$100 Gift Certificate Giveaway
***********This contest has ended. Thanks to all who participated!*************
It’s been a rainy day here in Chicago (perhaps March will go out like a lion, much as it came in) and I think it’s time for me to spread some sunshine.
To end this fantastic month, I’m giving away a $100 gift certificate to my store. Use it on a CD-ROM, PDFs, or give it to a teacher or parent as a gift.
If you use it before the end of March, you can use the 25% discount code too, making it more like a $125 certificate.
Just leave a quick comment telling me an idea for a new material (or freebie) I could make that I don’t have yet. That might be a bit of a challenge, since I do have a lot of different items for sale (or free), but I’m going to make you guys work for this one a little bit.
I can’t assure you that I’ll make all of the stuff you guys mention (or that I’ll be able to do so quickly), but I will add the best ideas to my long list of new materials to make.
As usual, the contest will be open until Sunday night, and the winner will be chosen randomly and posted on Monday.
Thanks!
Ummm, my suggestion will be for some Sign Language cards. Kids really seem to enjoy these! I found a set online to print but it’s in upper case letters & I really want a set in lowercase to be more in keeping with early Montessori. Cheers
p.s. I’m going to be sad when your March is over now…
That is a great idea! I’ve never had anyone ask for that. I’ll look into it
Cards of children from around the world dressed in native costumes. Each card having the the flag of the country and a child with a native dress. This was a memory game used in my training but I have not been able to find it. This was fun! Thank you!
I will love to see something in other languages, i am from Brasil and keep speeking only Portuguese at home with my kids. My idea is options of different languages with pictures and word speling, i am not sure if you can add what the sounds of the words are, but i can help you with portuguese and i can garantee you can get more help from other readers. This is a great chance for us to put our minds to work for everybody, thanks for the opportunity
Obrigada
Something I’ve been trying to find and have been unsuccessful with is materials about trains. My son loves trains. I would love to find three part cards with the different parts of trains and other materials to use with him.
I thought it would be a good idea to have 3-part cards to classify animals as mammal, bird, reptile or amphibian in addition to the ones you already have that allow the child to match the type or name of a specific mammal, etc. to the picture. I was going to undertake this myself, but haven’t had the time : ) Blessings…Theresa
i would love something related to the american holidays throughout the year like labor day or memorial day or 4th of july and mlk day. most of them land in the summer when i am not in “Full school mode” and i would love something that i didn’t have to think about!
How about some molecule cards with pics, name, and common uses. Ex: pic of DNA structure, Deoxyribose nucleic acid, and “molecule which carries genetic information” or something like that. Even simple ones like sodium bicarbonate, carbon dioxide, etc. These would obviously be for older children, but I’d love to have some. Enough for a molecule a week would be great.
Lori,
I can’t wait to see all the new materials that eventually come out of this contest! My idea is to have some craft ideas to go along with the artist cards. I use the artist cards as pages and assemble a book for each artist. I place the book on a scroll on the art shelf along with a related art project ie watercolor pencils and crayons with Monet. It is difficult to come up with the ideas and would appreciate it if there were some project ideas that came along with the cards.
I would suggest a three part card of the different abode/shelters that we can find all over the world
Great ideas, everyone!
Stephanie, I don’t know if you’ve bought my art cards or not, but they do include suggestions for doing a project that’s similar to the artist’s style.
Theresa, what you’re describing sounds a lot like Vertebrate Sorting Cards – is that what you mean?
I prefer them to be used as sorting cards (not 3-part cards) because then the salient part of the work is deciding which category the animal falls under, not the name of the animal itself.
However, if a child has completed them as sorting cards, you could cut off the names and have them be 3-part cards/sorting cards at the same time.
Preschool work plans would be wonderful!
Hi, Katie! I don’t think I’d ever make preschool workplans, since 3-6 should really be about following the child and not adhering to a schedule. I don’t know if it’s even possible.
Most people use albums to know “what to do next”, and my Comprehensive List 3-6 is good for that too.
There is already a set of albums written in a “lesson plan” style by day/week/month; you’d probably find them helpful: Lesson Guides from New Child Montessori.
Lori…are the “title cards” that are included in the Vertebrate Sorting Cards labeled with mammal, reptile, bird and amphibian? I apologize…I didn’t pick up on that when I was looking through. Disregard my idea then : )…Theresa
Fundamental Needs of Humans – shelter, nutrition, clothing, defense, etc. Collect pictures of each from the different time periods taught (we do prehistoric, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Medieval Europe and 18th, 19th and 20th Century Europe, but you could just as easily include other cultures/times). The cards could be grouped by fundamental need or by time period and could be shuffled around as needed. This would be very helpful!
@Theresa – yes, that’s what “Title cards for each class of vertebrate” means
@Shelly – that type of work has been on my list for years, but one of the main reasons I haven’t started it is because it would really need to be done with drawings, not photos. I will continue to brainstorm about it
Thanks Lori…I’ll put that on my “wish list” to purchase in the near future.
Math is on my mind right now. How about an addition strip board? Or, some worksheets for the snake game?
Lori, you really do a fantastic job with all of the materials that you have made!!
Hi, Jen! I do make an addition strip board, but I love the idea of snake game worksheets! Awesome!
I would like to see cards for everything found in a classroom, from ‘window’ to ’scissors’ to ‘globe’, to label the objects in my class, making it a language rich environment. I know I could do it myself but yours would be far more beautiful! Thanks for everything! Michelle
I love that idea, Michelle – classroom labels, right? Do you see them being with a photo, or just the word by itself?
Ooooooo…this is a sneaky contest
Not only are you making us work, but you just “tricked” me into searching through EVERYTHING you sell to see if you make it already! Now I’ve seen tons of stuff we NEED 
Okay, my idea. My boys are ready for those sequence cards (beginning middle end). I had my eye on the puzzles that do this (like the banana whole, partly peeled, unpeeled, etc.,) but that would be expensive and not have a lot of variety. I know you have sequence cards listed on your “comprehensive lists” as a pre-reading skill, but I don’t see where you offer the cards.
I’ve only done PL things with my girls as they are 2 so I’m not really sure what more I would want other than Hebrew-/Jewish things but I’m not sure what kind of demand you have for that. You really have such a great selection already!
@My Boys Teacher – actually, I hadn’t thought of that side benefit. I was definitely hoping on getting some great ideas, though
I already have sequence cards – they are free, and you can find them here under “Reading & Pre-Reading Activities”.
It’s really hard to find photos of sequences (where the pictures, backgrounds, and themes all match) so if you need more, I recommend getting a set like this – you can find these (or similar) used on eBay or craigslist, or check them out from your local library.
@Miriam – I don’t see myself making any Hebrew/Jewish materials, but there is a Hebrew Movable Alphabet available from Alison’s Montessori, and Montessori Print Shop has a Passover Cards & Booklet set.
I would love to see more pattern worksheets (like AABB, ABAB, etc) – I know you already have one in your free section, but my kids just LOVE doing pattern worksheets and it would be neat to have more variety!
Also, do you have parts of the body cards? Those are also another idea. And as we were outside today (in the COLD), I was thinking about maybe weather cards? I don’t know, anything having to do with weather (rain, snow, ice, lightning)?
Hi Lori,
my children would really enjoy some Yoga cards, with pictures or photo’s showing simple positions that they can do on a little mat by themselves in the classroom.
Thanks for all the time you are putting in to this wonderful blog!
Hello Lori,
I am thinking it would be nice for the children to learn about all the types of GRAIN. Perhaps associated with pictures of food made out of them and also where these are grown. … I am having such fun reading all the comments, thank you!!! Luisa
@Terry Y – do you mean like the pictures that you cut out, and then the child puts them in order based on the original pattern? I don’t remember having any worksheets for patterning; it was a manipulative.
I already have Parts of the Body and Types of Weather cards.
@Sonja – Meg from Montessori by Hand (now Sew Liberated) made a beautiful set of photos for yoga poses; you can find them here: Yoga Poses. You can print them off flikr yourself, or have them printed and sent to you.
She gave instructions for using them here. There’s no way I could top her pictures, so I won’t be making my own set
One tip: before suggesting a new work for me to make, enter a word or two into the search box at the top right (”Search Store”, not “Search Blog”) and see if I already have it.
This was an infant exercise my husband created for our baby. Hubby likes to drink sodas from the gas station that come in the big cups with plastic lids and straws.
Our baby boy is very tactile and just loves straws. He also LOVES having his daddy’s cups.
Hubby took the big cup and lid. So baby sits down and he takes straws and pokes them through the hole. Then he asks for us to take the lid off so he can get the straws out and try again.
Very reusable work for a baby… great hand/eye cordination exercise.
Well, I guess that one is really not good for your purpose. I re-read the directions and I guess it’s got to be something you can create on your cards and sell.
My 4.5 year old LOVES Brains, Blood and Bones… very into anatomy. So we like to learn about Femurs and joint types, etc. I feel like I need to be a doctor now.
If there were cards that showed the different kinds of bones in a body, that would be cool for us. Or Red blood cell vs. White blood cell vs. Platelets. Or Veins vs. Arteries.
I know this is WAY over the top but it’s just what she likes!
As a relatively new Montessori teacher I would love to have an inventory type list for a 6-9 classroom–something to guide me in what works are essential to have available at the start of the year, what I will need to add etc. Starting at a new school you never know what works will be there and what you will need to make or buy–so being able to check off the necessities and think about the extras would be really helpful.
I LOVED your art related posts on the blog not too long ago. Along those same lines it would be great to see a list of things to start the year with for an art shelf and practical life would be great too!
Hi, Nicole! I actually already have a list like that – the Comprehensive List 6-9.
Years ago, the school I was teaching at went through the accreditation process with the American Montessori Society, and one thing that all the teachers had to do was make an inventory list of their classrooms.
I made up my list, and then years later when I started my business, I thought people might be interested in the list, so I expanded it, organized it better, and voila!
The comprehensive lists can be used both as checklists to fill a classroom with materials, or to keep track of each child’s work and presentations. Or both!
Hello Lori
My son is mad about buses and cars, and so I would love to see a set of cards covering all kinds of transport. In addition to a naming exercise, these could be sorted eg by air, land, water or by speed or uses. Another idea would be to cover different types of homes around the world.
Thank you for your wonderful blog – it has been so helpful to me as a newbie to Montessori homeschooling!
I would love it if you would make small animal pictures (land and sea) that could be placed on the wooden maps. My kids LOVE wooden geography maps and they love learning about the animals that live in each continent. My children would enjoy placing very small animal pictures by each continent or ocean, and I think that this would be a wonderful extension to your current continent kits.
I would love some sequence cards about growing food. Since my kids have always been city kids, I am always looking for ways to teach them about where food comes from.
Hi, Carina! So glad you find the blog helpful. I actually made transportation nomenclature cards for free back in September, and it turns out I didn’t have them listed on my free downloads page. So thank you for mentioning that!
You can (now) find them here under “nomenclature cards”. You can easily ask your son to sort them by land/air/water as well.
Types of Shelters is a subdivision of the Fundamental Needs Chart. I’ve wanted to make cards for that for all the categories – clothing, food, health, etc. and never had the chance. I hope to soon!
Lori, it was this one that was a big hit: http://www.montessoriforeveryone.com/assets/PDF/Patterning_Cards.pdf
More similar to that would be nice…..
@Terry Y. – That’s what I thought, you just said “worksheet” but since it isn’t, I wasn’t completely sure.
I don’t think I’ll make more of those – I remember it was hard to find the pictures that looked great together.
Jennifer at Montessori Print Shop has some of those, if you need more: Pattern Cards.
Dear Lori,
If you can, please please please make “Parts of a Car” cards. I have been trying to find a set for my son, who loves anything and everything about cars, but it’s been hard and I know I can’t make the cards them as nicely as you do! (I found that In-Print for Children (which is closing soon) carries parts of a truck, but no one has ever made “Parts of a Car” cards!) It’s amazing considering that the car has become such an integral part of life for so many people in the world today.
I already use many of the your 3-Part/Definition cards with my son as we homeschool, and it would be lovely to a set of your “Parts of a Car” cards to complement the rest of your collection!
I would love to see some sort of ‘pre-nomenclature’ cards with an animal e.g a horse on one picture, then pictures of their muzzle, hoof, tail, ears etc for the child to match to the correct animal, a set of them could be mixed up to make it harder, perhaps with one card a close up of the hair/markings on the animal… the possibilities are wide ranging! I’d like to make them, but don’t have the required skills!!
Best Wishes, Jenni
Lori,
I love all your materials! What a wonderful idea to have a contest!
Here are a few ideas I had:
– a set of animal cards that could be matched or sorted by continent
- pbdq sorting (these sounds are hard for children to master) and a sorting work with pictures would be wonderful
- carnivore/herbivore cards for dinosaurs
- measuring activities ( inces, centimeters, oz, cup, quart, etc.)
I hope you get lots of ideas! Can’t wait to see the end products!
All the best,
Kerry Merkel
@Jennifer – are you thinking of something with a photograph of the animal, and the show each part close up? Otherwise it’s too close to the existing nomenclature cards.
Hi, Kerry! I feel like people can use the animal cards from each continent kit to sort by continent; it would be hard for me to find completely new animals (and great photos) to make a separate sorting work.
The Initial Consonant Sound Cards contain pbdq; you could easily put those four together in a set.
I have several measuring activities in my Free Downloads, for length and volume: Free Downloads – Math & Geometry. They’re called “Measurement Vocabulary Cards” and “Measuring Volume Set”. I do have plans for more measuring activities
As a general rule, I won’t make something that’s either too close to something I already have, or can be done by manipulating other materials I make. And, I avoid things that are really complicated that have been already made (better) by other people or other companies.
@Gwynne – would Parts of a Car be a picture of a car, with close-ups of things like wheels, etc?
I know you have the blue series sentences already. I’d love to see some for the pink and green or books we could print out and put together.
Also a Multiplication board and Division board that could be printed out and used would be nice. Thanks for the great job!
I don’t think I have Blue Series sentences…I have the same things for Pink, Blue, & Green so if I had it for Blue, I’d have it for the others too. Can you link to the item you’re referring to, or tell me the exact name?
There’s a printable multiplication board here; you can use it with green pushpins as a division board:
Multiplication Board Template
My idea:
Cards (nomenclature or sorting) about safety. You can make cards about safety in general or sort them by theme (safety at home, car safety, drownings…). Pictures can be: matches, medicines, household chemicals, poisonous houseplants, baby alone near tub or pool, choking (small toy or food), damaged toys (or age inappropriate toys), protective electric outlet, bike lane (or bicycle accident), car seat or seat belt…
The blue series sentences are called Picture sentence matching in the reading and pre-reading freebies . And never thought to use the multiplication table as a division board also.. Thanks for the idea.
You could make cards about natural disasters, too: tsunami, avalanche, fire…
I see you have some foreign language stuff…but maybe more foreign! Like taking maybe the continents’ language majority & make math 1-10 cards or language labels.
ex. tree with pic moku (tree) with pic japanese
If these were available I can add a little more to my continent boxes!! Just an idea
Hi, Ines! I would love to do more foreign language stuff – but I want to focus on a few languages rather than doing a smattering about a lot of languages.
I feel that students should be making/finding/doing a lot of those things themselves – they can certainly look up a few words in some of the languages for each continent they study.
I don’t want to give people *too* much stuff for continent boxes, if you know what I mean
There are lots of great of ideas on this list. I always wanted to make a set of “types of clouds” 3 part cards.
Hi, Dee! I actually do have Types of Clouds already. But I have gotten many great suggestions for work I don’t have yet
Hi Lori,
I would love to see some “where stuff comes from” cards, i.e. sheep ==> wool ==> yarn ==> sweater; or wheat ==> grain ==> flour ==> bread; or tree ==> paper; or tree ==> lumber ==> furniture/house; or cow ==> milk ==> cheese/yogurt/ice cream.
Thanks — keeping fingers crossed!!
Sorry to leave another comment, but now you’ve got me thinking…
I would also love to see some water cycle cards (rain, puddle, vapor, cloud…).
Thanks!!
Water cycle has been on my list for ages, just never got around to it.
I’ve had other people ask for the “where does it come from”, the only hitch is finding the right pictures. That’s can be the hard part. I’ll look into it, though!
Lori,
I just had one more idea that I had actually started (though I believe that you could make it much nicer than I)
Food groups and a food pyramid. Perhaps a sorting activity with vegetables, grains, proteins, fats etc?
Thank you!
Hi, Kerry! I have that already – a food pyramid, and sorting cards by food group:
Free Downloads – Cultural under “General”
This is enlightening for me – my Free Downloads pages are my most popular pages, month after month, but a lot of people don’t realize exactly what’s on them. Hmm…
I would love some recipe cards. None would have more than 3 ingredients. None would call for cooking on a stove or hotplate, though they might call for pasta or rice leftover in the fridge or precooked. Don’t know if that is acually possible. Guess I’m thinking snack mix with pretzels, dried fruit and nuts, sliced bananas, pasta salad or pasta with grated cheese, that kind of thing.
I second the ideas above for yoga cards or parts of the car, including parts under the hood. Parts of the bicycle would be nice also. Cards relating to practical life would be helpful. For example I made some cards to go on containers for the children’s money; spending, saving and giving but the images are not the greatest.
Lori,
I would love to see some natural science jobs. A food chain card set or biomes, forest, pond etc. More about how connected we are to nature. Thank you!
Hi, Michelle! I have a Food Chain Set already, as well as Biome Guides Set 1 & Set 2, which cover 8 different biomes. Thanks!
Lori,
A few more ideas:
1) rocks , seashells
2) stuff for boys like tools, construction vehicles, etc.
3) cards with president pictures, the dates they served, and events that happened during their term.
4) maybe some cards similiar to the Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther history cards, but events in history like Civil War or WW1 or2, etc. (with some of the major battles listed or places they were fought), or other history events.
Oh my gosh, I love these ideas! I’d love to see the additions to the Fundamental Needs cards and I also like the idea for the recipe cards. I’d love to have some cards with simple science experiments that 6-9 year olds can do on their own.
Thanks for a fun month….I’m looking forward to seeing what new materials are next!
I have a couple of ideas for things I have on my own to do list
I’ve always wanted to make music history cards — the idea runs something like this: The History of “Jazz” (for example), would have a CD with selections from various Jazz artists, progressing from early jazz to modern. Accompanying the CD would be composer/artist vocab and 3 part cards, as well as Who Am I? Cards for later on. Then something like a chart that links the artists together. In my mind the chart would then link to, say, the History of Blues. And so on and so forth.If I ever make this myself, I will let you know!
Also, I’d love to see what others use for Record Keeping Sheets. I know this varies so much by training and simply personal preferance. Maybe a couple of variations could go in the free section!
Thanks!
PS Montessori
How about a clock activity using the written time ( a half past six), a clock face and digital. Children have such a hard time learning how to tell time, any more activities could be helpful.
Hi Lori,
I would love to see some biome nomenclature and definition cards as an option, in addition to your biome research guides. I’ve seen some kids work with the biome card layout before getting into research. I haven’t come across a lot of places that actually sell biome nomenclature cards. Thanks again for this opportunity!
Ravi
this is the coolest thread!
i would love to be able to buy the elementary workplans~ and what about a poetry job for elementary? introducing the different styles of poetry, or one that would have famous poets photo, and a short poem to match to the poet card?
thanks!
lisa
Okay, gotta post just one more idea. How about a reading comprehension organizer to help a student organize her thoughts in preparation for writing a book report? The organizer or planner might ask for title and author, main character, other characters, the problem the character faces and how the problem is resolved (or something along those lines.)
Also, cards with problems for adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions with common denominators. On one side have the problem and on the back have the picture representation with the fraction families. Then another set of cards without the picture representation for the abstract part of the work. Thank you! gigi
I have made some book report forms and some character,plot, setting cards to sort using books my children were familiar with (I found old copies at a library book sale and then cut up the picture books to ..hard for me to do even though they were old copies.. ) However I thought you might be able to do something with a simple written story and then have reading comprehension questions or plot,character,setting questions.
I love your research materials but have found for my early third year students that I need to create more directed research. for example animal cards with a picture, a paragraph or two and then some listed facts. then the child uses a form that we create that asks fairly straightforward questions that are easily found on the card. I guess with your photo skills and science knowledge, I would love some scaled or sequenced research materials, about animals, geography, presidents.
Also I ditto the Fundamental needs materials!!
Argh! I even looked for the Types of Clouds cards and didn’t find them. Those are gorgeous pictures, they’re going on my wish list. I haven’t been in the classroom for a few years (at home with my 2 year old) and nothing else comes to mind that I haven’t found on your site.
Hi Lori,
sorry for the delay in replying, only just realised to check the replies…. anyway, yes I was thinking about a close up of the part so the child would have to look carefully at the large pic of the animal to match it to…. if there were a few different types together it could lead to comparisons of how animal’s noses differ, or their feet and why they are different shapes etc, maybe it is too close to nomenclature cards… however the close-ups would show more detail of each and in photographic form, so could extend thinking/discussion
jenni x