Montessori Musings: Spring Practical Life Tray Activity

I wanted to show you this easy Practical Life Activity with a spring insect theme. The children make the pattern on the cards by stringing insect buttons on a pipe cleaner.

This activity trains fine motor skills as the child places the pipe cleaner through the small button holes. Mathematical skills are trained as well through the recognition of patterns. While this activity is mainly for 4-5 year olds, a couple of older children found it interesting as well on Sunday. They began to make up their own patterns after a while instead of following the cards, which is a logical progression.

I found the buttons at a hobby shop, and then made the cards myself by downloading free clip art images.

Linked to Montessori Monday at Living Montessori Now