Learn about a NEW Montessori blog with tips on Montessori Homeschool, Montessori at Home and Montessori printables, books and resources.

Good morning!

I’m super excited to announce that the project I’ve been working on behind the scenes is now ready for the world.

While this blog will always have a special place in my heart, I’ve created a new site, Sunshine, Mud and Montessori.

Why the change? Well, let me tell you.

The first, and possibly biggest, reason is simply that I knew absolutely nothing about blogging when I started this blog just over 5 years ago. I am NOT a “techy” person by any means and I basically just dove right in. I knew nothing about SEO or image sizing or how to make a blog run smoothly on the back-end. The idea of going back and fixing all of the little issues that I would need to to make this blog its best is overwhelming to me. I would rather start fresh.

Secondly, I originally pictured this as more of a lifestyle blog, with a Montessori spin. And it was, for a while.

This is what I pictured because I love reading other people’s lifestyle blogs. I honestly am not sure why, but I like getting little peeks into people’s lives and finding things I can relate to.

But…I’m an introvert and an extremely private person and it turns out I don’t love writing those kinds of posts. I’m also not sure how I feel about sharing details of my children’s lives as they grow older (not at all judging those who do though!)

When I got the chance to start writing Montessori articles for sites like Motherly and The Tot, I realized that I do love writing about Montessori. I love sharing strategies regular parents (“Montessori” or not) can use at home. I love sharing Montessori materials, spaces, toys, and resources with the world.

I wanted to create a new site and new name that focus less on being a mom, and more on Montessori in general.

I’m sure I will still share some behind-the-scenes, slice of life type posts. Mostly though, I plan to share Montessori tips and Montessori homeschool resources. You can find my first post with a detailed behind-the-scenes look at a week of our Montessori Homeschool here!

In addition, I’m super excited to soon begin offering Montessori printables and materials! As I’ve started homeschooling over the past year or so, I’ve begun developing materials for our own use and I’m very eager to share them with you.

All of that to say, I so appreciate everyone who reads this blog and hope you will follow me over to Sunshine, Mud and Montessori!

(This site won’t be disappearing, at least not right away, but all new content can be found there.)

Thank you!

~ Christina

If you’re wondering how to teach silent e or looking for early readers and Montessori language materials, this Montessori Silent e book is a great addition to your resources! Help teach kids to read with beautiful photographic images and clear concepts.

I’m excited to announce we’ve released a new book!

The Montessori Silent e book is perfect for early readers who are beginning to explore long vowels. Similar to our Montessori abc book, it uses simple, photographic images to demonstrate the concept of silent e. It’s designed to spark the child’s imagination and complement other Montessori language materials.

What is Silent e?

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, I’ll back up a bit and talk about silent e.

Also referred to as “magic e,” silent e describes how adding an “e” to the end of a word changes a short vowel to a long vowel sound. For example:

cut >> cute

bit >> bite

man >> mane

This is of course just one of many long vowel concepts that children need to learn. In my experience though, this one is particularly interesting to kids as they enjoy the idea that adding an “e” magically transforms one word into another.

How to Teach Silent e in Montessori

Montessori introduces the concept of silent e through the Movable Alphabet.

Before the child ever learns about long vowels like silent e, they will have used the movable alphabet to practice many phonetic CVC (consonant – vowel – consonant) words and blends (words where two sounds blend together like “slip” or “land”).

When a child has mastered phonetic words and blends, you can begin introducing long vowel sounds, such as silent e.

It’s helpful to first explain what a vowel is. If your child uses the Montessori movable alphabet, this is fairly easy to do as all of the vowels are blue. You can then explain that, in some words, vowels make a different sound. In some words, vowels say their name.

It’s worth noting that Montessori kids learn the sounds, rather than the names, of the letters as this more easily facilitates learning to read. Thus your child may not know the names of the letters. However, I have found that most Montessori children pick up the letter names on their own, without being taught by their teacher, as the abc’s are so prevalent in children’s songs, games, books, television shows, etc.

If you do need to help your child learn the letter names, I like to use the Movable Alphabet for this too. I slowly sing the alphabet song while pointing to each letter. As the letters are in alphabetical order, this is an easy way for a child to figure out on his own what the name of a certain letter is if needed.

Once your child is comfortable with the letter names (or at least the names of the vowels), you can show them how vowels sometimes say their own name (otherwise known as the “long vowel sound”).

For silent e in particular, you can use objects, images or just verbally provide words for your child to build.

First, ask them to build short vowel words that turn into long vowel words when an “e” is added. For example, you might ask them to build, “cut,” “bit” and “man”.

Then add an “e” at the end of each word, explaining how the “magic e” changes the word into a new word. (In the image above, my son is working with the short and long vowel words side by side but for the first lesson, simply add an “e” to the short vowel word. He has already practiced silent “e” many times.)

There’s a great free download with images for this lesson at the end of this post!

I’m also working on a set of cards that corresponds to our book, so stay tuned for those!

What about the Phonogram Movable Alphabet?

If you’re very familiar with the Montessori language curriculum, you may know that a different type of movable alphabet is generally used to teach phonograms (when two letters come together to make a new sound like “ch,” “th,” “ie,” etc.)

For instance, you might use a black movable alphabet for most of the word and a green or a red movable alphabet like this one for the phonogram.

This serves to highlight the phonogram. So if a child is learning the “th” sound, they will clearly see it highlighted in each word that they build.

Some choose to use the single color phonogram movable alphabets to teach silent e, as in this beautifully described lesson.

I used the traditional red and blue movable alphabet for our silent e book for two reasons.

The first is simple. Like most Montessori homeschool families, we have to choose which materials we purchase and which we don’t. We’ve chosen to stick to just one movable alphabet and I use it to show my son phonograms as well as phonetic words.

Second, even when I taught in a classroom, I really found that using the standard movable alphabet upped the “wow” factor for this lesson. If you put a little dramatic flair into it, children really are amazed at how adding an “e” can change one word into a new one. This is easier to demonstrate if you ask the child to build the short vowel words with the standard movable alphabet as they normally would.

How can I use this Montessori early reader book to complement other early readers / materials?

As any Montessori parent or teacher knows, an extension or new material can go a long way toward reigniting a child’s interest in a skill or concept they need to practice.

I recommend introducing silent e through the Movable Alphabet and then introducing this book when your child begins to get the hang of the concept.

I like to read the words from the book to my child and let him build them. I then hand him the book and let him check his work.

Reading this book with my own son has really helped solidify the concept he’s practiced periodically with the movable alphabet.

Each time you turn the page, you’ll find a short vowel word on the left with it’s long vowel silent “e” counterpart on the right. Each page features photographic images to keep the child’s interest.

You can purchase the book here if you’re interested.

Please don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions about the book!

What are some other Montessori Early Readers & Montessori reading resources?

• We have a Montessori abc book and a Montessori Cursive abc book available for purchase. You can read more about them here!
• I haven’t personally tried these but these Silent e Reading Blocks look like a fun extension.
• I wrote an article on 10 Montessori Literacy Activities and another one on 5 Reading Games to play.
• Miss Rhonda’s Readers, early readers written by a Montessori teacher, have been my son’s favorite early readers by far. They have real, interesting stories and are actually fun to read.
• This is a great article on the Movable Alphabet and this one has a fun extension for kids not quite ready to build words, both from How we Montessori.
• This article from Carrots are Orange outlines the progression of Movable Alphabet lessons quite nicely.
• The Kavanaugh Report has a great article with 5 different ways to use the Movable Alphabet.
• This post from Montessori in Real Life explains how the letter sounds are first introduced to the child, what comes before the Movable Alphabet.

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support!

Does your child’s Montessori school use cursive letters? This Montessori-style Cursive ABC book can support their learning at home!

Good morning!

I have some exciting news today. We’ve just released a cursive edition of our Montessori abc book.

Did you know that many Montessori schools introduce cursive letters before print?

Why?

For so many reasons. From a practical standpoint, learning cursive gets rid of many of the frustrations that come with early writing, such as mixing up “b,” “d,” “p,” and “q”.

Like many Montessori lessons though, the indirect lessons of cursive go far beyond learning to write in a certain style. This article beautifully explains the many benefits that come with learning cursive.

This post also lists some excellent resources for supporting your child in learning cursive.

If your child attends a Montessori school, make sure to inquire if the school begins with cursive or print letters. If your child is learning cursive in school, this Montessori-style Cursive ABC book is a great way to support your child’s experience at home!

It uses real, photographic images and a single letter per page. The goal of a single letter per page is to help the child focus and hone in on each specific letter.

As with the print version, our cursive Montessori alphabet book uses the phonetic letter sounds for each letter. Learning the phonetic letter sounds supports learning to read in a way that learning the letter names simply does not.

You can find more details on the reasoning behind teaching the phonetic alphabet, as well as resources to support this learning at home, here.

If you do purchase for your home or classroom, a review on Amazon is so appreciated. It really helps others find the book!

Thank you!

This post contains affiliate links, thank you for your support!

Good morning!

I have some exciting news to share today – my husband and I have just released a Montessori alphabet book, available for purchase here!

(We’ve since released a cursive edition here as well!)

This was a labor of love that we’ve been working on for months and I’m super excited that it’s ready to share.

So what is a Montessori alphabet book?

I’ve written about it in much more detail here but there are three main things that set this apart from other abc books:

1. Phonetic Sounds: Each page features a word beginning with the phonetic sound of the featured letter. Montessori teaches the phonetic alphabet first because it’s much more helpful than letter names for learning to read.
2. Lower Case Letters: Similarly, Montessori presents lower case letters before capital letters as children will encounter many more lower case than capital letters in their early reading work.
3. Simple, Real Life Images: This Montessori alphabet book features a single photographic image for each word. Montessori always uses realistic images with young children to help them learn about the real world. Having a single word and image for each letter also helps children focus, rather than being overwhelmed by many competing images.

The Story Behind This Book:

When our son James was a young toddler, he became fascinated by letters. Someone gave him a Duplo set with letters on it and he constantly asked us what each letter was. I wanted a Montessori alphabet book to encourage his emerging curiosity with letters but couldn’t find one that I loved for his age. So I made one on Shutterfly! He loved it but it never occurred to me to try to make a book for other children.

Then my sister in law wrote this beautiful sailing abc book and told us all about the process – we immediately thought of creating a revamped version of our Montessori abc book to share with other families!

My husband loves photography and already had images for many of the letters. He took photos to match the rest of the words and this Montessori book for toddlers (or babies) was born!

We got the proof copy last week and both James (4 yrs) and Lilah (20 mos) have loved it so far! James knows all of the phonetic sounds but enjoys trying to sound out the words. Lilah is fascinated by the letters and has already picked up some of the sounds just by us casually reading the book to her a few times.

If you’re interested please read more about the book and about the Montessori approach for how to teach reading here! Also, please don’t hesitate to reach out at montessoriishmom (at) gmail (dot) com, or by leaving a comment on this post.

If you do purchase the book and enjoy it, please help us out by leaving a review on Amazon!

This page contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support!

Hello hello!

While we’ve had our fair share of adventures this summer (more on that soon!), we’ve also been spending lots of time at home, along with everyone else.

While I obviously never would have chosen this situation or the devastation it has caused, I have loved seeing James and Lilah learn to entertain themselves better than ever before.

Still, we all have off days and some mornings it’s clear that we need a little something extra. I love having a few “back pocket” activities for days like this to help turn things around and I have found some good ones lately! I hope you love them too and I would LOVE to hear about any fun, low key activities you’ve been enjoying at home.

Sago Mini Subscription Boxes

Sago Mini kindly sent us two of their boxes and we loved them! Each box has a theme (we received the Road Trip & Story Telling themes) and has a few different activities. The boxes have a mix of crafty type activities and super high quality little toys to encourage imaginative play.

My personal favorite element was the little car and felt road. James and Lilah have both been super into playing with cars and building roads lately and I know this will become a great extension of that play theme.

I also love the story telling beans! This is an activity where the child chooses a bean and imagines a story based on the image, drawing more beans to elaborate on their story. I would extend this by inviting the child to draw their story and writing it down for them. I love activities like this that encourage creative thought!

I also want to note that all of the activities were super age appropriate. I really hate it when there’s a kids craft or activity that looks really cute, but is way too hard for the kids and I wind up doing it while they watch. Not the case with these!

I requested a promo code if anyone would like to try the boxes (I don’t get any $ from it, just a little discount for ya): use MONTESSORIISHMOM15 for 15% off either the monthly or annual subscription, valid though September 30!

(Note: I received two complimentary boxes but was not otherwise compensated)

3D Build & Play

So the 3D Build & Play is basically a little 3D printer that lets kids make their own toys….kind of crazy, right? It heats up these little strips of eco-plastic and the child cranks the handle to fill the little molds. Then you just pop them out and play! The little toys are very simple, but perfect for combining with other toys like Legos or blocks.

This is meant for kids 4+ and James will be 4 at the end of September. I will say he does need help with it, but he also loves it and asks to use it almost every day. He needs an adult to help hold the little machine still while he cranks but I imagine with practice, he’ll stop needing that. I also imagine he’ll be able to make some really cook creative things after practicing with the molds.

(Note: This set was sent to us for free but I was not otherwise compensated.)

Rainbow Art Paper

This one is so simple, but James and Lilah have been loving it!

James has basically become pen pals with his best friend during this time and our friends sent us some of this paper and it’s been a big hit! It’s amazing how something as small as a new kind of paper can inspire a renewed interest in art and creativity.

I would love to hear about any fun at-home activities you’ve been loving!

Montessori abc Book

My Montessori abc book uses phonetic sounds. Montessori teaches phonetic sounds, rather than letter names, to help children learn to read.

The book also uses one letter and image per page. This helps the child focus and not be overwhelmed. Photographic images are used to spark curiosity and encourage the child to learn about the real world.

You can purchase the book here!

This page contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support!

Good morning!

How are you guys doing? Obviously a ton has happened since the last time I posted, but today I’m really going to focus on a 15 month update for Lilah.

So I wrote this post months ago, in the “before time,” but with everything that’s been going on, didn’t get around to publishing. Lilah is now almost 18 months (whoops!) so it’s now or never. I know I’ll want to remember these sweet times of early toddlerhood and am doing my best to focus on the good these days.

Here’s what Lilah’s like as a little toddler!

Milestones:

Lilah wasn’t quite walking in my last update, but that’s hard to imagine now! She started walking a few weeks after her first birthday and is now power walking (lol, not quite running, but close), climbing, and my personal favorite, dancing up a storm!

She is also talking and using baby signs a ton. The words she says that I can think of off the top of my head are: baby, bear, rabbit, dog, car, outside, bath, eat, cheese, taco, avocado (“cado”), Mama, Dada, James (“Mame”), uh-oh, bird, no, yeah, goblin (from a Little Bear book she loves lol), cookie, cracker, milk, Mimi (my mom), tree, blue and coffee. I’m sure there are a lot more, she’s at the stage where she frequently copies words we say.

She also knows the signs for eat, more, cookie, milk, dog, bird, rabbit, cat, ceiling fan (a random one she loves lol), flower, potty, cold and thank you. She loves signing and I am definitely the weak link here, I need to learn more so I can show her! She seems to make up her own signs sometimes too which is as adorable as it sounds. (Note: her signs do not always look like the actual sign, but she has a consistent hand movement she does for all of those things.)

A not so fun milestone – she’s got 6 teeth coming in! She only had 6 before this, so it’s been quite the teething extravaganza which has naturally resulted in some grumpiness.

Eating:

I try not to use the word “picky” too much, but the things Lilah liked to eat at 1 year were quite limited. I’m super thankful that her tastes have expanded quite a bit in these last few months and she’ll now eat almost anything, depending on the day. Her favorites are still fruit, cheese and bread of any kind, but she also likes zucchini, tomatoes, roasted cauliflower, eggs, beans (which she hated before), sometimes meat, sometimes carrots and a bunch of other stuff. She does not seem to like salmon, but she’s come SO far with what she’ll eat. She also really likes soup and smoothies (even one I make with fresh ginger and a bit of cayenne which really surprised me).

Lilah really likes eating with utensils, particularly if something is messy. She needs help getting some things on the spoon at this point, but is working on it.

She usually eats a lot at breakfast and lunch and not much at dinner, so I’m trying to work in more vegetables earlier in the day. She also of course goes crazy for pouches, which I know some people don’t like. My personal stance is that they’re not a substitution for other fruits and vegetables, but are a good “insurance” policy if your child is still learning to like veggies.

I especially like these because they have 1 1/3 cups of spinach in them which can be harder for kids to eat before they have their molars. (I hate it when I buy a green pouch and then realize it’s all applesauce with like a tsp of spinach.)

Sleeping:

Lilah loves sleep. If she’s getting tired, she’ll just lay down on the floor and such her thumb. She hardly ever complains about naps or going to bed at night. I know enough from James to know this is not always the case and is nothing we did, we just got lucky!

She transitioned from 2 naps to 1 a couple of months ago. The transition went pretty well. It took several weeks for her one nap to lengthen, but I knew this was normal this time so didn’t freak out.

She now naps from about 12:45-3 (sometimes 4) and sleeps from 7:30-6:30 or 7 most nights. I can’t remember the last time she’s woken up at night. She’s also totally content to hang out in her bed when she wakes up. She just rolls around and gives her teddy bears kisses haha.

Personality:

Lilah is so fun, silly and incredibly affectionate.

She blew a kiss to a snail yesterday and that pretty much sums up her personality. She’s very snuggly and loving. She gives James the sweetest kisses and it kills me every time. She loves running around and playing, but she also still loves sitting in my lap and snuggling.

She has an intense love of teddy bears and will read any book about bears, even chapter books I have for James.

She already loves pretending. She took a tiny Lego coffee cup from James’s room and walked around pretending to drink from it, saying “co-ee” on repeat. She also pretends to brush her hair with a little Duplo hairbrush and constantly pretends to talk on the phone.

Lilah also loves books. She now likes stroller walks because she just looks at books the whole time and is totally content.

She loves music, playing instruments and dancing, especially if James is doing it too (he calls this activity their “jam sessions” lol).

She also loves to draw with sidewalk chalk or crayons and loves playing with play dough (but unfortunately also loves putting it in her mouth).

The biggest change in her personality lately has been the disappearance of her intense stranger danger. Who knows if this will reappear after months of only interacting with us, but she at least waves (and blows kisses to) people we see walking around the neighborhood. Before we were all staying at home, my sister babysat for a few hours and Lilah didn’t cry at all, which would have never happened before.

Having Lilah (and James of course) around us all the time has definitely been a source of light in this challenging time. It’s so fun to watch them both grow and I honestly think they’re loving this time of being home more and spending so much time together – something I’m going to try to remember when we can venture out into the world again.

I hope you are doing well and would love to hear what your family is up to in the comments!

Montessori abc Book

My Montessori abc book uses phonetic sounds. Montessori teaches phonetic sounds, rather than letter names, to help children learn to read.

The book also uses one letter and image per page. This helps the child focus and not be overwhelmed. Photographic images are used to spark curiosity and encourage the child to learn about the real world.

You can purchase the book here!

This post contains affiliate links, thank you for your support!

Lilah is officially one year old!  It’s so funny, but just in the couple of weeks before her birthday, she started showing signs of early toddlerhood (like the cutest tantrums you’ve ever seen) like she knew that the milestone was coming.

She will carefully lower herself onto the floor, flail a little bit and make whining noises, all while looking back at me to check for a reaction.  It’s pretty funny although I’m obviously not looking forward to the real all-out toddler tantrums that are bound to come next.

Lilah is still super sweet and snuggly just as she’s always been, but with a little more sass which is pretty funny.  My all-time favorite thing she does right now is wag her little pointer finger and say “neh neh neh neh” before she does something she knows she’s not supposed to.  It’s pretty hilarious and she finds it hilarious too!

Milestones

Lilah is not really walking yet, but she has taken her first steps!

She’s taken 4 or 5 steps in a row a couple of times.  This is usually when I’m reading her a book and she’s standing up to listen.  I’ll scoot back a tiny bit and she’ll take little steps to get closer because she likes turning the pages.

The other big milestone for her has been starting to talk.  She has the cutest little voice!  So far she says yeah, ball, dog, baby, bye-bye, mama, and dada.  She also loves signing and signs milk, more, all done, book, and eat.  I need to learn new signs so I can show her because it makes her so happy!

Lilah has 6 teeth now with two more coming in and is in the 96th percentile for height – she is a big baby!

Eating

Lilah went through a really picky stage, but she’s back to eating a bigger variety of food.  I would by no means say she’ll eat anything and she has a strong preference for bread and cheese, but thankfully she also eats lots of fruit and will eat some vegetables.

Her favorite foods are sweet potatoes, oranges, bread, cheese (and all combinations of bread and cheese), pancakes, yogurt, hummus toast, cheerios, bambas (from Trader Joe’s), and ground beef.  She also eats most fruit and sometimes bell peppers, cooked carrots, peas, and green beans.

She eats what we eat for dinner so she’s exposed to lots of new foods and I’m hoping with time her palate will continue to expand…we shall see!

Sleeping

Lilah wakes up early but otherwise sleeps well and seems to genuinely love sleep.  She loves her bed and loves snuggling her little teddy bear in bed now that she’s one year old.  She hardly ever complains about taking a nap or going to bed and is pretty flexible with nap timing, which is great because I can almost always get her nap and James’s nap to overlap.

She does not sleep on the go – we drove back from Houston at nap time and she stayed awake chatting the whole time (almost 3 hours).  This is actually useful in general though because it means she doesn’t fall asleep in the car when we’re out and about and ruin her nap.

Personality

Lilah is sweet, funny, LOUD, snuggly, and wants to be in on the action.  She keeps her eyes locked on James and if he goes in the backyard she stands at the door looking through the window until she can go out too.  She loves exploring, especially outside, and loves playing in the water table (even when there’s no water in it, it’s just a good height for her).

She has started to like drawing with crayons and sidewalk chalk, although James and I have also made up a song called “Don’t eat the crayons” so there’s definitely some of that going on as well….

Lilah still freaks out around strangers sometimes but is much friendlier than she used to be and warms up more quickly.  When we went to visit my family for Christmas, it took her a day or so to get comfortable and then she was fine with other people holding her and interacting with her.

She loves books and loves to hear the same book twenty times in a row.

She is understanding SO much of what we say and it’s magical to see.  I asked her to go get a specific book from her room the other day and she brought it to me.  She also brought me a ball from her room when I asked her.  I love seeing the language explosion happen, it’s so amazing.

I was a little emotional with Lilah turning one, but not nearly as much as I was when James had his first birthday because I know that the next stage is so wonderful as well.  While there’s nothing like a snuggly baby, toddlers are so interesting and hilarious and just plain fun and I can’t wait to see her personality continue to develop and watch her explore the world!

Montessori abc Book

My Montessori abc book uses phonetic sounds. Montessori teaches phonetic sounds, rather than letter names, to help children learn to read.

The book also uses one letter and image per page. This helps the child focus and not be overwhelmed. Photographic images are used to spark curiosity and encourage the child to learn about the real world.

You can purchase the book here!

This page contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support!

Hello and happy Friday!

I don’t blog too much about my toddler these days for the sake of his privacy but wanted to pop in with a few things he’s said recently that make me happy.

Toddlers can absolutely be difficult, but I think they make up for it with the hilarious, and sometimes heartwarming, things they say.

Without further ado, wisdom from my 3-year-old:

My sister to James: “What would the world be like without Legos?”

James, after some thought: “It would be like a world without prosciutto on your plate.”

He’s such a little foodie lol, it cracks me up!

“Stars are like Christmas lights in the sky.”

“Did you know the Devil’s name is Torchy?”

(This was the result of some confusion regarding the Torchy’s Tacos logo…)

“Tiny Mama, you’re a nice little mama.”

Lol, I have no idea….

And that’s all.  If you have kids, tell me something they’ve said recently that made you smile!

Montessori abc Book

My Montessori abc book uses phonetic sounds. Montessori teaches phonetic sounds, rather than letter names, to help children learn to read.

The book also uses one letter and image per page. This helps the child focus and not be overwhelmed. Photographic images are used to spark curiosity and encourage the child to learn about the real world.

You can purchase the book here!

This page contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support!

Whether you’re traveling or staying local, the holiday season often brings chaos along with the joy.

I think all parents have had the experience of planning something super fun to do with their kids, only to have it “ruined” by a huge tantrum or generally grumpy child.

This can be really frustrating and disappointing, but it is also totally understandable.  Kids, especially young kids, need and crave routine and when that routine is disrupted, even for something fun, they sometimes fall apart.

Does this mean you should skip the holiday events this year?

No, of course not!  But it might mean you should plan a bit strategically.  Here are a few tips!

 1. Plan 1 special event per week

While it can be super tempting to want to do all-the-things, it is much more enjoyable for the whole family to do one or two holiday events when everyone is well-rested, than to have a holiday fun marathon that leaves everyone totally exhausted.

Try choosing one holiday event per week, or at least only one that messes with nap time/bedtime.  You can have a backup in mind and do it if everyone is feeling good, but prioritizing one event ahead of time will help everyone get the rest they need.

 2. Build in downtime

During the actual holidays, make sure to build in some downtime.

Are you rushing from Christmas brunch with one family to Christmas dinner at another?  Stop at a park on the way and let your kids run around and just be kids.  While you don’t want to miss time with family, everyone will have a much better time if your kids have some downtime too.

 3. Don’t be afraid to abort

While you probably wouldn’t decide to cancel Christmas morning at your parents’ house, you can absolutely abort a trip to the mall to see Santa.

I don’t know about you, but I tend to get an idea of what a fun family experience will be like and march onward long after it’s clear that it will not indeed be fun.

If you feel yourself tensing up, take a breath and assess the situation.  Is anyone actually having a good experience?  Is this something you need to do, or can you just leave?

If you do decide to abort, try not to get mad at your child (this can be hard!)  Just say something like, “It seems like everyone is too tired for this today, let’s go home and read books together instead.”

 4. Make sure your child has a space to retreat

If you are traveling, make sure your child has a space of their own to retreat.  This could be a tiny corner of a hotel room with a few of their toys or a room at Grandma’s house.

The size of the space is not important, what’s important is that your child has somewhere they can retreat if they get overstimulated or simply need a break from interacting with a million family members.

 5. Warn them!

Giving kids a heads up about a break in routine can go a long way toward helping them be successful.

This is so simple to do but so easy to forget.  You can say something really simple like, “normally we eat dinner at home and then get ready for bed, but today will be different.  We’re going to a holiday party together and then will come home and go to bed.”

We spend so much time planning our calendars and coordinating schedules, it’s easy to forget to let our children in on the plans!

Do you have any tips for helping your kids stay regulated during holiday chaos?

Montessori abc Book

My Montessori abc book uses phonetic sounds. Montessori teaches phonetic sounds, rather than letter names, to help children learn to read.

The book also uses one letter and image per page. This helps the child focus and not be overwhelmed. Photographic images are used to spark curiosity and encourage the child to learn about the real world.

You can purchase the book here!

This page contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support!

Good morning!

So while I love traveling, I used to totally dread the travel part of it after having kids.  I wouldn’t say we’ve had any totally traumatic travel experiences with our kids, but it definitely took some experimenting to get into a groove.

I also think how easy / difficult traveling with kids is totally depends on the ages of your kids – I personally find the 15 month-2 yr stage very difficult for traveling because they are SO active and aren’t often that into stationary activities.  So we’ll see how I feel about traveling in a few months when Lilah is in that stage.

Anyway, we’ve had two fairly long, fairly successful travel experiences lately (one to Montana and one to Wisconsin that involved a FOUR HOUR layover), so I wanted to share what’s working for us!  Our kids are 10 months and 3 years old for reference.

Please share any tips you have – I love reading these posts from other moms because in my mind you can never have too many tricks up your sleeve when you’re trapped on a plane! (We haven’t attempted any long road trips with our kids yet, so this will focus on air travel.)

 1. Snacks on a Plane

This one is somewhat obvious, but I really do find that bringing a LOT of snack choices helps.  I try to get a mix of favorites that we don’t buy too often (goldfish, sometimes fruit snacks, puffs) and new snacks the kids haven’t had before or haven’t had in a super long time.

I particularly love freeze dried fruit (we get this at Trader Joe’s, but I just saw it at Target too!) for travel snacks because the only ingredient is fruit, but it’s crunchy and much easier to pack than fresh fruit.  We also try to include protein like nuts, Larabars, or cheese sticks because I know my son will snack the whole time and won’t eat a real meal later.

I like to put one of these disposable placemats on the tray because kids will inevitably drop their snacks and eat them with no concern to all of the germs on every plane surface.

FYI, for anyone who hasn’t flown recently, they now ask you to remove all food from your bag when you go through security, so we pack all snacks in freezer size ziplocks…it was a bit stressful the first time we went through security and were unaware of this rule and had snacks everywhere!

 2. Get excited about the airport!

For our last two trips, we’ve made sure to read books about airplanes and airports leading up to our trip and it has made a huge difference in our experience at the airport.

I think the part where you’re waiting around to board the plane can be one of the hardest with a busy toddler because you don’t really want to get a bunch of stuff out from your carry on to entertain them.  On our most recent flight, there was a bit of a delay so we were waiting to board for quite a while, but we parked ourselves by a window and my 3-year-old was fascinated by watching the snack truck, luggage trucks, etc. prepare the plane outside.  Like he didn’t want to leave to get on the plane, he was all-in.

I love Richard Scary’s Day at the Airport, Richard Scary’s What do People do All Day (which has a detailed page on the airport), and Pilot Small (which I find excruciating to read b/c of all of the detail about planes, but my son loves).  This one looks great too!

Do you have any plane / airport books you recommend?

3. Bring Legos!

Okay, this is our latest strategy and it seriously made our 4 hour layover a breeze!

We brought two small plastic containers with snapping lids, each with a small Lego set (not a new set, just ones we already had).  We found an empty table in the airport and my son sat there the ENTIRE time building Legos, only getting up to use the bathroom.

Obviously you can tailor this based on your child’s own interests – we also brought drawing supplies, stickers, etc., but he is 100% into Legos so if there is a small toy like that for your child, don’t be afraid to bring a small portion of it for them to play with.  I wouldn’t recommend this for the plane where pieces could easily get lost, but it worked great for us for the airport!

4. Headphones

These are seriously probably one of my top 5 favorite purchases since having kids and they are so inexpensive.

James used them on the plane and during the layover to listen to music and audiobooks with his Chameleon Reader.  This is so great for a screen-free entertainment option for young kids!

I also think headphones are awesome if you’re trying to get a toddler to nap on a plane – we just put on lullabies or quiet music and he falls asleep if it’s nap time, and he is not an easy on-the-go sleeper.

 5. Look for an Airport Play Place

Two of the airports we recently traveled through (Dallas and Milwaukee) had a small kids play place tucked away.  This was perfect for letting Lilah get out some energy during our long layover!

I was a little hesitant at first because, you know, germs, but she really needed to move around and she LOVED it!

James played in there a bit too on our return flight but, while it says it’s for kids up to 5 years old, I think it’s really better for 6 mo.-2.5 year olds.  It was definitely geared toward little kids.  If you have a long layover coming up, check and see if the airport has one of these mini playgrounds, it was kind of a life-saver!

6. And one extra I’m excited to try soon – BCOZZY travel pillow!

(I was sent this to review, but not otherwise compensated.  All opinions are my own 🙂

So I definitely think one of the most stressful parts of traveling with young kids who still nap is making sure they get some sleep during travel.  I never found this to be too difficult with babies, but toddlers are more aware and interested in what’s going on, and can have a harder time falling asleep on a plane.

While James did fall asleep on one of our flights, he didn’t stay asleep long, partially because he wound up totally slumped forward in what looked like a super uncomfortable position.

This pillow is designed for just such situations and is meant to help keep your head upright if you fall asleep on a plane / in a car.  Genius!

We don’t have any flights coming up, but we’re driving to Houston soon and we always time this at nap time so I’m definitely going to try it out for James then!  I have an overnight flight next year so I am super pumped to try mine out for that and am thinking of buying them for my travel companions as well.

I’ll keep you posted when we actually try this but wanted to share before any upcoming holiday travel.

Happy traveling!

Do you have any tips for traveling with kids?  Please share!

Montessori abc Book

My Montessori abc book uses phonetic sounds. Montessori teaches phonetic sounds, rather than letter names, to help children learn to read.

The book also uses one letter and image per page. This helps the child focus and not be overwhelmed. Photographic images are used to spark curiosity and encourage the child to learn about the real world.

You can purchase the book here!

This page contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support!