Silkie Roosters for sale & Toddler activities with mint tins

Tabby has finally decided that FOUR Silkie Bantam roosters are just too many.  Especially because it seems that two of the four Silkie chicks she has are turning out to be roosters.

So ... if you are in the market for a fluffy rooster that thinks highly of himself - and adds a wonderful cockadoodledoo to your yard - Tabby has two you can choose from. 

See our CraigsList listing here:
http://raleigh.craigslist.org/grd/5083135579.html

It's been awhile that I have posted any of the Montessori activities that Solomon has been working on, so I thought I'd share a few. The first two incorporate my love of using mint tins.  (I've made many mint tins for angel children now - see an example of my first one here.  I've also pinned a lot of mint tin ideas for one-day-when-I-have-time-hahahaha on Pinterest - see my page here.)

The first was inspired by an activity in the Montessori Services catalog.  (Solomon and I LOVE looking at this catalog and getting ideas from it.  I can't afford to buy much so we make a lot.)  For this "hammering tees in a tray" activity, I got an empty mint tin, filled it with clay, got some golf tees, and Solomon got his hammer:

This was a quick activity to make and Solomon enjoyed doing it every day for awhile.

The other activity I used a mint tin for is a great one for fine motor skills.  Solomon used the mint tin with clay, then pushed in toothpicks.  Then he dropped Lilly-colored pony beads onto each:

Solomon worked very carefully and silently (great activity while I am schooling Hunter).  He also repeated this every day for a bit.

My older kids and I are studying Monet for art picture study right right.  We are using the picture study portfolio from Simply Charlotte Mason.  I introduce a new print each Friday, and then we hang it on our refrigerator for a week.  Solomon got so interested in it, that I made him little cards using the same Monet pictures we are studying.  I printed and laminated two sets, so that he can match them.  He also likes just laying them out:

We are also enjoying looking at a book called Monet's Passion: Ideas, Inspiration and Insights from the Painter's Gardens by Elizabeth Murray.  The author is my step-mom's cousin who worked in Monet's gardens for almost a year.

The boys remain interested in our weekly nature walks.  We're still focusing on identifying wildflowers we find on our property.  They both enjoy picking some to bring in and put in little vases at their places at the dining room table.  We found the below flowers growing along the road.  I was not able to figure out what the flowers were - some sort of wild rose maybe:

Concentrated holding!  The thorns on the stems can hurt!

Here is another idea for the knobbed cynlinder blocks.  I took about 30 seconds to trace several onto a piece of paper.  Solomon matched the block to the right sized circle:

Finally, Solomon has never liked stringing things, so I put away the strings that came with these large wooden beads and just gave him a tray for sorting.  (It's a vintage wooden silverware tray I found on Ebay, dirt cheap.)  He sorts the beads by color and also by type:

Solomon loves his Montessori "work" and I love when he focuses hard, he is building character.

"From the fruit of their lips people are filled with good things, and the work of their hands brings them reward." - Proverbs 12:14