9 Montessori-Inspired Puzzles for Your Homeschool Science Lesson (And The Activities Kids Will Love!)
If you’re looking for Montessori-inspired toys to facilitate a homeschooling science lesson plan, you’ve come to the right place! Today, we’re sharing our favorite educational puzzles from Stuka Puka as well as our go-to play-based learning activities!
With many parents homeschooling kids due to Covid-19 (a number of us at The Tot included), we’ve been looking for toys that will help expand our play-based learning curriculum.
As advocates of the Montessori Method, this has meant finding open-ended options that allow kids to engage with them in a number of ways.
Recently, we’ve been focusing on creating activities that teach our kids (between ages 3 and 8) all about science! From bodies to bees to bears, we’ve had a wonderful time exploring the world around us thanks to the wooden puzzles from Stuka Puka.
Made of FSC certified 100% beech plywood, these beautifully detailed puzzles offer kids the chance to hone their hand-eye coordination, expand their vocabulary and learn to think critically. Fantastic for classic puzzle play, we extra love them because they can be used in multiple homeschool science activities!
Need a bit of inspiration? In this guide, we’ll go over:
- Tips for getting kids to focus while learning from home
- The 9 Montessori-inspired wooden puzzles for homeschool science lessons we love
- Play-based learning science activities for kids age 3 to 8
Scroll down to learn more!
Tips for getting kids to focus while learning from home
Before starting any homeschooling activity, it’s a good idea to make sure you’re setting your child (and yourself) up for success!
- Ensure your child is well-fed (It’s hard to focus when tummies are rumbling!)
- Designate a specific area inside or out where you’ll do each lesson
- Find a child-size table or desk so kids can sit in the optimal ergonomic position (we love the Wit Design Sitting Stool & Table Set.)
- Use a timer to work in 45-minute blocks
- Take breaks
- Minimize distractions: Turn off TVs, make sure other toys are packed away and out of sight, focus on one subject at a time.
Wit Design – The Sitting Stool & Table Set
Ranging from $508 to $538
EXCLUSIVE
Available in more colors
9 Montessori-inspired wooden puzzles for homeschool science lessons (& play-based activities)
Homeschool Activities: Insects 101
Objective: Understand the life cycle of ladybugs, beetles, bees, butterflies, ants and mosquitoes!
Areas of development: Critical thinking, vocabulary, hand-eye coordination and fine motor skill development
While your child can use the Stuka Puka 4 Layer Bug Life Cycle Wooden Puzzle in a classic puzzle-play way, you can take the activity further by getting them to:
- Trace each piece and then free-hand the depiction of each stage
- Match the insects who have similar life cycles (e.g. bees + ants vs ladybugs and beetles.)
- Identify the bugs that typically bite or sting
- Draw each bug in the type of environment you’d typically find them in (e.g. a butterfly near a flower, ants underground, mosquitos in the woods!)
- Go on an adventure walk in the backyard to try and find each bug
- Write the scientific definition of ‘Entomology’
Stuka Puka 4 Layer Bug Life Cycle Wooden Puzzle
$70
Stuka Puka Bee Anatomy Wooden Puzzle
$45
Homeschool Activities: Human Anatomy 101
Objective: Discover what’s going on inside our bodies and learn the names of bones, organs and body systems.
Areas of development: Critical thinking, vocabulary, hand-eye coordination and fine motor skill development
The Stuka Puka Anatomy Puzzle features five layers of highly detailed wooden pieces that show kids what’s happening inside their bodies! While taking it apart and putting it back together will help encourage critical thinking and hand-eye coordination, you can take your lesson further by encouraging your child to:
- Find the bones that we have two of (e.g. two clavicles)
- Find the bones we only have one of (e.g. manubrium)
- Count how many ribs we have
- Lay down so you can trace their body. Have your child then draw their internal organs, skeleton, and digestive system.
- Trace the puzzle and then color in internal organs, skeleton and body system of choice
- Compare the human skeleton to an animal skeleton
Stuka Puka 5 Layer Human Anatomy Wooden Puzzle
$185
Homeschool Activities: Astronomy 101
Objective: Learn the names of planets, concept of orbit and order of our solar system.
Areas of development: Critical thinking, vocabulary, hand-eye coordination and fine motor skill development
For an out-of-this-world exciting astronomy lesson, you can use the Stuka Puka Solar System Puzzle to teach your tot all about our heliocentric solar system and the Stuka Puka Moon Phase Wooden Puzzle to demonstrate just how many phases our moon cycles through! Take the activities further by encouraging your child to:
- Use a large piece of paper to trace and draw the solar system
- Order the planets from largest to smallest
- Write each planet’s name
- Use sidewalk chalk to draw a make-believe solar system on the driveway
- Class the Terrestrial Planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars)
- Class the Gas Giant Planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune)
Stuka Puka Solar System Wooden Puzzle
$50
Stuka Puka Moon Phase Wooden Puzzle
$60
Stuka Puka 2 Layer Planet Earth Puzzle
$60
Homeschool Activities: Dinosaurs 101
Objective: Learn the names of dinosaurs, introduce the Mesozoic Era, identify characteristics of dinosaurs and landscapes
Areas of development: Critical thinking, vocabulary, hand-eye coordination and fine motor skill development
The Stuka Puka Dinosaur World Wooden Puzzle introduces kids to the reptiles that once walked the earth as well as the volcanic landscape! Take the lesson further by encouraging your child to:
- Draw their own prehistoric world
- Write the name of each dinosaur
- Identify which dinosaurs eat meat (carnivores)
- Identify which dinosaurs eat plants (herbivores)
- Identify which dinosaurs eat both meat and plants (omnivores)
- Use a tray of compact sand to stamp each dinosaur piece to imprint an outline
- Set up their own archeological dig in the backyard
- Find out where the name ‘dinosaur’ came from
- List the three periods of the Mesozoic Era (Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous)
Stuka Puka Dinosaur World Wooden Puzzle
$50
Homeschool Activities: Animals 101
Objective: Learn the names of animals, identify tracks and characteritics of the animal kingdom
Areas of development: Critical thinking, vocabulary, hand-eye coordination and fine motor skill development
It’s time to take a walk on the wild side! Using the Stuka Puka animal puzzles, help your child learn to identify what makes each animal’s track unique! Take the fun further by encouraging your child to:
- Use a pencil and paper over a puzzle piece to reveal animal tracks
- Draw each animal in the environment you’d typically find them in
- Order animals by size (small to large)
- Identify the difference between foot, paw, hoof and claw
- Demonstrate vertebrate vs invertebrate
- Identify the five classes of vertebrates (amphibians, birds, fish, mammals, and reptiles) and class each puzzle piece
- Go on an adventure walk and try to find actual animal tracks
Stuka Puka 2 Layer Animal Tracks Wooden Puzzle
$70
Stuka Puka 2 Layer Crack the Egg Wooden Puzzle
$50
Continue exploring
- While a lot of people are celebrating Black History Month, Sean Williams is making it. Since 2016, the Activist, Father of Three & Founder/CEO of The Dad Gang has been on a mission to change the way the world views Black fatherhood. Read more here.
- Trying to create a space to homeschool your children? Visit The Tot Homeschool Essentials Shop!
