Montessori Penny Polishing Activity/ Dollar Bill Lesson

Montessori Practical Life and Science Experiment

Penny Polishing

President’s Day is a great time to introduce the Presidents to young children in a way that is sparks their curiosity. This hands-on experiment is wonderful for their development of a child’s fine motor skills. The photo shows the Montessori inspired experiment pennies, lemon juice, dropper, 1/8 teaspoon measuring spoon, salt and a cloth for polishing.

You can present this to the child by placing one penny in an empty flat dish and then spoon 1/8 teaspoon of salt onto the surface of the penny. Then squeeze 2 drops of lemon juice on top of the salt. The acidity of the lemon juice combined with the abrasiveness of the salt will naturally clean the penny’s surface. Then, using the cloth, show the child how to wipe off the polish.

This is a great Montessori practical life and science experiment. Have a good supply of pennies because young children will enjoy repeating this activity over and over again.

For the “Dollar Bill Activity,” you just need a tray containing a dollar bill and a magnifying glass. Have a small bowl with a penny, nickel, dime, quarter, and half dollar. Your child can study

the money with a magnifying glass and you can discuss which President's are on the currency.



NAMC-Montessori Homeschool Program

Great Montessori Homeschool Program: Check out link below.

NAMC HOMESCHOOL Program

Modeling Beeswax !

Modeling Beeswax

Wonderful modeling beeswax for little fingers. Helps develop child's finger strength and use their imagination. This kit of beeswax (see link above) has the simplest instructions included and comes in a nice little canvas bag. My kids love it.



Simple Name Practice

This is so simple!! You can cut out some pieces of paper (almost like the shape of the letters of the name you will use) or card stock. I added some green lines (keeping it nice and neat) at the bottom of each letter and told my child to pretend the letters are sitting on grass (to help prevent upside down letters)! This is great little puzzle to help your toddler to recognize and spell his/her name.

ABC Box

Hands-on learning for beginning sounds are found inside “My ABC Box!” Children can practice... letter identification of both uppercase and lowercase letters... sound identification... and matching letters to their correct corresponding realistic item.


All 26 items are sized for small hands and chosen based on ease of identification.This activity is Montessori inspired. My children helped me make this ABC box, it’s a wonderful tactile way of understanding how letters and sounds work.

Recommended for preschool and kindergarten children. My older daughters' enjoyed helping their brother with this activity!

Faux Fossils

We were talking about fossils for the lesson of the day and decided to make our own fossils using some moist clay that hardens in the air (about 3 days to dry completely). Here is a good link to buy this clay that will last a very long time for many projects - Modeling Clay.

We used some plastic toy insects and beach shells that we had from previous vacations. Just press the object down into a flattened piece of clay and slowly lift it to reveal a "fossil".

Dried Bean Mosaic-Fall Trees

Dried Bean Mosaic Tree

Just grab a bag of colorful dried beans and draw out an outline of a tree on some cardstock...use some glue and you have a beautiful craft that will keep your kids fingers busy for quite a while. Use some tongues for the little ones to help with their fine motor skills (beginner writers). Great for all ages!