Welcome to our Room, Part 2

(This is part 2 of the series. For part 1 click here.)

• The doorway / entrance area is also home to many learning posters. Right now it holds our monthly calendar, our  days of the week calendar, a variety of foreign language alphabet posters that I made, some “types of clouds” posters, and a picture of the American and Christian flag (for pledges).

• To the right of the door is a bulletin board, which I have attempted to use for a variety of purposes, including simply displaying Hunter’s art work and projects, to posting daily schedules (in big letters so Hunter could easily read them), to even posting all the categories of bits and other subjects we would be using during the week. Right now it has a few random crafts as well as a daily schedule on the side.

• Below the bulletin board is Hunter’s clock (which at the moment has no hands on it. Really useful, I know) and to the right is a bunch of empty wall where I have been intending to hang some amazing bookshelves for, er, I think it’s in the years category now.

• Hunter’s toy shelves, which I absolutely love. We have had these for years and they not only hold a lot of toys in not very much space, but they’re also accessible, make clean-up easy, and are a very attractive display (although this picture doesn’t exactly say much, considering all the dust visible on the floor and the half-filled bins). Right now they hold: -Wooden blocks, alphabet blocks, train set, tinker toys, misc. musical instruments, builders and benders, misc. cars, and some other stuff (like kids meal toys and nun chucks). 

• This is a fairly new addition, and in the spirit of “Montessori” style accessible shelves. On the bottom shelves are a variety of board books and a great deal of wooden peg puzzles. On the middle shelf is a basket full of baby toys, alphabet stacking / nesting blocks, a pound and roll toy [link is newer version], and a pound-a-peg toy. In case you couldn’t tell, these shelves were mostly intended for my nephews and the kids I babysit sometimes, although Hunter still plays with these toys every once in a while!

• The top shelf contains some lacing and tracing cards, lacing beads, (also for younger kids), a jar of telling time matching pawns that I got at a thrift store, a jar of magnetic numerals, a jar of magnetic alphabet letters (99 cents a pack at Wal-mart), a Rubik’s cube, some brain teaser puzzles, and a balance / scale [link is newer version].

• On top of the shelf is a mini globe of the world, a table-top easel (found at a thrift store), a 100-bead abacus, a telling time clock [again, link is new version], and a (fake) little plant.