0 – 6 years In our schools. Dr Montessori talked about the child under 6 years old being a sensorial learner. They take in most easily what they can experience with their senses – what they can touch, smell, taste, hear and see. We talk often in Montessori about giving these young children real hands-on experiences and time for them to be able to explore and make discoveries in the world around them. (For some ideas, there are lots of Montessori activities on my blog HERE) Which is why as Montessori educators we prefer hands-on experiences over screens with young children under 6 years old ..read more

As we say goodbye to 2021 and welcome in 2022, let’s take 5 days for reflection. Reflection helps us to take perspective, to reflect on how things have gone, what worked well, and what we’d rather do differently going forward. Day 1 Let’s start day 1 of our 5 days of reflection looking at our connection with our children. Some ways we may want to consider: ✏️ how we communicated with them ✏️ how we had fun together ✏️ how we showed our love for them (not with gifts) ✏️ how we slowed down to their pace ✏️ how we involved them in our daily life ✏️ how we made routines and rituals together ✏️ ho ..read more

It is harder and harder to choose favourites as the children get older as the children’s interests and skills levels vary greatly. They are also moving from the unconscious absorbent mind (0-3 years) to a conscious absorbent mind (3-6 years) and starting to enjoy sensorial classification and perhaps showing interest in symbols like letters or numbers. So I’ve picked 9 of my favourite Montessori activities for 3+ years but, as always, use the age as a guide only. Your child might be interested in these around 2.5 years or after 4 years. All is ok. Follow the child. 1. Making a wool necklace f ..read more

I’m delighted to introduce you to Juli Williams and her family who I met via Instagram. She lives with her husband and two kids, a 6 year old girl and 4 year old boy. She describes herself as a minimalist, Latina, living in Florida, and simplifying Montessori education at home. I am sure you will be inspired – the photos exude joy in learning to me! And I love reading about how they incorporate their culture into their home. Read on… 1. How did you find out about Montessori? I found Montessori when I was looking for preschools for my daughter when she was a toddler, I visited a Mon ..read more

I love this graph from from Spontaneous Activity in Education by Maria Montessori. What you’ll see is a 3-hour work cycle in a classroom in (I believe) a 3-6 classroom. In this graph the children arrive at 9am. For the first 30 minutes you have the children arriving, settling in, greeting and observing each other. Then from 9:30 to 10am you see the children often selecting work they know already, an easier work.  Around 10am you see a dip – this is “false fatigue.” This is where the class can be a little unsettled, marked on the graph as “agitation.” A child might want to use the t ..read more

Today we dive into some of my favourite activities for 2.5 to 3 year olds. Children of this age are still sensorial learners so make them hands-on, aimed at refining and strengthening their grasp, their increased language ability, self expression (arts and crafts), challenging their gross motor movement, and practical life activities can get longer with more steps as concentration builds. Here are 6 of my favourites! 1. A more advanced layered puzzle – this one is by Chelona (and looks more difficult to find these days). I like to scaffold this with the child. I might help by just giving the ..read more

I was making a new placemat for my Montessori classroom and thought you might like to use it for inspiration to make your own or as a Montessori placemat free printable. Then you can print and laminate to use at home. This Montessori placemat is based on the one in my AMI Montessori training where there is an outline for the bowl, glass and cutlery. Then a parent had the lovely idea to photograph their exact cutlery, bowl and glass and I created one for my class too. Enjoy! << Download as PDF >> The post Montessori placemat free printable appeared first on The Montessori Noteboo ..read more

Does your child always want to be first? Do they always want to win? I see this behaviour a little bit in some younger children but more around children from 5 years and up. Let’s have a look what we can do in our homes when we see competitive behaviour. Montessori and the lack of competition Montessori is known for its non-competitive peer learning environment. In the classroom, even from the youngest ages, we nurture working together as a community. Things that encourage less competition and more collaborations are: the idea that everyone belongs and contributes – it is our role as guide i ..read more

I love seeing how capable toddlers are becoming once they get close to 2.5 years old. There are more and more steps we can add to practical life activities (for example, larger baking projects with more steps, washing up), many ways to challenge their gross motor skills (like more difficult balancing, going further on a balance bike, and songs with more complicated action sequences), and more refined fine motor skills allowing them to do more refined art and craft activities. Today I’ve chosen from my classroom 6 of my favourite Montessori activities for 2 years 3 months to 2 years 6 months ..read more

Welcome to the last episode of Season 2! And it’s a good one. Today I get to chat to Montessori educator and a nationally recognised anti-bias educator in the US, Britt Hawthorne. She’s all about creating inclusive and equitable environments for all learners and understandably her work has been recognized by none other than PBS, Drew Barrymore, Google Edu, Association Montessori Internationale, and more. I have learned so much from Britt over the last year and a half, yes, about being an anti-racist parent and educator but also just how you can raise critically thinking children, children w ..read more