A few years ago I did a series called 12 Days of Montessori Christmas. Each day I shared a Montessori Christmas themed activity for infant/toddlers and preschoolers. All in all, there’s about 24 Christmas activities.

Now you can find them all in the same place:

Montessori Christmas Activities for Infants & Toddlers

Days 1 – 4

1. Practicing In and Out (with extensions)

2. Crushing Paper

3. Christmas Treasure Basket

4. Trying on Hats

Days 5 – 8

5. Unwrapping a Present

6. Christmas Sensory Books

7. Pegs on a Rim

8. Cookie Cutter Play Dough

Days 9 – 12

9. Rhythm & Songs

10. Christmas Toss

11. Matching Object to Picture

12. Making Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

Montessori Christmas Activities for Preschoolers

Days 1 – 4

1. Transferring Ornaments

2. Decorating a Tree

3. Weaving Ribbons

4. Beading Candy Canes

Days 5 – 8

5. Wrapping a Present

6. Cracking Nuts

7. Sorting Ornaments

8. Sensory Sorting

Days 9 – 12

9. Stringing a Garland

10. Counting Ornaments

11. Tweezing Pom Poms

12. Making Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

Linking up with Living Montessori Now’s Montessori Monday.

It’s been quiet at the OMH blog, because I’ve been busy behind the scenes. I just finished up our 2014 Montessori Christmas Gift Guide with individual gift guides for babies, toddlers, two’s & three’s, preschoolers, 5 – 7 year olds, as well as gift guides for homeschool families and subscription ideas for families.

On top of that this week I’ll be posting new Montessori Christmas activities. It’s been a few years since I updated and expanded the activities, and this year you’ll have just that.

Look forward to seeing 30 all new Montessori-inspired Christmas activities divided between infants, toddlers, and preschool/primary age groups. It’s been a lot of work, but I hope you’ll find it useful.

Want a reminder? Sign-up for the Our Montessori Home newsletter. It’s been on a bit of a hiatus, but it’s making a comeback this week.

Have fun planning your Montessori Christmas shelves!

I know what you’re thinking, ‘Why spend more money on crafts I could do at home?’ Right? I know.

But here’s what I’m slowly learning: convenience does have a payoff.

I tend to be the ‘pick myself up by my bootstraps’ type of girl. In general, I tend to think why let someone do something for me that I can easily do (or figure out how to do) by myself?

Christmas crafts? I got this.

But once I start gathering supplies, I realize I don’t have everything I need for the project in mind and the kids are gathered around ready to get their hands into some glitter. But I’m not ready. So we pack it all up and save it for another day.

If it’s a good week, I might remember to go to the craft store to get what we need, come home and prep it, and then invite the kids to take part. So…after the mayhem of dragging out supplies, caravaning the kids through the aisles of Hobby Lobby (which is almost more stress than a plane ride), the cost of supplies, and stress…a boxed kit is sounding pretty good right now.

What Christmas crafts does Kiwi Co offer?

Kiwi Co has some great holiday craft crates like making your own clay ornaments, a felt Christmas tree with ornaments, a cardboard gingerbread house with all the fixings (that won’t go stale or begged to be eaten), penguin bowling, and more.

And don’t forget to check out Kiwi Co’s DIY craft ideas. They have a great gallery of do-it-yourself projects by age, theme, holiday with printable instructions. Look for the snow globe and Christmas tree hats projects, along with tons of other great ideas.

And what about Christmas gifts?

Kiwi Co’s got you covered. Stocking stuffers? Yes…space mobile, a variety of dress-up kits, or race car among others.

Like a specific crate? Want to order just one? You can do that with Kiwi Co’s single crates. Choose from a variety of crates like fun with flight, storytelling, castles & catapults, secret agent, or robot rally.

A gift subscription would be a great option if you’re looking for a gift that keeps on giving. You can choose from a 3-month, 6-month, or 12-month subscription.

If you already have a subscription you know how awesome the Kiwi Co craft supplies are–durable and high quality. Consider giving art supplies as a gift.

If you have older kids in mind, check out Tinker Crates and Doodle Crates. Or Koala Crates for the 3-5 crowd. Kiwi Co has even launched a new line for babies–Cricket Crate! Their first crate is for newborns to 3 months. This would be a sweet gift for a new mama. But be on the look out for their crate for babies 4 to 36 months!

Our family has really enjoyed our experience with Kiwi Co and I’m looking forward to trying a few holiday crates with my kids this season.

*This post contains affiliate links.

For the last week and a half, I have been immersed in 17th century New England culture. And it’s been fascinating.

As I prepared this Thanksgiving theme unit, there were so many tales and tangents I explored and new things I learned in my research. Like the Pilgrims weren’t originally called Pilgrims, but Separatists.

And, you know all those Pilgrim hat crafts we make for Thanksgiving lessons? Well, the Pilgrims never wore tall black hats with buckles, but felt hats with large brims. All the dark, black clothes we associate with Pilgrims, it turns out black cloth was expensive because of how hard it was to dye. The Pilgrims likely wore lighter and brighter colored clothing.

As much as we’ve been taught Thanksgiving to be about the friendship between Pilgrims and the Indians, how much have we heard (or remember) about the Native tribe the Pilgrims met? Who were they? And what did they think of these new settlers?

What is perhaps, most interesting, is the Thanksgiving as we know it has very few similarities in comparison to what history records. The story of the Pilgrims and Indians gathering together to share a harvest meal has become more of folklore than a reflection of actual events.

We imagine a large table set with a wild turkey and men, women, and children of each community gathered in friendship. While relations between the Wampanoag and Pilgrims were friendly in the early years, both were also wary of the others’ intentions. If you research further, you’ll find familiar faces in the narrative we know, such as Squanto, were not always the heroes we read. (Turns out Squanto was a master manipulator. As the translator between the Pilgrims and Wampanoag, he began to play off each others fears. Both groups eventually called him a traitor.) Parts of the historical Thanksgiving narrative are paid more attention, while others are barely touched upon and some ignored altogether. Felt hats, people.

My goal in this 7-day Thanksgiving theme unit is to lay the foundation of the historical narrative–who the Pilgrims were, why they left England, who (the often nameless) Indians were, and how the iconic Thanksgiving feast came about.

Between the political and religious reasons the Pilgrims left England and the often harsh treatment of Native peoples by European settlers, there are some heavier themes and facts that are touched on in the theme unit. I feel these are important to gain a respectful and true appreciation of this time in history. While they may not all be things you’ll share with your students, I give you a better understanding of the impact both cultures and their meeting had on shaping America.

The last lesson in the unit is a lesson on what it means to be grateful and attempts to help walk a child think through what they’re grateful for in their own life.

Each lesson has a suggested activity and recommended book to read as supplements. In the Resources section you’ll find a list of helpful books to explore the subject and plenty of links to articles, videos, and crafts/activities to accompany the unit. My favorite is from Plimoth Plantation, a living museum that shows what the original Plymouth colony looked like in the 17th century along with a Wampanoag homesite and a replica of the Mayflower with plenty of pictures, videos, and articles. It’s such a wonderful resource.

Get your copy of 

Thanksgiving: A Historical Look today!

After this week, I’m ready to start planning a family trip to Plimoth Plantation.

I hope you enjoy this Thanksgiving theme unit. I’d love to hear if it’s a help to you, how you used it, or what your students think!

What you want to know about Kiwi Co (formerly Kiwi Crate)…and maybe more.

What we liked, what we didn’t like, and what we’re looking forward to from our Kiwi Co subscription.

My initial skepticism.

When I first heard of Kiwi Crate it sounded fun, who wouldn’t love getting a box of colorful, fun activities in the mail?

But I passed it off as an expensive craft box that I likely already had the supplies for.

I’m already a pretty crafty momma, do I really need more ideas? Isn’t that what Pinterest is for? We’re overflowing with craft supplies, why bring more into the house? Isn’t it just a money trap? Another cool subscription service, right?

So…when another blogger shared their Kiwi Crate fun with a promo deal for a free mini-crate (plus s+h), I figured why not give it a go. If it wasn’t the thing for us, we’d only be out $4.

(We just got our third crate in the mail this weekend, so my review/opinion is based off of all three crates we’ve received.)

Its arrival.

The Kiwi Crate arrived neat and perfect on our doorstep. The contents were well-packaged and even arranged with an introduction and instructions on top. The supplies for the craft were all included–from tape stickers, to rubber bands, brads, even markers and scissors. Once we sat down at the table we really didn’t need to get up for anything. Except for, maybe, potty breaks.

Each supply for the activity came in its own labeled bag. Easy to figure out what goes where. Unless excited little hands are grabbing them, in which case…maybe not so easy.

Each activity in the crate (there’s usually 2 main activities and one smaller one) comes with its own instruction folder, a sticker for your Kiwi Adventures, cutout figures of Kiwi and his flying squirrel friend that work great with the crate turned diorama.

Each crate also includes its own issue of explore!, Kiwi Co’s own magazine, filled with comics, DIY activities pertaining to your crate’s theme, pages to color and draw, other fun little games, and suggested resources.

The supplies were top-notch. Honestly, a better quality than I would’ve purchased myself. Definitely impressed.

Doing the activity.

There definitely pros and cons to a Kiwi Co subscription.

Pro #1 – An easy batch of prepared, supplied activities to do with the kids.

Con #1 – Is there a con to easy, already prepared and filled with supplies, activities? Umm…hard to say.

Con #2 – My kids still need a lot parental support for these activities—like reading directions, understanding what is what, and following the directions step-by-step. Kiwi Co does offer a younger version, Koala Crate, which is geared toward 3-4 year olds. We haven’t tried that option, so I don’t know if it’d be better independence wise for the child.

Pro #2 – Even though my kids needed a lot of support, it was more in guidance. They could do most of the actual putting together of the crafts themselves.

Con #3 – You still have to be there. I know some people like the idea of these types of activities and subscription services, but bemoan the fact that they’re not a “play by yourself” type activity. Which leads to…

Pro #3 – Quality time with your children. Even if that means growing in your own patience. Think of it as supporting, guiding, and encouraging their independence. Because when our children are young, that is what it is.

Con#4 – It’s a subscription service and costs money ($19.95 a month or less, depending on your subscription plan). That’s more money than I’d usually spend on crafts or expendables a month for my kids. So far there’s been enough of the activity for both my kids, but adding extra supplies does cost $9.95.

Pro #4 – Yes, it costs. It can be hard coming from a frugal, DIY mindset to paying for a kids craft subscription service. But here’s what I’m finding out–we’re paying for a high-quality product that my kids enjoy and requires absolutely no prep work from me (except a clean work space). So far, I feel like it’s worth it. Something fun for the kids to look forward to. And it’s less than the cost of taking the family to Chick-fil-A for lunch. So there’s that. It’s also a great gift idea to suggest to the grandparents.

What do the kids think?

My kids love Kiwi Crate! If it sits on the shelf unopened for too long, I can expect them to ask me multiple times a day, “When are we going to do the Kiwi Crate?” With our latest crate, Otto was the one who found it and ended up carrying it around all afternoon.

Momma’s Last Word

These ideas are great. Simple, but fun. Sure I could’ve searched a few places and thought of them myself, but because it comes so well prepared and packaged my skepticism has turned to impressed. A box can arrive on our doorstep, be taken straight to the table, opened and begun right away without having to get up for anything. Definitely a plus.

Last word? We’re loving it and, for now, a Kiwi Crate subscription feels worth it.

(And the design is just so darn cute.)

What else does Kiwi Co offer?

Other than their monthly subscription services (which you can opt for a one-time, 3-month, 6-month, or 12-month subscription – here’s a few sample crates), Kiwi Co also offers single crates to buy if you’d like a specific crate, party favors (which could make great stocking stuffers), art supplies,  and mini crates.

In October, Kiwi Co launched three new brands: Cricket Crate (for newborns- 3 months) Koala Crate (geared to 3-4 year olds), Tinker Crate (hands-on experiments for 9-14 year olds),  and the Doodle Crate (DIY crafts for 9-16 year olds).

Want to try Kiwi Co?

Get 40% off your first month’s subscription!

*This post contains affiliate links.