Montessori Services Product Review and Giveaway

There are affiliate links in this post. Please see the Disclosure page here.
 I was provided with a product to review, and I have provided my honest opinion. Thank you to the sponsoring company for working with Mom in the USA.

 

Montessori Services and For Small Hands dedicate themselves to providing schools and households, respectively, with Montessori-inspired materials.  For Small Hands is a resource for families; whereas Montessori Services focuses on the child's learning environment.   I recently had the privilege of reviewing their Birch Geo Board and Fast Food Trays - all made in the USA.

Coloring sheets can be found at 1+1+1=1 Tot School Printables

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I was to find these fast food trays.  I have been trying to find them almost since the inception of this blog.  The trays work so wonderfully when we do "school activities."  Each tray helps define each child's space on the table, but also helps contain things like crayons, markers and rubber bands, as seen in the photos, which makes clean-up much easier.  The irony is that neither of them wanted to actually use the tray for food.  They just wanted to use them for their "school activities."

The trays are a perfect size for the girls, measuring 13½" x 10½" overall and 1/2" deep and are available in blue, brown, dark green, almond (light peach), orange, mauve, red, or yellow.  They are also very durable.  Bina decided to dance on hers and they made a wonderful stage for her.  She also used hers as an art canvas and colored all over it.  Rest-assured, as beautiful an art piece as she made us, the coloring came off with a cloth.  They are also light enough that each one of the girls was able to carry it around without a problem.  The surface of the tray itself is not a smooth surface, so I used something underneath, since Lyla is practicing writing letters.

The Birch Geo Board kept Lyla busy for much longer than I had expected it to. She was fascinated by what shape to make next.  I also showed her how to make some letters.  She really wanted to experiment on her own, so I let her run with it.  After all, if it's not fun for her, then she's not going to learn.  As you can see from the picture to the right, she created several different shapes, patterns and things that resembled letters.  When she was done, she traded with Bina.  Bina surprised me with how well she caught on to putting the rubber bands on the pegs.  Don't get me wrong, she did get snapped a few times, but overall, she did much better than I thought.  She really just piled the rubber bands on top of each other in the same linear shape until she could fit no more in that pattern.  Then she created a new one on a different section of the board.  It was a great sensorial activity. 
** Note: This toy is intended for children 4 years old and older.  I let Bina use it because I was sitting right there with her and observing her.  Please exercise this same caution with your own children.  The rubber bands are a choking hazard.

Quick product facts:

• The Geo Birch Board, Item #V16
• Measures 7-3/4" around 
• Has 16 pegs on it  
• The birch wood is finished with lacquer so it has a smooth surface.  
• The rubber bands come in a little zippered-lock bag and come in five colors (red, blue, green, yellow and beige)

•  The Fast Food Tray, Item #T180 (plus the color designation, Ex: T180BN is the brown tray)
• Measures 13½" x 10½" overall; ½" deep
• Available colors: brown, dark green, almond (light peach), orange. Pictured above are the mauve, red, blue and yellow

Disclosure: The sheets that Bina is coloring in the pictures above can be found here at 1+1+1=1 - Tot School Printables.

GIVEAWAY

This is a giveaway for a $50 Gift Certificate to Montessori Services and For Small Hands.

Enter by using the Rafflecopter form below for a chance to win this awesome prize!   

• Open to U.S. residents, ages 18 and older.  
• The giveaway ends 11/12/13 at 12:00am EST.  The winner will be announced at the Thumping Thursdays Blog Hop on 11/14/13.   
• Please remember that a mandatory entry is to leave a blog post comment and to be a subscriber to Mom in the USA.  
• The winner's entries will be verified.  

Good luck to all of you that enter.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

I was provided with a product to review, and I have provided my honest opinion as a mother. Thank you to the sponsoring company for working with Mom in the USA.  You can view my complete PR policies here.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. 

 a Rafflecopter giveaway