Free Horse Printables and Montessori-Inspired Horse Activities

M0ntessori Shelves with Horse-Themed Activities

You’ll find Montessori-inspired horse-themed numbers, letters, and and more (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my newsletter to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber) Note: The Montessori-inspired horse pack isn’t designed as a complete horse unit but as supplemental materials. I design the packs using realistic images that I’ve often looked for when preparing a unit study (such as font cards and phonogram cards featuring the letter and phonogram related to the theme and math cards with realistic images that fit the theme and can be adapted for math activities at a variety of levels.)

You could mix your horse-themed activities among your shelves according to curriculum area. Or you could have a special horse-themed area something like the one pictured. My shelves at the beginning of our unit have a mixture of skill levels. Many of the activities can be adapted for a variety of levels. Many of these are designed for early elementary as well as preschoolers. If you’re a homeschooler, just choose the activities that work for your child’s interests and ability levels. If you don’t have room for all the activities you’d like to do, simply rotate them.

Notice the framed art print Blue Horse by Franz Marc (1911). It’s a free download from Wikimedia Commons.

For our monthly featured art print, I purchased a Li’l DAVINCI art frame that opens in the front for easily changing a free art masterpiece printable or vintage illustration to fit with the month’s theme. The frame can be switched from horizontal to vertical without changing the hanger, which is perfect!

If you’re wondering about the rugs and rug box I use, both the rugs and wooden rug holder are from Montessori Services. I love the Montessori Services rugs and rug holder! I used to use an umbrella stand something like these. I loved that for 1-3 rugs, but I needed something different when I had more grandchildren and some projects that needed more than one rug.

Favorite Shelves, Trays, Baskets, and More for Montessori Homeschoolers

I often get asked about the trays, baskets, etc., that I use, so I published a post with many of the items. You can find lots of helpful resources here. They’re not all essential, so don’t feel you need to have everything. Just choose what’s best for your budget and your unique family’s needs. You’ll find more ideas in the Living Montessori Now Amazon shop

Horse-Themed Books for Kids

Even though I have books on shelves, I’m now keeping many of my themed books in a forward-facing display after placing a plant where the themed book basket was before. Most of my seasonal books are now in that book basket. 

For toddlers and preschoolers, about ¾ of the books I use are typically Montessori friendly (focusing on reality without smiling or talking animals or smiling or talking vehicles). This unit has many Montessori-friendly books.

Top Shelf of Main Themed Shelf: 

• Lonely Planet Kids Atlas of Horses and Ponies: Discover the A-Neigh-zing World of Horses has realistic illustrations and lots and lots of information about horses.
• My Book of Horses and Ponies: A Fact-Filled Guide to Your Equine Friends has gorgeous photographs and lots and lots of easy-to-understand information about horses and ponies.
• DK Smithsonian Picturepedia has gorgeous photos and illustrations with amazing two-page spreads on a wide variety of topics, including horses.
• D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths is a classic book of myths. I have the earlier edition from when my kids were homeschooled. Now there’s an updated edition with a new cover and additional drawings  and information.

Top Shelf of Forward -Facing Display:

• Tree of Life: The Incredible Biodiversity of Life on Earth
• The Big Book of Belonging is part of the lovely Big Book series.
• First Animal Encyclopedia

2nd Shelf:

• The Animal Book: A Visual Encyclopedia of Life on Earth 
• Let’s Classify Animals!
• National Geographic Animal Encyclopedia (You’ll notice that I love National Geographic books with their gorgeous photos!)

3rd Shelf:

• National Geographic Kids Ultimate Mammalpedia
• A Mammal Is an Animal
• Horses!: A My Incredible World Picture Book for Children

4th Shelf:

• The Book of Horses is filled with easy-to-understand information and beautiful photographs of horses.
• Gallop!: 100 Fun Facts About Horses (National Geographic Kids Readers, Level 3/Fact Reader)
• Hello, Horse

Bottom Shelf:

• Misty of Chincoteague
• Horse Mysteries for Kids: Inspiring Stories About Real Horse Heroes, Wild Breeds, A Chincoteague Ghost Pony, And Unbelievable True Events (My 7-year-old grandson, Caleb, was instantly drawn to this book and is reading it.)
• Two classic and endearing Montessori-friendly books, Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm and The Year at Maple Hill Farm, were originally published in 1974 and 1978. I used them in my Montessori school in the 1980s and with my now-adult kids!

You can see lots of horse books for kids here.

Atlas of Horses and Ponies with Horse Puzzle and Labels

Lonely Planet Kids Atlas of Horses and Ponies: Discover the A-Neigh-zing World of Horses has realistic illustrations and lots and lots of information about horses.

Free Printable: Parts of a Horse Nomenclature Cards by Montessori Nature at TPT (I used the labels from the  nomenclature cards for the puzzle. Some of the vocabulary is more advanced than the labels I used in the activity (shown below) from our previous mammal unit.

The Montessori horse puzzle can be used in a variety of ways. For older kids, I like to have them build the puzzle outside the frame and/or add labels to the parts of the horse.

The book is The Book of Horses. It’s filled with easy-to-understand information and beautiful photographs of horses.

Free Printables: Parts of a Mammal Printables from All Day Primary (There are a variety of parts of a horse printables. I used the horse 3-part cards, writing sheets (for booklet making), and definition cards. There are options for a number of ages and levels. The labels for the puzzle are cut out from the Parts of the Horse Definitions Stage 2. 

My Book of Horses and Ponies with Horse Stable and Matching Cards

My Book of Horses and Ponies: A Fact-Filled Guide to Your Equine Friends has gorgeous photographs and lots and lots of easy-to-understand information about horses and ponies.

Free Printable: Breeds of Horses Matching Game by WriteBonnieRose at TPT (I made an extra set from the horses on the Melissa and Doug Horse box and blank cards from the Breeds of Horses Matching Game. These are perfect for matching with the horse figures.)

I used the Melissa and Doug Show-Horse Stable. This is fun for both toddlers and preschoolers! My 21-month-old granddaughter absolutely loves it! Her family lives across the street, so I’m lucky to see Arabella and her older brother every day. This  is the first activity Arabella takes off the shelf each day. Much of her time is spent getting out a rug, taking the horses out of their stable and putting them back in, and putting her rug away. Those are great stand-alone activities for toddlers. Sometimes we also count the horses or focus on the breeds of horses.

Horse Pages from Picturepedia with Montessori Horse Breed Cards

The book on the easel is the DK Smithsonian Picturepedia, which I love for most units, including our horse unit. It has gorgeous photos and illustrations with amazing two-page spreads on a wide variety of topics.

Free Printables: Montessori Horse Breed Cards Set 1 and Set 2 by Professor Poppins

Sand Writing Tray for a Horse Theme

Free Printable: /h/ for horse (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my newsletter to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber). It’s available in print, D’Nealian, and cursive. 

Free Printable: /oa/ phonogram in foal (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my newsletter to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber)

You’ll see a variety of simple letter writing trays in my previous unit study posts. I often used the wooden tray from the Melissa & Doug Lace and Trace Shapes. You can use whatever tray or container work best for you, though.

I typically now use this lovely spelling/alphabet tray from FamilyTreeWW on Etsy. I like it for writing more than one letter or spelling words. (Note: That sand tray is currently unavailable, but you’ll find lots of other options for Montessori sand trays on Etsy.) I found some colored sand in 12 colors on Amazon that I started to use instead of salt or colored salt. I love it because it’s so soft and feels great! 

I added a horse from the Safari Ltd. Horses and Riders TOOB (called the Horse Lovers TOOB on Amazon).

If you would like help with introducing phonetic sounds, introducing objects with sounds, or beginning phonics in general, check out my DIY Beginning Montessori Phonics with Preschoolers.

Matching Sandpaper Letters and Horse Alphabet Cards

Montessori Color Shade Matching with Blue Horse (Art Print) by Franz Marc