from Maria Montessori via Blaise Pascal in The Absorbent Mind

On Sunday after church, I stopped by the local Michael’s craft store. I knew what my end product should look like, but didn’t really have any materials in mind when I started my shopping. I found at Michael’s a piece of Foam Board ($2.99), a set of stencils which I know I will use for many other projects ($5.99), and some small wooden pegs ($3.49). When I got home I raided my craft boxes. I found left over paint, paint brush, markers, scissors, a hole punch, and cutting boards. After working on my project, I found that a rotatory cutter worked much better than scissors and the end of a pair of needle nose pliers worked better then my hole punch.   

 

I wanted to make a set of boards like the peg boards I wanted to buy. I decided to make my boards 3 inches by 6 inches. This allowed me to use only half of my foam board. (Left over foam board for another project: Bonus!) 

 I have a small case of OCD, so I measured 1/2 inch down from the top of each piece and stenciled in each number in the center of each board. 

 Then I colored in each number with permanent marker. (Sam wanted to set up his pieces with mine for the picture.) 

After I finished my numbers, I measured the center of the boards to align the holes. I made a mark with my pencil to be sure my end product would look the way I wanted it to. Then I used the end of my needle nosed pliers to push though the foam board to make a small hole. I did the same thing on the opposite side. Once I had a hole all the way though, I pushed one of the wooden pegs though the board to be sure the hole was large enough. I cleaned up the back of the holes with some scissors. 

Here are my end products. I choose not to create a board with the number 0 on it. It seems like an abstract concept for my son who is in a concrete mind. I won’t have any problem putting together a board for 0 once I feel like he has a firm grasp on these beginning numbers. If you would like an activity on the number zero, I found a VERY simple one here.

Last, I painted the ends of my pegs with different colored paint. I think you could skip this step with no problem.

Before I had a chance to present this product to Samuel, he snuck into the dinning room where our project was and started exploring our new activity. I love his enthusiasm and was happy to let him work with the boards.If you are not familiar with giving a three part lesson, please see Lisa’s post here. This is a very easy way to present activities and you will use this method throughout your time using the Montessori Method.

Presenting this activity is very easy. Have your child roll out his mat and set out the activity. Show how each peg is placed into the holes. Reiterate the fact that one peg is on the board for the number one. Make the same comparison for other boards. 

Additionally, you can count the pegs with your child as they place them in the holes. Samuel also liked having the same color pegs for one number. For example, all five red pegs were placed in the number five board or two green pegs in the number two board. This is another sorting activity for your child.