Nature Box.

One of the things I have struggled with as a homeschooling Mom is maintaining order in our classroom. At any given time our classroom either looks like a classroom, or like a hurricane hit. Not very Montessori. As I've stated before we don't strictly adhere to the Montessori method, and I also teach from the Reggio Emalia approach which is based heavily on child led creativity, equaling classroom disorder. I also have a 21 month old. Masha' Allah.

I really love the idea of sensory bins, but due to BP's age and curiosity level Masha' Allah they haven't really been an option for us. Finding time to throughly work through Unit Studies has also been a challenge. A few weeks ago, Alhumdullilah, I came up with an idea that melds all three problem areas together in one neat box.

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Our Nature Box

This box sits on top of our Montessori shelf, and in front of the window overlooking the bird feeder and our potted Sunflowers. It also sits to the left of our Bird Clock. It contains many items found in Nature, during the Spring and Summer months in our area. 

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What's inside the box?

First up are a stack of Insect Cards from Walmart. I forgot to take a picture of them, but I think I did a separate post on them awhile back. They contain a large real life color picture of the insect with facts about the creature on the back.

Next,  large and small bugs

These bugs come from a variety of different play sets. The green ones have wings that glow in the dark for extra fun, Masha' Allah. There are a few missing from the tin, but we have a variety of insects, bats, worms, flies, butterflies, grasshoppers, dragonflies and bees. 

The large bugs in this bin include the two pictured plus a giant ladybug, fly and a giant orange ant. (Might remember them from our Bug Tray post) All found at the Dollar Store.

Next are books about Nature, insects, birds, and our Nomeclature cards on Birds, Frogs etc. I've added a few more since these pictures were taken.

For closer inspection of Birds, bugs, books etc., the box includes two magnifiers and a set of binoculars. These are set to be replenished soon insha' Allah, but are still getting the job done, Masha' Allah. 

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 So that's our Nature Box. Bringing chaos under control in one small part of our world. I didn't work very hard on it either, I simply picked up the scattered toys and gave them a new home and put it out of BP's reach. Also, since our other classroom toys are in bins seperated by category or by sets this flows naturally for the Professors, and they have had an easy time keeping it clean and organized Masha' Allah, though I have had to fish out an action figure or two ; )

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