Using Montessori-Inspired Activities for Elementary-Level Learning

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Spielgaben. All opinions are honest and my own. This post also contains affiliate links (at no cost to you). My previous Spielgaben posts focused more on the preschool years, but Spielgaben toys are designed for ages 3-12. So, today I’m sharing some ideas for using Spielgaben toys for elementary-level learning activities. I’ve had fun preparing some Montessori-inspired activities for children ages 6-12.

Using Montessori-Inspired Activities for Elementary-Level Learning

While there’s a specific curriculum for Montessori elementary education ( see the Montessori elementary posts on my Montessori Resources page), many open-ended learning materials can be used to create hands-on activities appropriate for ages 6-12.  Spielgaben educational toys are specifically designed for learning activities through age 12 and already come with numerous activities suggested in the digital resource materials. To create Montessori-inspired activities, you could place them on trays on shelves or create a special area on a table. For preschoolers, I often place the exact number of pieces needed on the tray as a control of error (self–check). At the elementary level, I think it’s important for the children to have as large of a role in the creation of their activities as possible. So, I typically just placed a number of the materials needed from the various Spielgaben boxes into baskets from Montessori Services. I included a number of extra pieces with each activity to encourage creativity. In the Spielgaben playguides, you’ll find the exact words needed to introduce each activity. That’s very helpful if you don’t feel secure introducing an activity. For elementary-age children, you can even print out the pages and let your child follow the tutorial independently. In the activities I prepared, I often placed the page with directions on a small easel. For the inventions activity, I created a small booklet. Each of the activities was very quick and easy to prepare.

Cultural Activities for Creating a Museum

Art Masterpiece Activity

The art masterpiece activities for the Mona Lisa and the pictured Starry Night are part of a museum-creation project in the Spielgaben Playguide Part 2. Research on the paintings is suggested.

Inventions Activity

There are ideas for building Thomas Edison’s light bulb, Antonio Meucci’s telephone, and Charles Babbage’s computer. Tape is used to hold the pieces together. Again, research is suggested along with the creation of a model museum using the Spielgaben toys.

Montessori-Inspired Geography Activities

Creating a Lotus (for a Study of India)

I used one of the “Nature with Spielgaben” pages for the lotus activity. Building designs to go with a theme being studied is a great way to use Spielgaben toys for 6-12 year olds. Many of the included resource materials have examples that can be used as models or to stimulate ideas. Elementary-age children can use their creations as foundations for research projects or simply to add interest to a topic they’re reading about. An activity like the lotus-creation activity could be used for a study of India for children using Little Passports or for a continent-box study of Asia.

Building a Mongolian Ger

Building a Mongolian Ger would be another good activity for the study of Asia. This activity is from the Spielgaben Playguide Part 2.

Building an African House in a Tree

Building an African house in a tree is another of the house-building activities and would add to a study of Africa. This requires fairly advanced building skills and would be a good activity for elementary-age children. In addition to activities such as house building, there are a number of landmark-building activities in the Spielgaben resource materials that would be great for elementary-age children.

Montessori-Inspired Math/Geometry Activities

There are so many math and geometry activities that can be created with blocks and other 3-D shapes … everything from counting and learning math facts to working with decimals and fractions to identifying probabilities to discovering formulas such as circumference, volume, and area. The Spielgaben Playguide Part 4 shows the pictured activity using geometric solids to determine surface area.

UPDATE:

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All My Spielgaben Posts

Many of these include links to free printables! (Click on an image to go to the related blog post. The gallery is ordered according to publication date with my latest post at the top.)

Version 4 of Spielgaben Educational Toys 

I highly recommend Spielgaben as an amazing educational material for home or school. Even though the toys aren’t inexpensive, they’re definitely worth the price because of the high quality of materials and number of years your children or students can use them.

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