Montessori-Inspired Little Passports Activities – Mexico

For today’s post, I enjoyed putting together activities for a North American country. I’m sharing some fun Montessori-inspired activities using the Little Passports Mexico package.

Disclosure: I’m an affiliate for Little Passports and, as an ambassador, I received a year’s subscription to the World Edition of Little Passports. Once a month, I’m sharing some Montessori-inspired activities featuring Little Passports. This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you. Of course, all opinions are my own.

Here are my previous Montessori-inspired Little Passports posts:

1. Montessori-Inspired Little Passports Global Adventure (which contained the Little Passports suitcase, passport, and world map used each month along with a letter from Sam and Sofia, activity sheet, stickers, and a boarding pass with access to online games and activities)
2. Montessori-Inspired Little Passports Activities – Brazil
3. Montessori-Inspired Little Passports Activities – Japan
4. Montessori-Inspired Little Passports Activities – France
5. Montessori-Inspired Little Passports Activities – Egypt
6. Montessori-Inspired Little Passports Activities – Australia

The Little Passports materials could work especially well for afterschooling, in a Montessori homeschool with children of multiple ages, or for summer learning. The World Edition is a monthly subscription recommended for ages 5-10. A total of 24 different adventures are available in the series. I’m sharing activities that would allow preschoolers to join in the adventures as well.

Contents of the Little Passports Mexico Package:

Contents of the Little Passports Mexico Package

Each monthly kit includes:

• A letter from Sam and Sophia, your child’s travel companions. This adds interest to a world study for a wide range of ages.
• Souvenirs themed around the chosen country. This month’s souvenir is a balero, Mexican cup-and-ball game.
• An activity sheet for the country. This will generally be best for 5-10 year olds.
• A picture from the country. This month’s picture is of Sam and Sophia in Mexico.
  Picture of a Uakari Monkey
  Picture of a Uakari Monkey
  Picture of a Uakari Monkey
• A passport stamp.
• A map marker.
• A sticker for the suitcase.
• A “boarding pass” for access to online content about the country. This month’s boarding pass has a map activity with a tour of Mexico (which includes a printable photo album), Mexico Trivia, and Mexico Taqueria (making tacos game) recommended for ages 5-10. Younger children could easily be included in the tour of Mexico and printable photo album.
  This month’s boarding pass to Brazil had fun trivia questions about Brazil as well as an interactive soccer game. – See more at: http://www.peaceloveorganicmom.com/2013/05/traveling-to-brazil-with-little.html#sthash.NohmOxUG.dpuf

Following are some suggestions on how you can make Little Passports Montessori-inspired and have it work for multiple ages at home.

Map Work

The first package had a global focus, so you could have done any sort of continent map work in connection with the first package. After that, it’s best if your children have a chance to work with related Montessori continent box materials before the country package arrives (possibly for the two weeks preceding your work with the specific country). For the Mexico package, I’d recommend working with the North America continent box for two weeks before and after working with the Mexico package. (See Montessori-Inspired Continent Activities with Animal Figures and Landmarks – North America.)

Map Unfolding and Folding and Country Matching Activity

Map Unfolding and Folding and Country Matching Activity

I would include this activity for each country. Map unfolding and folding makes a great Montessori-inspired practical life activity. I’d recommend showing your child how to carefully unfold and fold the world map that comes with the first package. If you feel that would be too difficult for your child, you could laminate the map and put it up on the wall.

For the Mexico package, I traced Mexico on the map and cut out the country piece from a brown foam sheet to match the color of the country on the Little Passports map. Your child could place the matching foam piece on the world map, maybe using Velcro if your map is laminated and hung up. I included Brazil, Japan, France, Egypt, and Australia on the tray to reinforce the work done previously with Little Passports.

Balero – Cup and Ball Game

Balero Game Tray

Topics Online Magazine has interesting articles about traditional children’s games from Mexico. I printed out the information on el balero, the cup-and-ball game. This isn’t a printable download, so it’s just an example of an activity you could use at home. Because the game is so difficult, I would consider hitting the cup with the ball for 1 point and maybe 2- or even 5 points for getting the ball in the cup.

Extensions Using Montessori-Inspired Spanish Activities

Spanish Silence Game Sign

Spanish Silence Sign

I love the Montessori silence game. It’s wonderful for helping children develop self-control and self-discipline. I write about it in my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to Teach Grace and Courtesy. You can also read more about it in this post: The Silence Game. I like the idea of putting up a sign saying “Silencio” when you want to play the silence game during a unit on Mexico. I found the free printable Spanish Classroom Commands at Instant Display.

More Montessori-Inspired Spanish Activities

Montessori-inspired Spanish activities in general would work well as extensions for the Little Passports Mexico package. I have a Montessori-Inspired Spanish Activities roundup post with more ideas.

Extensions using Safari Ltd. Animals and Landmarks

My post with Montessori-Inspired Continent Activities with Animal Figures and Landmarks – North America has ideas for continent activities using Safari Ltd. TOOBS. One of the North American landmarks (Temple of the Inscriptions) is in Mexico.

I’d love to hear what you’ve done for a study of Mexico.

Montessori-Inspired Global Adventure Pinterest Board

On the Montessori-Inspired Global Adventure  Pinterest Board, I pin lots of Montessori-inspired continent activities in general along with Montessori-inspired continent and country activities that work well with Little Passports packages. You’ll also find pins with links to facts and resources you can use to create Montessori-inspired continent and country activities. And you’ll find links to free continent and country printables as well. Each month, I’ll add new continent and country activities to the board.

More about Little Passports

You can sign up for 3 months ($13.95/month with a one-time payment of $41.85), 6 months ($13.95/month with a one-time payment of $83.70), 12 months ($10.95/month with a one-time payment of $131.40), or monthly ($11.95/month, billed monthly and can be cancelled any time).

Every month after the first month, your child will visit 2 new states and receive:

• A 32-page activity-packed journal covering 2 states
• Stickers
• Pop-out Models
• Postcards
• Access to more information and activities online

You can find out more and subscribe at Little Passports.

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

If this is your first time visiting Living Montessori Now, welcome! If you haven’t already, please join us on our Living Montessori Now Facebook page where you’ll find a Free Printable of the Day and lots of inspiration and ideas for parenting and teaching! And please follow me on Pinterest (lots of Montessori-, holiday-, and theme-related boards), Twitter (blog posts by me and others along with the Parent/Teacher Daily and other interesting information), and Google+ (post updates and Montessori Community). You can find me on bloglovin’ now, too. I’m also a Parenting Expert on Sulia. Thank you for following me there. And don’t forget one of the best ways to follow me by signing up for my weekly newsletter in the right sidebar. You’ll get two awesome freebies in the process!

May be linked to Afterschool Express, Thoughtful Spot, Tuesday Tots, The Mommy Club Resources and Solutions at Milk and Cuddles and Crystal & Co., Mom’s Library, It’s Playtime, The Weekly Kid’s Co-op, Homeschool Link-up, Hearts for Home Blog Hop, Learn & Link, TGIF Linky Party, Preschool Corner, Ultimate Homeschool Pinterest Party, Sharing Saturday, Saturday Show & Tell, Share It Saturday, Show-and-Share Saturday, The Sunday Showcase, Link & Learn.