Kids love surprises. This is one of Little Angel's favorite works. It is also one of mine as I love watching her expression and listening to her dramatic gasp as she pulls each word card out of the "mystery bag" and unfolds it revealing the "surprise." This is one of the great things about Montessori -- the children get to practice the same skill over and over, but in a variety of interesting ways.
I created my "Mystery Bag" out of an old placemat and secured velcro to the top. I made "mystery word" cards out of two and three letter phonetic words(and longer phonetic words for the blue series) and folded them up and slipped them into the bag.
She opens the bag and reaches in and pulls out a folded piece of paper, then opens it and reads each word (like it is a most-asked-for Christmas present!).
I have created some pre-made mystery cards and have them available on my website for the pink, blue series (and I have a set of charade cards for the green series that I have been known to use in this bag.
