Glass Nest

Presentation:  Nesting Tower

HapaLAB loves Home-Made or Re-Purposed Tools.

No build.  No buy.
Just Thank.
To my friend W for getting rid of this at our Annual Playgroup Yard Sale.
A set of 4 nesting glass boxes, trimed in metal, hinged with a top opening lid.

Not sure what it was originally intended for...but it was calling my Homeschool name, Big Time.
A very delicate and beautiful tool, constructed of natural materials...great new addition to HapaLAB.

Nesting is always a good multi-sensory skill builder.
Size comparisons, increasing, decreasing, "built-in" error controls.  
If it's not done a certain way, it does not nest.
A quick self correcting exercise. 

To complete this tool, I took advantage of the "see through" nature of this delicate box set.  Zo is really motivated by taking things out, so in goes a Tiny Plastic Baby (from a previous presentation) inside the smallest box, as incentive...or BATE.  
Worked like magic....he walked up and started shaking the box set, asking if he could get the baby OUT. Cha-Ching!

The Goal:
Size differentiation: concept of objects in various size increments, fitting into one another.  Build coordination and awareness of dimensions.

The Set Up:
1)  A set of nesting objects (baskets, boxes, cups)
2)  A small "prize" in the center.


The Presentation:
1)  If on the floor, ask child to roll out work mat.
2)  If working on the table, ask child to bring the work tray to the table.
3)  Open the large box lid, extract the next box.
4)  Close the large box lid, place the previously removed box on top.
5)  Repeat & continue until the final box is extracted and placed on top.
6)  Open the final (smallest box) and take out the "Prize".
7)  Place prize on top.
8)  When all are placed, ask the child to replace prize back into the box.
9)  Re-nest all boxes
10)  Place tray back on to the shelf

An alternative?
Nesting Cups:
These come in wood, plastic, or metal.
If you don't want to spend money, just use measuring cups from your kitchen drawer.  Or nesting glass bowls for baking/cooking, those can work too.  The Dollar Store is another great place to find nesting glass bowls.  They are not sold as a set, just buy them individually and make up your own set for under $5.

Nesting Boxes:
These come in wood or paper pressed.
These can be found on Amazon, if you are looking for the Natural wood versions.  Or if you don't mind more color or prints on them, there are plenty of those options as well.  *The plain ones allow the child to focus more on the tool, more prints = more distraction (see below)

Nesting dolls
(like the Painted Russian Dolls).
These are sold unpainted on Amazon, really cute.
You can always opt to paint out the last little one as the "prize" for the child to get at the end, or just leave them plain.

We did find a set of  Toy Nesting Boxes at a Garage Sale, typically $10-$15 (Photo right).  It was missing the #1 Smallest box, but that was easily replaced by me adding a dice at the end as the "prize".  For $1, I'm not complaining.

The set came with nursery rhymes printed on the sides...
As mentioned above, typical Montessori tools are really plain.  This is so to not take away from the "point" of the tool, or distract the child, to build more focus and concentration on the lesson of the exercise.

This was true for Zo.  The colorful prints DID distract him, and it took him a while looking and examining each box and the stories on them, before he continued with stacking or nesting.
If I had it my way, I would get the plain wood boxes...but those are $35.
Again, for $1, I'm not complaining.
(Now I could just spray paint these a solid color too....Hummm... )

An added note to the above clip:  Zo insisted on re-rolling the mat repeatedly until the mat was even on both ends.  I said it was "ok, now" (good enough), but he wanted to repeat till right.  Again, those first impressions on initial presentations really stick. (See Some Basics. )