Alison’s Montessori Review

If you’re looking for well-made, reasonably priced Montessori materials, be sure to check out these wonderful Alison’s Montessori materials!

Disclosure: To help you know more about Alison’s Montessori  products, I was given a number of Alison’s Montessori materials to review. (I was never required to write a positive review for Alison’s Montessori, and any opinions expressed are my own.)

Review of Montessori Materials from Alison’s Montessori

I had reviewed a number of Alison’s Montessori materials previously. I was extremely pleased with the quality of those materials.

Then I reviewed the Alison’s Montessori knobbed cylinder blocks and knobless cylinders. Those were wonderful, too.

In both reviews, I wanted to review materials that homeschoolers and schools on a strict budget could afford. Alison’s Montessori has a premium line of materials that are made from Russian birch and German birch. The premium line materials are mostly handed sanded and hand cut … and meant to be flawless. I’ve been reviewing the value-line materials, which are solid rubber wood and are machine cut. The materials have all been amazingly high quality.

New Alison’s Montessori Review

Note: In all three sets of materials I’ve reviewed, everything has been in perfect condition. I’ve never had to return an item!!!’

Pink Tower Stand

How can I be so in love with a $10 pink tower stand? I don’t know, but I totally love this stand. It’s a wooden stand that matches the Alison’s Montessori pink tower perfectly … and I think makes the ideal way to display a pink tower. I had reviewed Alison’s Montessori pink tower previously, but I had it on a shelf in my downstairs office. Since my 2-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, will be attending a Montessori school in the fall, I limit the amount of time she has with the traditional Montessori materials.

But I was out of shelf space, and I thought it would be nice to bring the pink tower upstairs. I had a space between two shelves that I thought would work well. I just didn’t want to stand the pink tower directly on the floor. I love how it looks now. It makes me happy to look at it! Zoey loves it, too!

Here’s the description of the pink tower stand from Alison’s Montessori online catalog:

Plastic Insets/Shapes & Templates

Metal insets were always popular when I was a Montessori teacher and when I owned a Montessori school. But I have limited shelf space, and I know that many homeschoolers have the same problem. So I wanted to try Alison’s Montessori plastic insets/shapes & templates.

Here’s a description of the plastic insets/shapes & templates from the Alison’s Montessori online catalog (Note: the color is different in the catalog. I prefer the pink and blue that I received because it matches the pink tower perfectly. I’m assuming this is the new color for the plastic insets/shapes & templates.)

Use as a hands-on tool for shape recognition, matching, stenciling and more!
These ten shapes with knobs and matching bases give students the option of using the shapes as stencils or for shape recognition and matching.

The wooden box is simply described as:

Wooden box used to store paper for metal insets.

I put the plastic insets in a basket to save space. I appreciate the small amount of space that’s needed for both the insets and paper box with pencil holder behind it. The plastic works amazingly well and is a nice quality even though it is plastic. It’s also very reasonably priced … a good place for homeschools to save money. Of course, if you prefer metal insets, Alison’s Montessori has those, too.

Zoey likes to use the inset shapes like a puzzle. She quickly learned the names of the shapes, thanks to the brilliant Montessori principle of isolation of quality where only the shape varies but the color and size of the insets remain the same. I’ll give Zoey a lesson on tracing around the shapes soon.

Binomial Cube

I was curious to see the quality of the binomial and trinomial cubes. These are designed with blank sides on the outside of the box, which is fine with me.The Alison’s Montessori binomial and trinomial cubes are beautiful materials, and all the pieces in both the binomial and trinomial cubes fit well.

Here’s the description for the binomial cube from the Alison’s Montessori online catalog:

This is a wooden box containing eight wooden cubes painted red, blue, and black. The box has a special internal hinge, which allows the sides to open out flat, permitting unhindered access to the cubes. The control is screened onto the lid.

Trinomial Cube

Here’s the description for the trinomial cube from Alison’s Montessori online catalog:

This is a wooden box containing 27 wooden cubes painted in the colors red, black, blue, and yellow. The box has a special internal hinge, which allows the sides to open out flat, permitting unhindered access to the cubes. The control is screened onto the lid.

I appreciate that the binomial and trinomial cubes are used in Montessori elementary as well as primary. That makes them an especially good choice for homeschools as well as Montessori schools.

Sandpaper Numbers with Safari Ltd. Good Luck Minis Counters

I had reviewed Alison’s Montessori sandpaper numerals previously, and I thought the Good Luck Minis would make simple counters to add for a very low-prep, high-interest counting activity. I got a set of the killer whales from Alison’s Montessori. There are 10 in the package, but I set up an activity with sandpaper numerals 1-5 and 5 killer whale counters. A young child could pick a number and count out the matching number of killer whales. Older children could use all 10 killer whales with 10 numbers (not sandpaper numerals) or 9 killer whales with the sandpaper numerals 0-9.

Here’s the description of the Good Luck Minis from Alison’s Montessori online catalog:

Each replica is hand painted  non-toxic and soft to the touch. *Sold as a set of 10 individual pieces*.

Alison’s Montessori has a GREAT selection of Good Luck Minis and at the lowest price I’ve seen anywhere!

Decanomial Bead Box (55 in a Box)

About the decanomial box (55 of each) from Alison’s Montessori online catalog:

This set comes with 55 of each 1-10 beads.

There’s a smaller, less-expensive decanomial box. I like this one if you’ll be homeschooling for a number of years. Not only will it work with the beginning short bead stair and other primary math work, but it can be used for elementary-level work as well. The bead bars are very attractive and durable.

Golden Bead Material

Here are descriptions of the golden beads from Alison’s Montessori online catalog:

Golden Bead 45 Individual Beads:

Set of 45 golden individual beads

55 10 bars came with the decanomial box.

Golden Bead Hundred Squares:

Set of nine Golden Bead squares with copper wiring.

Golden Bead Thousand Cube:

This is the Golden Bead Cube of 1000 individual plastic or acrylic beads that are strung on copper wire and interweaved with metal strips at two ends to retain the shape.

These are BEAUTIFUL! I love the individually strung beads. For a homeschool, I don’t think it’s necessary to buy a special tray for the introduction to the decimal system, since you won’t use it that much. I just placed those beads on a tray I had. There are SO MANY ways to use the colored bead bars from the decanomial box and the golden beads.

Any of these materials would be a wonderful addition to a school or homeschool.

Alison’s Montessori Homepage

Be sure to check out the Alison’s Montessori website with Montessori materials for infants and toddlers through upper elementary! You’ll find a Value-Line E-Catalog, Premium E-Catalog, and other resources such as PDF files, books, arts and crafts, and enrichment materials. There’s even a bargain basement!

Now for the Giveaway: The giveaway is now over. Please see the announcement of the winners right below the Rafflecopter form.

What You Will Win: 5 lucky winners from the U.S. will win a $100 Alison’s Montessori gift certificate! Note: The gift certificates may not be used to purchase furniture.

Who is Eligible:

This giveaway is open to anyone 18 and older in the U.S. The first entry is mandatory. You must leave a blog post comment telling why you want to win (and be sure to click the green “ENTER” on the Rafflecopter form to let me know you left your blog post comment and to open up the optional entries)! After you’ve completed your mandatory entry, there are lots of optional entries. You have many chances to win! (Note: For the extra entries, you may count ways of following that you already do. For example, if you previously “liked” Living Montessori Now on Facebook, you may still count that for your “like” Living Montessori Now on Facebook entry!)

It’s easy to enter giveaways with Rafflecopter! Just follow the directions to enter.If you still have questions about the Rafflecopter form, here’s a 52-second video with quick directions for entering through Rafflecopter.

You must complete the Mandatory Entry to qualify for any additional entries. The giveaway closes 9:00pm PST on Tuesday, January 26. Best of luck! (Note: If you have any problems with the Rafflecopter form, you can sign up on the Rafflecopter form at the Living Montessori Now Facebook page. Just be sure to leave your blog comment here! Both Rafflecopter forms are the same, so it doesn’t matter which one you sign up on.)
a Rafflecopter giveaway

UPDATE:

It’s January 27. I really appreciated the 2,672 entries! 5 winners have been selected using Random.org through Rafflecopter!

Here are the five winners and their mandatory entries. All 5 had multiple entries.

Judith M. – Alison’s Montessori $100 Gift Certificate

“I would love to win so I can get some quality manipulatives for my homeschool.”

Jerry M. – Alison’s Montessori $100 Gift Certificate

“I am trying to win this because I could really use this.”

Stacy D. – Alison’s Montessori $100 Gift Certificate

“My daughter just turned two and my husband and I are very excited to start gathering materials for our Montessori-inspired homeschool. $100 to Allison’s Montessori site would help out so much!”

Valentine H. – Alison’s Montessori $100 Gift Certificate

“I have a 6.5 year old and a 3 year old who we are homeschooling. We have some montessori materials and there are a few more we would love to supplement with, but we just can’t afford them. Additionally, I am teaching a group of homeschooling kids as part of a loose coop and I would love to add some materials to share with the larger group. What a lovely opportunity–thank you Deb and thank you Allison’s Montessori!”

Rachel D. – Alison’s Montessori $100 Gift Certificate

“We really need some dressing frames. We are having a hard time with buttons! =)”

CONGRATULATIONS, Judith, Jerry, Stacy, Valentine, and Rachel!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH to Alison’s Montessori for sponsoring such an amazing giveaway – and thank you to everyone who entered!

Note: On orders of $75 or more from the Alison’s Montessori online store, my readers can save $10 by using coupon code LMN at checkout!

Learn more about my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to. Teach Grace and Courtesy!

The Montessori at Home! eBook and Montessori at Home! eBook and Materials Bundle are AMAZING resources! You can learn more about them here. Buy them in the Living Montessori Now shop.

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