I love it when the seasons switch. I love, love, love preparing the environment of our classroom. I was blessed to be an assistant to an amazing Children’s House Guide years ago, and she showed me the incredible value that tweaking materials seasonally has on a child. Every season, she would swap out the baskets and trays, switch the colors and shape of the pin punch, and in countless other ways thoughtfully curate an environment where every single object called out to the students to explore, to learn, to grow. I am by no means as gifted as she is, but I am learning and appreciating the opportunities I have in my own homeschooling classroom to encourage learning through the prepared environment.
Here are a few easy (and inexpensive) DIY materials that encourage counting, fine motor skills, and sensory learning. All of the materials can be bought at your local craft or thrift shop. You might have to do some digging, but that’s half the fun! (PS always buy your baskets and trays on the clearance aisle or at a thrift store- you’ll save yourself tons of money)
Holiday Themed Sorting Works
These are two different sorting options you’ll find in our little classroom. The first is 3 different colors of puff balls (red, green, and white) and an appetizer tray. The balls are larger and sorted by color. It’s perfect for William, who is drawn to the texture and size. The second sorting work is comprised of a little tray (probably designed for dips), a lidded jar, and holiday erasers (penguins, snowmen, and trees) I found at the Target 1 Spot years ago. The added task of opening the jar is good practice for Gianna, and the size of the erasers is great for fine motor skills, in addition to the sorting by object type.
Working with Tongs
Again, I have two different versions of the same task, because William and Gianna both enjoy and need this fine motor skill work. The one on the left is a smaller version, using two green bowls, a small green tray, a pair of plastic tongs, and those same little green tree erasers from the sorting work. The second is two glass bowls on a red tray with matching red tongs and four large white puff balls.
Pipe Cleaner Threading
This is probably one of the easiest and most inexpensive works we’ve got in the classroom, and one of their favorites. It’s a pipe cleaner and some buttons. You can use any colors; right now we have a green pipe cleaner because it’s more festive 🙂
Tray of Beautiful and Interesting Objects
I like to keep a tray of interesting objects out on a shelf, primarily for William to explore. Currently we have some seed pods, old potpourri pieces, and some large nuts. Bonus points, I had a green tray and the potpourri pieces were red.
Re-Purpose a Mancala Board
I’m not really sure what to even call this one, but it’s an old mancala board with some little green and red stones in it. Each season I change the type of objects in each hole, but there is always only one for each space, so it’s self correcting. If the child places two stones in one hole, then one will be left empty. Taking the stones out, putting them at the ends, and then replacing them is fascinating work for William, and even Gianna will take this work out from time to time.
The Open/Close Basket
This is one of my favorite works, and is always on our shelf, though I rotate the types of boxes and jars inside it regularly. The idea is pretty simple- that the child has an opportunity to practice opening and closing different types of containers. You can add whatever kind of jars you want your child to learn- I like spice jars, mint tins, small zipper pouches, ring boxes, screw top jars, boxes that open, anything small, interesting, and beautiful will work. I added some seasonal flare to ours in the form of gift tins.
Counting with the Sandpaper Numbers and Green Puff Balls
William is working on his numbers, and currently can count 1-5 independently. In this work, he traces the sandpaper number, then counts out the correct number of balls to put under it.
Teen Counting with Bows
Gianna has been working on learning her teen numbers and still needs practice, but she gets bored and tiny holiday bows in a cute little box (both found at a thrift store) make counting work suddenly more fun! This work is a box, holiday bows, and a set of plastic dixie cups with the numbers 11-20 printed on them. She chooses a cup, reads the number, then counts out the correct number of bows and puts them in the cup.