Montessori activity trays are one of the most well known images of the entire pedagogy and it’s no wonder. When done sparingly and with the individual child in mind, they offer endless opportunities to further a young child’s interests and independence. This set from Manine Montessori is perfect for both home and classroom use. It comes with everything you need to offer hand strengthening and concentration building activities to your young child. Scooping and pouring trays like the ones featured here, help hands isolate difficulty and allow repeated practice. I’ll note that this practice is ..read more

It’s that time of year again, the summer is coming to an end and even though this coming school year will once again look different for so many of us, the underlying themes for kids are still there. New routines, new people, and leaving loved ones. Over the years I’ve written a few different posts about how to incorporate some helpful tips on making the transition to school easier for children. You can read some of them here and another one here. Below are some new and old favourites on our bookshelves at this time of year to help children know what to expect at school. Jack Goes to Montessor ..read more

Although I currently teach in a Montessori Upper Elementary 9-12 year old classroom and love it, as most people know, my heart will always belong to 3-6. However, what most people don’t know is that right in the middle of my Montessori heart there is a small yet brightly glowing centre and that centre is a well executed Montessori infant toddler programme. I have been so fortunate to know Bettina from Westside Montessori School for almost as long as Quentin has been earth side but due to COVID last year and us being in Nigeria the year before, this was the first time I’d ever been able to obs ..read more

This has been in the works for quite awhile and I’m excited to finally be able to say it’s almost here! If you follow us on Instagram you will likely have already seen some sneak peeks of the inside but I really wanted to give you a bit more of an in-depth tour here. I often get asked to write Montessori related content in books and other media but I’ve never before loved the intention behind it. Maria Montessori designed a way of fostering a child’s natural development that was meant to focus on the child’s own unique interests and abilities. I really wanted to showcase how as a multi level ..read more

The warmer weather has finally found us here in the Pacific Northwest and we have been loving some new Montessori compatible wooden materials that have been added to our nature shelves! This new 5 part tray and Life Cycle of a Frog inserts have been on constant rotation! We love the large clear illustrations and how easily the inserts fit into the tray. You can see more of our use of it here on Instagram and we plan to add some figurines next week to it as well! It’s a great addition to our 3-6 zoology shelves and we are lucky enough to be able to go out and see this life cycle happening rig ..read more

It’s seems like it’s been a year of taking deep breaths! We’ve been working to carve out even more mindfulness moments in each day both in self are for ourselves and also ensuring that both in the classroom and at home, our kids have the tools to find their calm. Right from the end pages I love this book. The children’s faces made me smile simply because they are so relatable. The illustrations are perfect for the intended age range of 2-6 and there’s an interesting little cat in each scene that invites lots of projecting and open ended conversations such as “What do you think that cat is pl ..read more

Montessori activity trays are one of the most well known images of the entire pedagogy and it’s no wonder. When done sparingly and with the individual child in mind, they offer endless opportunities to further a young child’s interests and independence. This set from Manine Montessori is perfect for both home and classroom use. It comes with everything you need to offer hand strengthening and concentration building activities to your young child. Scooping and pouring trays like the ones featured here, help hands isolate difficulty and allow repeated practice. I’ll note that this practice is ..read more

We are enjoying another summer on the west coast and so I thought I’d share what we’ve been reading with an ocean theme. Quentin and I spent some last week backpacking and camping on one of our local sand bars so adding these ocean books to our shelves just seemed fitting. This one in particular is a favourite. It works so perfectly with the Landforms Montessori material found in the 3-6 classroom and it’s still a favourite all these years later for Quentin. Click here to see more of the books and our trip ..read more

It’s that time of year again, the summer is coming to an end and even though this coming school year will once again look different for so many of us, the underlying themes for kids are still there. New routines, new people, and leaving loved ones. Over the years I’ve written a few different posts about how to incorporate some helpful tips on making the transition to school easier for children. You can read some of them here and another one here. Below are some new and old favourites on our bookshelves at this time of year to help children know what to expect at school. Jack Goes to Montessor ..read more

Although I currently teach in a Montessori Upper Elementary 9-12 year old classroom and love it, as most people know, my heart will always belong to 3-6. However, what most people don’t know is that right in the middle of my Montessori heart there is a small yet brightly glowing centre and that centre is a well executed Montessori infant toddler programme. I have been so fortunate to know Bettina from Westside Montessori School for almost as long as Quentin has been earth side but due to COVID last year and us being in Nigeria the year before, this was the first time I’d ever been able to obs ..read more