Sensorial – Umamah Learning Academy

Homeschooling with Target

LOVE THESE FINDS

I love to walk through Targets $ Spot section and look for nifty things to enhance our learning experience. The following were very exciting finds! Lil Muallims have been enjoying these for quite some time now. The fact That I paid between $ 1-3 for each just makes it all the more worth it. Walhumdolillah!!!

Home made Play dough

WE LOVE PLAYING WITH PLAY DOUGH

Yes Play dough has brought endless fun many a times in our home (and the mess and clean up that comes with it). We prefer the home made Kool Aid Play dough recipe I got from youtube.

1 cup of flour

1 package of koolaid

1/4 cup salt

2 tbsp cream of tartar (optional)

1 cup warm water

2 tbsp vegetable oil.

Combine the dry ingredients in a sauce pan and then stir in your warm water and oil. Stir in your sauce pan on Medium heat for 3-5 minutes until the mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat and let cool. Knead the playdough and store in plastic bag in the fridge until ready to use.

Recently Grandma visited us, and as she loves baking breads and other fancy shaped savory goodies.

When she saw the kids making home made play dough and playing with it, she couldn’t resist playing and teaching the kids GRANDMA STYLE….

KIDS LOVED IT !!!

Pattern block patterns

LOVE PATTERN BLOCKS

Got pattern blockss long time ago and they have a been quite a favorite Alhumdolillah for all ages.

Here is Lil Muallim # 3 working with them.

I got the patterns from here. Just printed them out and put them in a file.

This last one was taken from here….

Islamic art with Constructive Triangles an Extension

Geometry and Islamic Art

Geometric patterns in Islamic art have always intrigued me. I have been waiting to explore them with my kids. So when a friend lent me this book, I started making mental notes on how to go about with a lesson using the book. Lil Muallim # 1 read the book, but I failed to take out time to actually work with it with him.

Lo and behold the day came for me to return the book, so our morning started with this fabulous lesson which really developed itself. What followed was one our best homeschool lessons. Alhumdolillah !

CREATING A DESIGN WITH POLYGONS AND STARS BY STARTING WITH A CIRCLE

Honestly speaking Lil Muallim #1 was quite surprised when I showed him how to make a circle using marker in a compass.

The following markings and designs were made by him.

MAKING AN 8 POINTED STAR BY EXTENDING THE LINES OF A SQUARE

STUDYING ISLAMIC ART WITH CONSTRUCTIVE TRIANGLES

Following is a not a Montessori activity as I know of but a self created extension. Lil Muallim feels there are more Montessori materials in our home for the lil one than for him. I used this opportunity to show him how he could create his own Constructive Triangles Extension.

We used 3 constructive triangle boxes, the triangle and small and large hexagon, to make and explore different Islamic Geometric patterns as highlighted in the book.

HEXAGON

6 POINTED STAR

DEVELOPING MORE COMPLEX DESIGN VARIATIONS

HEXAGON BRAIN TEASER

Many years ago I had done a lesson on bee hives with Lil Muallim #1, on how perfectly the bees make their hives with all hexagon cells exactly the same. Subhanallah!

So after Lil Muallim # 1 made the following showing how two triangles fit in between two hexagons, I asked him……

“How come there weren`t any triangles in between the hexagons in a bee hive ?

He looked closely at the pattern above moved out the two triangles and moved the hexagon side ways saying … “That`s because they are attached this way“ Now that self discovery is priceless.

Following are a few more of his design formations.

I am looking into buying these pattern blocks or something similar to explore tessellation If any of you have suggestions please share in the comments 🙂

I’ve linked this activity up on Living Montessori Now’s

Update: Many thanks to Deb Chintwood of Living Montessori now for adding my link in her DIY Construction Triangle post after my Monday Montessori link up.

Continent Dot to Dot

GUESS THE CONTINENT

I found these really neat printable at 100 day Activities. Lil Muallimah got the easier ones Lil Muallim # 2 got the harder ones. They both like there continent dot to dot sheets.

I put Lil Muallimah ones in protective sheets and in a file to keep them safe and reusable.

Today I took Lil Muallimah’s out of the file to see if she could recognize her continents without tracing them first. Mashallah she got them all right, as she named them ans explained her observation, why she thought it was that continent. She described how she knew, giving details of the shape and surrounding. I was very impressed. The nomenclature cards and her big map really helped Alhumdolillah

Here’s what I mean

You’ve got to like the subtle element of Math (counting beyoind ten) while tracing the continents. Just the perfect out of the box Math activity Math on the Level style.