on the mortar and pestle.  It was very cute.

Smelling the potpourri was part of the fun... and Little Man couldn't stop smelling it and saying...

"EEWWWWWW!!!!"

Making sure his friends got a sniff!!

"Huh, look at that."

The pestle was  heavy and I think they liked the feel of it.  

I only have one, so as patience is not something we have had a lot of practice with, some of us had a hard time waiting for our turn.  They did pretty good though, considering :)

Little Man was in charge of the mortar at this point and wanted EVERYONE to take a whiff... they would say, "Yum" and he would say, "EEWWW!!!"

"What do you think??"

"How 'bout you??"

We then took the ground up potpourri and made it into a yummy smelling hanging ornament....  well, hopefully it will turn out that way ;)

I have been talking with the kids about Christmas.  With this group, only Sprout and Roo really have any idea that Christmas is something more than just another day and they talk a lot about Santa and presents.  So, in addition to talking about how Christmas is the day Jesus was born, we have been, of course, reading and talking about Santa.  Today we read, Where Oh Where is Santa Claus?? by Lisa Wheeler.  It is such a great toddler book for the holiday.  Not to many words, great illustrations, and a reoccurring phrase, "Santa, Santa, Where are You!!?"  The phrase changes every other page, but it's pretty much the same thing, just a little different words, so we just kept saying the same phrase and the kids LOVED it!!  They loved the animals, they loved moving their heads around to see if they could see him, and we even tried to guess where he might have gone.... we never thought he would get stuck in the snow and have to be pulled out!!  It was a cute, silly book that kept even Scamp interested and laughing.

"Its Santa!!"

I Love the month of December... even if it's not December yet :)