Mommy Project #2: Puzzle Organization.

The second Project on our weekend project list was the Puzzle Organization project, done again by Mari-Ann of Counting Coconuts. She has gotten so many positive comments on this project, Masha' Allah, and I'm so grateful she shared her idea!

You can see her project here: http://countingcoconuts.blogspot.com/2012/02/puzzle-organization.html

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Our Puzzle Organization Project

Unlike the school library project, I did this one alone, or sort of alone. Masha' Allah Professor #3 helped out alot, but again at his own random pace. 

Before:

 This is what our board puzzle storage looked like before the project. They had really become unloved. Baby Professor enjoyed sorting through the 'random pieces' bin, but that's about it. 

Containers:

 Mari-Ann mentioned she got hers from the $1 store. This is Walmarts version. Good enough ; ) 

Letters:

Mari-Ann used some cute letter stickers on her puzzles. The day we shopped for supplies was Masha' Allah, a hectic, busy day, and I forgot to pick up stickers. My DH asked me if I wanted them to be cute or practical, I said it didn't matter. He picked up these later in the week from Home Depot. 

Here is our first set of boxed and labeled pieces, and board:

Here are the rest of the boards and pieces in my teachers closet

The boards are stacked in the back, and the containers right in front of them. Next to that are the larger, 100 piece puzzle types. I cut up all the boxes, saving only the picture needed to complete the puzzle. The pink and blue boards on the right are our sandpaper letter sets, not part of the project.

The only puzzle box I kept, which is really on its last legs, is a floor sized Dinosaur puzzle.  I put everything else in large zipper freezer bags. For now. Also, some of the board puzzles had pieces that were too large for the smaller containers. I will be getting some larger containers for those, and the other bagged puzzles this weekend, insha' Allah. 

The puzzles will now, insha' Allah, go through a 3 puzzle at a time rotation period on our shelves. 

This way the Professors can play and clean up on their own insha' Allah. One of the things I love most about the Montessori method is giving kids the ability to handle things themselves, Masha' Allah. 

That's it for us this week : ) Have a great weekend insha' Allah!

"Our School Library" Project Complete!

Sorry for the lack of blog posts this week. My DH had a long weekend, and on the heels of that, Grammy is here for a visit. Last Thursday we began what was to be a long weekend of projects. We were going to work until we got all the projects done. It was well intended, but we managed to get only 1 1/2 projects done, the biggest one being the school library. When we set out to do this project, I thought it would take us about 2 hours or so to complete it. HA! More like 3 days! There were times I shook my head in frustration at the pace we were going, not because of the kids, but because of interuptions, especially when we were getting on a good role, but dinner has to be made, and so on. Masha' Allah, the Professors did an excellent job helping out, and I think the library means so much more to them, that they put it together, Alhumdullilah.

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Getting Started on Phase 2

After we labeled and shelved our Islamic books, I cleared the bookshelf, and the Professors and I sorted all the books into 3 categories, baby books, story books and educational books.

We labeled educational books yellow, baby books pink and story books orange

Each sticker sheet had twelve stickers in a row, and we used two stickers on each book. I had the Professors do one sheet of stickers, each person taking a category, and I did the rest, and I did all the baby books, with some random help from Professor #3 (who was alot more interested in playing with window clings, Masha' Allah) When each Professor was done with their stack, I asked them to shelve the books. Masha' Allah, this entire project was worth it when I noticed, Professor #1 checked the label on the book before putting it away. Alhumdullilah!

Here is our completed library. Educational and Islamic books are on the top. Story books are in the middle, and baby books are at the bottom. 

Its not as decluttered as I thought it might have been, but Masha' Allah, we have a system, and it works for us, Alhumdullilah.

Upcoming 'Mommy Projects'

Every once in awhile some good projects for me to engage in pop up. I know I need to update my Pinterest pinboards to reflect this, and as a means for personal 'I want to do this later' idea storage, but that's something I can't even get my brain around at the moment ; )

If you follow my Twitter feed, or our Little Professors Facebook page, you might remember I posted this link last week, followed by the comment: We are SO doing this!:


http://countingcoconuts.blogspot.com/2012/02/puzzle-organization.html

Alhumdullilah, I got all the materials I needed over the weekend, and I will blog the project in a separate post, insha' Allah. Can't WAIT to get started!

The second one actually comes from the same blogger, but has been in the works for too long, and needs to get done, as the book shelf is descending into unorganized, ripped books chaos:

http://countingcoconuts.blogspot.com/2011/11/our-school-library.html

I've had all the materials for awhile, but now need to sit down and get it done! Insha' Allah.

The third is to put up the final two, wall bulletin boards in my two little guys room. I have been promising and promising Professor #3, but it just isn't getting done. I am getting them done this week, insha' Allah!

The fourth one is to set up a play kitchen that has been in storage since last Summer. That one is going to take some work, just to get to it, but I think its the next step in our 'pretend food' imaginative play sessions. I might start to make my way to it this weekend, insha' Allah. I had really wanted to set it up for play over the winter,  and we still technically have time, though sometimes the weather would have you think its nearly Summer.

Do any of you have upcoming projects, or should I just check your Pintrest board ; )?