Let's Make: DIY Montessori Sandpaper Numbers

After picking up my daughter from school one morning, she said, "Mommy, I did the sandpaper numbers today! Can you buy me those?" E had been finding it challenging to adjust to the Montessori method, so this seemed like a milestone. Finally, she'd enjoyed the work! Still, I hesitated to answer. If you're familiar with Montessori didactic materials, you can probably guess why: a set of sandpaper numbers costs upwards of Php1000 locally! It would be a great investment for a school, or even a mom who does Montessori homeschooling or has raised her kids in the Montessori way (and if you are looking for a beautiful, high-quality, Montessori-teacher-approved set, do check out the online store of the wonderfully inspiring Mars Medina of Montessori on Mars). But for a mom with limited resources and patience whose daughter is not strictly Montessori-raised with the tendency to get creative with her usage of materials, the thought of spending over a thousand pesos on a set that might end up painted on, glued together to make a dinosaur house, or used as a raft in a water bin made me feel a bit queasy. I needed a budget-friendly mom hack.

So I decided I'd make a set myself.

10 Links I Shared with Friends #7

From Daily Motivation by Nido Qubein

This series is exactly what it says it is: links, articles, and encouraging words I've shared with my friends. And now I'm sharing them with you. Hello, friend! Hope you find something that helps you today! 

Parenting

• The secret power of stones and storytelling (desert news)
• Learning with joy is not what you think it looks like. Let's move to Finland already! (the atlantic)
• Invitations to play start with a table. Great tips! (diy corporate mom) 
• What if we took the school out of play school? Would that be so bad? (happiness is here)

Productivity/Creativity

• How to start a reading habit again this year. For real. (chronicle books)
• Go big or go home! Read 50 things this year. Here's why you should. (fast company)
• Start from where you are (jonas ellison via medium)

Miscellany

• Life is short. We know. So here's what we need to do with it (paul graham)
• Adspiring! Love this new Axe ad for magical manhood (axe)
• All the inspiration you need, beautifully brush lettered (random olive)

Design Crush: Angie Makes

Just wanted to share these gorgeous freebies that are making my broke mom heart happy. I was set on designing Ella's birthday cake topper myself to customize the store-bought rainbow cake we are picking up the day of the party, but I needed a way to make it a little extra special. Not the usual dots and stripes. Since I've been kind of obsessed with watercolor lately, that's what I searched for on Pinterest—and that's where I found Angie Makes.

Mom-Made! DIY Upcycled Cardboard Laptop Computer

I had no plans to do a DIY project today, but a housewide decluttering session threatened the stash of old cardboard boxes that I'd been saving for "some project, some day". Use 'em or lose 'em was the ultimatum. The decluttering also unearthed an old iPad case that I'd also been saving for a rainy, nothing-to-do day (this day, by the way, was neither). So, I got to work.

Help Your Helpers: Talk to Your Toddler

Today's nap time project was inspired by this post from Imprints From Tricia. Tricia wonderfully suggests six open-ended questions parents can ask their kids during playtime to help engage their littles in a conversation and also stimulate their thinking. The questions are simple enough to add to your playtime interaction but they're also so simple that we may not think to ask them unless we're intentional about saying them. Definitely something I want to put into practice.

Tricia's inquiry questions are too good not to include in E's regular playtime, even if I'm not around to ask them. In Tricia's home, the questions are posted on her kids' playroom wall as a visual reminder. So, for our play space, which is outdoors and visible to everyone from the dining room, I thought, what better way to display them than in bunting form (Yes, i know, buntings. I need an intervention.)

Naptime Project: High-Contrast Buntings

"Nap when your baby naps." That's common knowledge and common sense and new moms would be wise to follow said advice. But did I mention that I've a recovering workaholic? It's hard for me to use daylight hours for sleeping.

Today's nap time project was inspired by this space: the empty space between the changing table and the gallery wall.

Labor Countdown: Packing the Big Sister Bag

Even with Baby Two's arrival just around the corner, we've been shockingly relaxed (or just lazy). Hospital bags are semi-packed; birthing ball has been bought, but hasn't been inflated. We just set up the co-sleeper last night. Is this the way it is for all second-time parents? (I'm going to say yes to make myself feel better.)

Today, I put together a Big Sister bag to leave for E when we leave for the hospital. Every second-time mom I'd talked advised me to have a gift ready for the new big sibling when the baby arrived so he or she wouldn't feel left out. Since we aren't going to have the usual Filipino busload of family members coming to visit us at the hospital bearing gifts, I'm not too worried about E feeling like she's being overlooked in the gift department; however, I did want to leave her with things she can keep busy with while Woolim and I are busy with the baby, as well to give her a gift from her baby brother, since she's been so graciously picking out gifts to give him whenever we're out shopping.

Just Because Buntings

I'm always looking for an excuse to make buntings. They're an instant shot of happiness, like a cup of marshmallow-filled cocoa on a cold morning or a handwritten letter in the mail. So when the project I was working on called for sunny yellow decor props, I didn't need to be asked twice. Or even once. In fact, if you, my editor, had said, "Don't worry about the props. We have all the things we need," I'd still have made these, just in case.

They're not the most creative (Are you sick of polka dots and chevron stripes already? Sorry, we can't be friends), but I made these the day before the shoot. And wouldn't you know it, they were just what we needed.

(From Smart Parenting magazine)

Download, print, and cut out! Then, just add string.