FREE Months and Seasons Do-a-Dot Printables (Montessori-Inspired Phonics Instant Download)

I have two do-a-dot printables for you today! We’re having a months and seasons unit, so we have both “m” for months and “s” for seasons! As usual, the download with the printables is an instant download and super-easy to prepare!

Montessori-Inspired Printables at Living Montessori Now

My daughter, Christina (a former Montessori child), and I are partnering to bring you a series of Montessori-inspired printables. The printables are typically themed and use a number of Montessori principles (although you don’t need to be a Montessori teacher or homeschooler to use them):

• They use isolation of quality.
• They use photographs or realistic images to emphasize reality. Whenever I can, I’ll tell you the specific name of the object or animal featured on the credits page. The months page has a nature image for each month. The seasons page shows the same cherry tree on the same street in Canada in each of the four seasons!
• They typically use traditional Montessori colors such as red for consonants and blue for vowels.
• They use lowercase letters, which are what we introduce letter sounds with in Montessori education. (Children tend to pick up the uppercase letters without being introduced if they’re introduced to the lowercase letter sounds.)
• They often feature themed printable versions of Montessori materials.

Free Months and Seasons Do-a-Dot Phonics Printables

To download the months and seasons do-a-dot phonics printables, click here and then click on the file image in the upper right corner of the PDF to save to your computer (just choose where you want it saved).

Montessori-Inspired Activities Using the Months and Seasons Do-a-Dot Printables

Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links (at no cost to you).

Tray with Months and Seasons Do-a-Dot Printables and Markers

Note: This is just one example of how you can use the do-a-dot printables. There are many ways to use our do-a-dot printables. Scroll down to see examples from previous posts. Just choose an activity that’s appropriate for your child’s age and skill level.

I used a Multicraft tray with Do-a-Dot markers and the months and seasons font cards on mini wood easels.

You could add a tracing activity to the printable. If you laminate your printable, you can use an erasable crayon like the Melissa & Doug Learning Mat Crayons or Crayola Erasable Crayons. If your page isn’t laminated, you could add a pencil or colored pencil. I often do that. For a 2-year-old or other young preschooler who’s not ready to write letters, you can just leave off the crayon or pencil. (I show the pencils on the tray here, but we don’t use them for tracing work with Caleb and Sophia.)

Again, this do-a-dot printable can be used in a variety of ways, depending on the age and ability of the child. A younger child could just use do-a-dot markers, stickers, or some sort of transfer on the do-a-dot page and focus on the /m/ sound in months and/or the /s/ sound in seasons, while an older child could focus on the ea phonogram in seasons, and build the word with the movable alphabet.

If you would like help with introducing phonetic sounds, introducing objects with sounds, or beginning phonics in general, check out my DIY Beginning Montessori Phonics with Preschoolers.

Months and Seasons Books, Phonemic Awareness Activity, and Do-a-Dot Marker Work

Twelve Hats for Lena, The Turning of the Year, Watching the Seasons, and The Seasons are great books for introducing months and seasons to toddlers and preschoolers.

Caleb is now 22 months old, and Sophia is 25 months old. For toddlers, I typically use the do-a-dot printables for vocabulary, hearing the beginning sound of a word, and fine-motor skills. Generally, with toddlers, I’ll just focus on the /m/ sound at the beginning of “months” and the /s/ sound at the beginning of “seasons.”

Note: I use a child-size apron. for toddler do-a-dot work. (Sophia and Caleb are both wearing a toddler-size Montessori Services apron that I got on sale.)

For a phonics lesson with young toddlers, I might casually say that months starts with /m/ (the sound, not the letter name). This is just to introduce hearing the phonetic sound. I don’t focus on the letter “m,” although I use the printable that we already have available. We often focus on the child hearing the beginning sound by saying something like, “Months, /m/, months.”

Caleb and Sophia are starting work with sandpaper letters, so we’re doing more focused work on the letter sounds now. We follow the order shown in this post along with adding the featured letters for our current unit (which is the first two letter sounds right now!). Of course, we talk about the /s/ sound at the beginning of Sophia whenever we work with /s/!

I only use printables with toddlers that can be used for hands-on work, such as do-a-dot work, scissor cutting (cutting strips), or another type of printable that can be made into a manipulative. Printables when used with manipulatives are great for fine-motor development, work on important skills, and fit with the hands-on activities that are developmentally appropriate for toddlers.

• Free Months and Seasons Printables and Montessori-Inspired Months and Seasons Activities
• Free Seasons Cutting Strips (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
• Free Months and Seasons Songs and Educational Videos
• The Best Months and Seasons Books for Kids
• Free Months and Seasons Do-a-Dot Printables (Montessori-Inspired Phonics Instant Download)
• Montessori-Inspired Months and Seasons Work
• Simple Magnetic or Velcro Calendar Activity Using Free Printables
• Enliven Your Homeschool with Some Calendar Fun
• Monthly calendar observances and themed activities for kids.
• Free Back to School Songs and Rhymes for Circle Time (includes songs about days of the week, months, and seasons)
• Free New Year’s Songs and Rhymes for Circle Times (includes songs about months of the year)
• Montessori Birthday Celebration – a Lovely Celebration of Life Ceremony
• Montessori-Inspired Months and Seasons Activities for Hands-on Learning
• Montessori New Year’s Celebration (includes a fun way for young children to understand the science behind months and seasons)
• Free Tree Songs and Educational Videos {Learn about Trees, Apple Trees, and Seasons}
• Free Seasons of an Apple Tree Cutting Strips (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)

MONTESSORI-INSPIRED PACKS – SUBSCRIBER FREEBIES

Don’t miss our themed monthly packs! You’ll get  the link and password for the Living Montessori Now subscriber library with the current pack and all the past monthly packs if you subscribe to the Living Montessori Now weekly newsletter!

Free Do-a-Dot Printables and Ideas for Using Them

I love the versatility of do-a-dot printables! If you’re doing a month-long theme, you could easily change out the type of do-a-dot activity weekly to add interest. Here are four ideas of hands-on activities for any of our do-a-dot printables from my frog do-a-dot printable post (see post for details and materials used).

Just click on an image to go to the post with the related free printable!

Note: I’ve arranged the following gallery in alphabetical order, although some posts have two do-a-dot printables (and two different letters). Also, I don’t introduce letters in alphabetical order. You can find out the order in which I introduce letter sounds here. I deviate from that order for our unit studies, though, and focus on a letter that’s simply related to our unit. That’s in addition to our other letter work.

You can see all our free do-a-dot printables with the latest at the top here.

For complete themed alphabet do-a-dot packs, see our Animal Alphabet Do-a-Dot Pack, Spanish Animal Alphabet Do-a-Dot Pack, and Healthy Food Alphabet Do-a-Dot Pack available for purchase in the Living Montessori Now shop.

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