Montessori Inspired Horse Unit

I am excited to share this long awaited Montessori Inspired Horse Unit! This is the final unit study to complete the five main Montessori classes of vertebrates - frog (amphibians), bird, fish, turtle (reptile), and horse (mammal). I grew up owning horses and teaching Little Bee about them is a passion of mine. He embraced these six horse activities with gusto! 

Montessori Practical Life - Washing & Drying the Horse

This Montessori practical life washing and drying activity was Little Bee's absolute favorite within this unit study. I set up a small bowl of soapy water with dish brush, Schleich horse, and cloth for drying on top of a plastic tray to contain the water. Little Bee is 3.5 years old now and I thought this activity would be too simple for him. However, he really seemed to own this activity. I was pleased with his concentration on this task and his attention to detail.  He took pride in scrubbing clean every part on his little horse. Drying the horse was also very important to him. 

Montessori Nomenclature Cards & Puzzle

With every zoology unit study, I like to incorporate nomenclature cards with the Montessori puzzle. You can find these beautiful horse nomenclature cards at "The Helpful Garden" blog. My favorite Montessori puzzles are the ones with a skeleton hiding beneath the puzzle pieces. Little Bee enjoys learning the anatomical names of the horse and then matching the puzzle pieces to the nomenclature cards.

Safari TOOB Matching Work

Little Bee also learned about the various types of horses by matching the Safari Ltd Horses TOOB with the printable guide. Honestly, this printable guide may be more helpful if it was enlarged so that it is easier to compare the details of the horse figurines to the printable images. Little Bee mostly concentrated on matching the colors (white, black, light brown, dark brown, gray) of the horses to the images.

Horse Life-Cycle

This horse life-cycle printable is a beautiful illustrated visual of the circle of life. I am currently pregnant with our second child, so Little Bee is very interested in how a baby is born and then nourished. I appreciate that this illustration shows the birth of a horse and also how the foal nurses from his mother.

Horse Pin-Poking

I set up a pin-poking station for Little Bee using cork boards and push pins. I printed and enlarged this horse printable for pin-poking from the Montessori Print Shop. Little Bee poked the holes along the outline of the horse. He did tire while using the push pin for poking holes, so I helped him pin-poke and complete the work. I think it would be easier for him to use a pin-poking tool like this one from Montessori Services. Afterwards, it was fun to tape our finished design on the sliding glass window and admire the sun shining through all the tiny holes.

Horse Barn Outdoor Sensory Play

To complete our unit study on horses, Little Bee took all his Safari Ltd Horse figurines outside to play in the grass. I helped him set up his horse barn, Melissa & Doug tractor, hay bales, and fencing. This activity helped to show him where horses live and how they eat. Setting up this outdoor sensory scene was all Little Bee needed to start using his imagination as he played.

Little Bee also enjoys visiting "real" live horses and feeding them apples and carrots. 

Thanks for visiting! Please also enjoy our other Montessori Zoology unit studies ~

Frog

Bird

Fish

Turtle

Snake

Penguin