I always bought my children Venus flytrap plants every summer from the local grocery store. They were so much fun to watch during “fly season.” Of course, my kids loved putting their finger in the jaw-like leaf to see if it would close on their on their pinky.

Plasticine or modeling clay has so many purposes in art. You can use it to hold together sculptures made of odds and ends or make a clay sculpture.
This site has ideas using plasticine to use recyclables into toys and boats.
Try this plasticine strawberry sculpture.

Montessori classrooms use plasticine clay for muscle development for the hands and arms. It’s also used to make Montessori landforms in small containers. Plasticine is sometimes very difficult to manipulate. I found by microwaving the plasticine clay for a few seconds it becomes pliable. You can even use your microwave defrost setting to make sure you don’t over heat the clay.

Here is a “how to video” to make Montessori landforms using clay.

Here are our newest printouts of landforms, earth, continent and water cards.

I’m so excited that I found bat guana below the bat house. The bats were flying in and out so often that I think they were feeding their babies. I’m tempted to buy a triple decker bat house.

I finally saw a bat fly into our bat house tonight! It’s been hanging on our house for 10 years and finally we have bats living there.
This site has pdf construction directions & installation tips for a bat house.

Happy Birthday to my mom. She told me she turned 13 on Friday the 13th, and it was the best birthday ever. Today she is 82.
Friday the 13th is a lucky day for sure!

A Bit of This and A Bit of That has so many ideas for teachers and parents. It’s written by a montessori mom with great pictures, materials and easy to do activities. It’s just lovely!

I’m looking at my cupboards trying to figure out what to cook without making a trip to the market. I found this great site, Supercook.com, that finds recipes using items you already have at home. I just made a carrot rice dish that looks and smells yummy. I can’t wait to try this again.

This pdf has a fun activity using cupcakes to teach about soil arrangements. It’s a great visual and hands-on way to teach geology.