Frequently Asked Questions

Ordering with us is a breeze! Just hop over to our contact page and fill out the form. Let us know the names of the products you're eyeing and how many of each you'd like.

Got questions? Drop them in the message box, and we'll contact you within two days.

We're here to make your shopping experience as easy and delightful as possible, and we can't wait to help you get exactly what you want!

Yes, we have had schools in Alaska use their Title V funds to purchase our game set.

Yes, we do. We just launched them recently.

All of our games are handcrafted. So, if it is a large order for an entire school, it will take 6 to 8 weeks to make. Smaller orders have a shorter time.

Yes, our cursive soundboards are now available.

I have presented workshops at the AMS Annual Conference (Chicago and Webinar 2015), IMC Conference Sarasota 2015, Wisconsin Montessori Association Conference 2014, 2015, Children Change the World Conference Calgary Canada Keynote, Montessori Marketing, Language Refresher, Peace Education, Sustainable Education. Univ. Of Wisconsin Lacrosse Montessori Conference 2014, 2015 Movement, Sustainable Schools.

Workshops and Consultations Available
Montessori Marketing for Administrators and Educators
Environmental Science
Language Refresher
Sustainable Montessori Schools
Peace Education
Movement

The boards themselves measure 9 3/4″ by 5 1/4″. The objects measure 4″ to 7″. The letters are 2″ to 3″. The tray is 10″ by 10 1/2″.

The tray is extra. It is handcrafted in the Midwest, and you may purchase as many as you may need for use. The tray has openings just right for young hands and will be available soon.

Whatever you like! Some people order three sounds, perhaps a, t, and m if they have young children or toddlers, and others want the entire 26-letter set. A cursive letter option is here, as well as the Spanish version.

The Initial Sound Boards are designed for young children as a developmentally appropriate way of learning the initial sounds of the alphabet. A child matches the three-dimensional object with its picture using executive function and logical thinking skills. The child then says the first sound of the object, traces the sandpaper letter, says the phonetic sound again, and then matches the moveable alphabet letter on top of the sandpaper letter. Many thanks to Marie Jenkins of Educational Sounds and Images for her vision of this material.

Yes, we have shipped our materials to Hawaii, Finland, and the UK, to name a few. Please email us at [email protected] for a customized shipping quote before ordering, or you may need to be billed for the difference.

Children can research the many styles of Lacrosse sticks used by Native Americans throughout time. You could challenge the child to research other games and make them. You can add a study of what skills the games teach your mind and body. You can research the regional differences of Native Americans throughout time and the games that they played. These games have also been used in Montessori Elementary Timelines and Fundamental Needs of Mankind, Humankind. You can host a family game night with the parents of students after the children are adept at the skills and rules of the games.

The games can be used in schools as a multicultural follow-up to studying Native Americans. Because of their fine motor, large motor, eye-hand coordination, visual tracking, and game skill building, they can be used in physical education classes. They are enjoyable family games to use together. Because of their utilitarian beauty, the Native American Games can also be used as decoration for a family who is on a Lacrosse team, for example, or just wished to display the games.

You can do both! You can purchase each game separately. The Lacrosse Game is a two-person game. The Spear Hunting Game can be used as a two or four-person game, the Double Ball is a two-person game, and the Feather Darts are a two-person game. If you purchase the entire four-game set, you will engage ten children in purposeful movement at a time. Many schools wanting to use the games in a structured setting purchase two sets to engage 20 students at a time.

These games are handmade based on historical research to be the best practical representation of games commonly played by Native Americans in history. The Lacrosse sticks are steamed and bent reed that is tied and braided in traditional style with artificial sinew and polished with a clear protected coat. The style of lacrosse stick best imitates the tribes of the Cherokee and Sac and Fox. The ball is made of deerskin, hand sewn, and soft yet durable. The Spear Hunting Game is constructed of bent reed, artificial sinew braided and tied, decorated with ribbon. The sticks are whittled, found in nature, wrapped with artificial sinew, polished, and decorated with ribbon. The Double Ball game is made with a double ball of deerskin stuffed and weighted, decorated with beads, and hand-sewn with artificial sinew. The double ball sticks are found in nature, sought for the bend they have to assist in the throwing and catching of the ball. They are whittled, polished, and decorated with a deerskin handle, beading, and ribbon. The Feather Darts Game is constructed of a steamed and bent reed hoop, polished and decorated with ribbon. There are four feather darts included, handmade with feathers and corn cobs. Each game comes with a rustic hardwood slab sign, some with bark on them, that articulates the name of the game and some instructions on how they are played.

By following commonsense safety measures with adult supervision, children in early elementary ages have the coordination to use these games.

You can expand your study of the Continents by selecting an animal from each continent and opening up a window of knowledge of different lands and ecosystems. By using as accurate as possible representations of the animal’s food, a child could have a hands-on experience with actual prairie specimens by using the Bison Naturalist in a Box or actual vegetation of watershed specimens with the Beaver and River Otter Naturalist in a Box. Children love small objects that are realistic, which are generously represented in many Naturalist in a Box sets.

Labeling the objects in the lunchbox is an extension of Naturalist in a Box. Using the arts by drawing or painting the animal, and its habitat, constructing a diorama around the Naturalist in a Box animal and lunchbox, and challenging the student to investigate what other objects or pictures represent what else the Naturalist in a Box animal consumes. The Peterson Birds app is excellent for listening to Owl calls for the Naturalist in a Box Spotted Owl and Barn Owl.

Any child over the age of 4 who is not apt to put things in their mouth. Young children enjoy relating to an animal they may have seen or are studying. Kindergarten-age children can relate on a level of sorting and categorizing the animal’s food/objects that it eats. Early elementary-age children use the material as a springboard for research about the animal, it’s habitat, and the web of life. Naturalist in a Box can be a gift to a child to be used at home or material in a classroom.