Making Soup

We did this activity today - originally posted Sept. 2008:

The Van Klan inspired us to make soup, Montessori style. Let me just rave about this activity!  It's really wonderful on so many levels.

The children get to:

- work small motor skills (pincer grasp)

- practice number recognition, reading the recipe

- count, using one-to-one ratio

- sensory experience (rice on the fingertips)

- pouring

- stirring 

- sorting

The three children each had their own, unique, "recipe" card.  After they made the soup, they were instructed to sort the ingredients and place them back into the tin.  Then they could trade recipes with a friend.  

Mr. Intensity definitely worked longer and harder on this activity than he would have done solo.  I wasn't sure how he would fair since Merranda reported that her son asked for a trickier one next time.

The ingredients we used were: pop corn, lima, black, red, soy and coffee beans, pasta, flat-ish glass marbles.  The black beans and coffee beans looked very similar. I was concerned it would cause confusion but they all discerned well.  

The black, red and soy beans were all mixed together with the pasta and lots of rice in the center row of the muffin tin.  It worked great as a sensory experience.  I hadn't planned it as a sensory experience; the beans and rice had been mixed together previously and I was too lazy to sort them.  :) 

In the picture above, Lucas (on left) counted his marbles in a row.  I instructed the children to put their ingredients in the plastic (smaller) bowl first then pour it into the "soup" bowl and stir.

Did it again April 2009:

And he's working on it again as I type.