Imaginary Island (Montessori - or any hands-on learning environment!)

What's Schoolin'?

The last time I posted about this was in 2010.  I love this simple material so much and it's been such a favorite with my children that I thought I would refresh and repost about it.  My youngest STILL likes it at age 12 - or at least until we boxed it up last November while she was still 11 (Hopefully it will be out of storage soon).

These are pictures of imaginary islands that they made with the cards.  Sometimes she draws her creations in her Geography notebook.  An additional extension would be for her to label those drawings.  You could even have land/water form cards with your Imaginary Island cards to lay out over their creations.

 

Scroll down for Stefanie's gorgeous imaginary island.

http://peacefulmanngeographylinks.blogspot.com/2007/10/montessori-imaginary-island.html

Mine are just printed in black and white on cardstock and I colored them in.  I should have used marker to color them but I won't redo this material - they don't know any different and like them just fine.

 

Here is a picture of our land and water form trays.  I use to have bigger ones with lacquered sculptey clay that was painted.  Honestly, I like these little ones better.  They fit in our Land and Water Forms basket with multiple works and since youngest was already 8 when I switched, the size is fine.  Plus, if they want to smoosh the clay and redo them they are not too big.  I took this to put in dd's culture notebook after she poured water in them.  We use to keep blue water in a bottle for this work but not any more.  She makes colored water whenever she needs/wants it:




More island resources:

It would be a great time to do a study of Hawaii, including St. Damian.

http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/units/hawaii.shtml

http://www.pinterest.com/dolcebellaatl/hawaii-unit/

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/island_below_the_star.php

        


Island Literature for Olders:






This post has some affiliate links through which I may earn a tiny commission with no extra cost to you if you shop through them on your way to Amazon.  Please remember to preview recommended books before handing them to your kids :).