A has been disappointed lately that he can’t read, so I’ve been slowly introducing the sandpaper letters, well the concept of them. A week or so ago I demonstrated how to use them.

On the weekend when we were playing, A identified that Transformers started with the ‘t’ sound. So I pulled out the t sandpaper letter. I didn’t take any photos when we were working with just the t though! Sorry as per usual I’m not prepared!

So after presenting the t, and having A trace the letter and say the sound A identified that he had a t in his name. I took out ‘s’ and ‘a’ because they are also in his name.

We went through each letter, A loved guiding my finger over the sandpaper too!

He took over, and as he traced I repeatedly made the ‘s’ sound which he started to copy.

To finish this session off I asked him to identify which letter can make the ‘s’ sound etc. He’s getting pretty good at this but far from perfect!

I got my sandpaper letters from Wood Puzzles. They are made to order, using Queensland cursive, but you can choose other fonts. They are also made here in Queensland. I highly recommend them and will be buying more from there.

The method I used for this is based upon the three-period lesson which is used a lot on Montessori. You can read more about it here and here.

This was a fairly unstructured presentation.


I let him loose with the cards and the models, when he didn’t know the name of the vehicle I told him what it was, there were a couple of tough ones there like a wind surfer.

2 years 11 months


Before going to bed we let A play something with us, usually a board game but tonight he wanted to play the ‘whale game’.

I didn’t get a photo of him jumping up and down so excited that he built it 😞

He then put the pink tower basket away, rolled up his mat, and put it away, all the while telling me how he liked the grey mat. He then brushed his teeth with a little bit of assistance, gave me a hug and a kiss, and toddled off into his bedroom with an arm full of cars and his dad.



Gosh I love Montessori and Dad’s turn for bed time duty.

2 1/2 years

Well, it’s my first week back at work, and I’ve been planning tot school for my mid-week days off.

Our first focus is the ‘T’ sound. Atlas already knows the letter T but we are focusing on the sound.

The theme is ‘T for tools’ simply because this book finally came in the mail! It has lovely illustrations although the fact that the toolbox belongs to the dad is a bit eye roll worthy. In our family I own the tool box but in our society it seems that tools are men things.

I love Safari Toobs - eh who am I kidding - I love toys.

I have a small collection of Toobs, so it’s exciting when I use them! We’ve played with this set before. I saved the images from the internet and put them into a word document. I made sure they were similar in size as the real toys and labelled them.

A loves miniature things so these tools got a work out during the week! I also let him use them in free play. I might have to get a spare set 😆

I laminated a set of tool three part cards as well. I’ve only put out the labeled card and kept the other two aside. I bought these from The Wise Owl Factory. This link also has ideas for tool activities.

The other card set we used came from ABCs to ACTs. This link goes to the printable page - you’ll have to look through all the cool things! 😜

They are for playing memory, but A still hasn’t got the hang of playing this game. We keep trying, but we usually play it with all the pictures facing up and A can find the pairs.

I had set out a colouring sheet that I got off a Google image search, which I didn’t take a photo of.

Since A is interested in shapes I also included this Do-a-dot printable from mpmideas.com.

The last thing I had set out was two Montessori knob puzzles that I bought off a random eBay store a while ago.

Congratulations! You’ve made it to the end 😄

So our first real tot school was a success!

The idea of Tot School came from http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com. You need to read browse through the archives there! A must read!

I have been wanting to create a Montessori alphabet/language object collection for some time. Like, since I first about heard about Montessori years ago. I love dolls and miniatures so this was going to be right up my street.
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For my birthday a friend gave me this very cute set of cardboard drawers and A decided that he liked them a lot. So for now that is what we are using. I stuck some stickers on the front of the drawers to label them. We are focusing on the letters SATPIN.

A’s name is made up using some of those letters plus L. So I’ll be doing L as well.

But what got my wriggle on is that A can already tell me the letters of his first name. Today he named those letters using the magnets on his fridge which spelt out his name. And he told me that he had another A in his name and pointed it out 😱 so I’m going to have to pick my game up.

I also really want to use the SSP Monster Mapping which our school uses in the Early Years which is fun and exciting and works.

The rest of the drawers are empty - so I’m going to have to get hunting! I’ve got things I can use, like my Re-ment miniatures, but I’ll keep them put away until he is just a little bit older.