I was watching BBC’s, “How Clean is Your House” and they provided a great, non-toxic silver cleaner for kids to use. They used this cleaner on silver plate. You can purchase this type of silver very cheaply at thrift stores and yard sales.

Here is how to make your own kid friendly sliver polish for Montessori practical life skills:
Use white chalk powder, mix with water to make a paste. Dab a clean cloth in the paste and rub your silver dish or mug until clean. Use a soft duster to buff the object to a brilliant shine.
You can grate white chalk sticks to make chalk powder.

Provide a cleaning activity tray lined with a placemat, a dish of chalk powder, a small jug for water, a cleaning cloth, a soft polishing cloth and the dirty sliver object. Show how to make the silver paste, clean the silver and buff it. Just do a small patch of the silver piece to demonstrate the activity. Let your child do the activity. My kids always loved polishing silver.

This game can be made with note cards. I would create your game cards and go through it yourself to make sure it works correctly before playing with your children. What nice way to end dinner and make learning fun.
Check out the rest of the site for more activities for home and school.

I got up at 4 a.m. this morning to take my 82 year old mother to the airport to catch a flight to San Francisco. I thought a direct flight would eliminate any problems. The plane left the gate at 6 a.m. and turned around 20 minutes later because of mechanical problems. After a 2 hour delay, the airline decided to reroute everyone. So I called my brother, who was going to pick mom up that morning in San Francisco, and told him the flight and time were changed.

A few minutes ago I received another call explaining that the airline had “found another plane” and mom left from our hometown after all. Of course, everyone was rushed onto the airplane and we found out was going on after she landed in San Francisco three hours later than the original flight. In the end everything turned out fine.

Air travel is getting more chaotic. I feel compassion for parents traveling with children when flights are delayed, or even canceled. It’s hard enough for adults, but kids seem to need extra tender loving care when this happens. If you pack extra snacks, games, books and buy bottled water after you go through security, your children will be much happier. Make travel delays a time for family fun, and your children won’t even notice the hassle.
Hope everyone has a great summer traveling.

You can buy baskets for Montessori practical life, materials and art supplies at your local thrift store or yard sale. They can be actually cleaned by soaking them for a minute in cool water with a mild dish detergent. Gently rise and dry in the sun. Most willow, reed, bamboo baskets wash up like new.

Grin Mama Blues has some very nice and varied ideas to bring Montessori into your home. It has lots of lessons and articles too.

Preschool Power has daily ideas for summer activities for your children. Here is July’s Calendar.

The Health Blog by Ryan Healy is a blog I really enjoy. Check out the MSG use at fast food chains.