Montessori Education

Setting your child up for life!

The Montessori Method of early childhood education is based on two fundamental principles: Montessori and Early Learning. The Montessori educational approach to teaching children focuses on the development of a child's natural curiosity, while early learning emphasizes developing skills in a playful way. In this blog post we will explore these concepts and how they work together to create an educational environment that best suits your child's natural desire to learn.

Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori was an Italian physician, educator, and innovator, best known for her educational method that builds on the way children learn naturally.

Maria Montessori was born on August 31, 1870, in the provincial town of Chiaravalle, Italy. Her father was a financial manager for a state-run industry. Her mother, raised in a family that valued education, was well-schooled and an avid reader—unusual for Italian women of that time. The same thirst for knowledge took root in young Maria, and she immersed herself in many fields of study before creating the educational method that bears her name.

Beginning in early childhood, Maria lived in Rome, growing up in a paradise of libraries, museums, and fine schools.

The First Montessori School

She opened the first Montessori school—the Casa dei Bambini, or Children’s House—in Rome on January 6, 1907. Subsequently, she traveled the world and wrote extensively about her approach to education, attracting many devotees. There are now thousands of Montessori schools in countries worldwide, staffed by trained Montessori Educators.

In 1907, Maria accepted a challenge to open a full-day childcare center in San Lorenzo, a poor inner-city district of Rome. The students were under-served youngsters, ages 3 – 7, who were left to their own devices while their parents went out to work. This center, the first of its kind in the nation, and a high-quality learning environment, became the first Casa dei Bambini.

The children were unruly at first, but soon showed great interest in working with puzzles, learning to prepare meals, and manipulating learning materials Maria had designed. She observed how the children absorbed knowledge from their surroundings, essentially teaching themselves.

Montessori Education - Fostering a Child's Natural Desire to Learn

Using scientific observation and experience gained from her earlier work with young children, Maria designed learning materials and a classroom environment that fostered the children’s natural desire to learn and provided freedom for them to choose their own materials.

To the surprise of many, the children in Maria’s programs thrived, exhibiting concentration, attention, and spontaneous self-discipline. The “Montessori Method” began to attract the attention of prominent educators, journalists, and public figures. By 1910, Montessori schools could be found throughout Western Europe and were being established around the world, including in the United States where the first Montessori school opened in Tarrytown, NY, in 1911.

Breaking Barriers in Education

Maria was a sterling student, confident, ambitious, and unwilling to be limited by traditional expectations for women. At age 13 she entered an all-boys technical institute to prepare for a career in engineering.

In time, however, she changed her mind, deciding to become a doctor instead. She applied to the University of Rome’s medical program, but was rejected. Maria took additional courses to better prepare her for entrance to the medical school and persevered. With great effort she gained admittance, opening the door a bit wider for future women in the field.

When she graduated from medical school in 1896, Maria was among Italy’s first female physicians. Though she was not the first female medical school graduate, as reported by many of her biographers, it does not detract from her accomplishment. Defying conventions, norms, and expectations to successfully make her way in this rigorous, male-dominated field required tremendous strength, dedication, and perseverance.

What is The Montessori Method of Early Childhood Education?

Montessori is a child-centered educational philosophy of educating children. It stimulates a child's natural curiosity and develops their independence through self-directed play. The Montessori materials are designed to develop new skills, such as math or language arts concepts, in an age appropriate way. The first Montessori material is usually introduced when children are nearing two years old! These early lessons help build confidence and make learning fun for young children, and introduce life skills. Montessori education provides a foundation of knowledge which can be built upon throughout life because it encourages students to think critically about problems instead of memorizing facts.

As a parent of a very young child, the Montessori Method focusses on the child's needs and interests. The Montessori materials are designed to develop new skills, in an age appropriate way.

Where to start with Montessori Principles at home

The Montessori Method is not only an educational approach to be used in schools. You can apply these principles at home, even if your child won’t go to a Montessori school.

Parenting Montessori-style

Here are ten things you can try to apply a Montessori program at home. They are suitable for children of different ages, which is perfect for families with multiple young children.

1. Slow down — plan less, explore life with your child at a slow pace, and allow time for movement, conversation and gaining cooperation

2. Respect the child — speak and listen to your child as you would an adult

3. Hands on learning — children learn through concrete experiences which enable them to make discoveries by themselves, looking things up at the library, asking a neighbour or expert, doing experiments etc

4. Follow the child — ask ourselves, “what are they interested in right now and how can I provide opportunities to follow this interest?”

5. Include them in daily life — young children like to be involved in food preparation, setting the table, cleaning, doing laundry, doing the shopping and more

6. See things from the child’s perspective — to understand our child’s behaviour and acknowledge their feelings

7. Use alternatives to bribes, rewards and punishments — move from extrinsic motivators to ways to work with our child and solve problems together; instead of time out, we help them calm down, then make amends

8. Observe objectively rather than making assumptions or judgements — look how they move, the communication they make, the activities they are working to master, their social interactions, and how they eat/sleep

9. Be the guide — we are the adult guiding them (give as much help as needed and as little as possible) rather than being their boss (do as I say) or being their servant (I’ll do everything for you)

10. Prepare ourselves — to look after ourselves, to have patience, to fill our own bucket, to understand our own triggers, and find ways to come back to calm when needed

Creating a Montessori Environment for Learning at Home

You can set up your home to make it a more nurturing environment, more accessible and inviting for your child. Here are some ideas to get you started:

1. Child-sized furniture and tools — look for table and chairs where your child’s feet sit flat on the ground (often we need to cut down the legs of the table/chair); hunt for small tools like a watering can, mop, broom and dustpan

2. Set things up so that the child can be independent — make things accessible for the child (eg, low hooks for their coat and bag), have cleaning things at the ready for them to use, and use trays and baskets to arrange activities so they can manage by themselves

3. See the world from the child’s eyes — sit on the floor to see how attractive the space is from their height and include plants and artwork at their height

4. Less is more — have fewer well-selected Montessori materials and activities and remove clutter; put in a box anything they aren’t playing with anymore and store it

5. Store and rotate — store most of the activities. Leave out just a few favourites, and we can change them when our child loses interest

Try some Montessori Education Style Activities

It’s fun to try some Montessori Method early education activities at home. I love how they are hands-on, build concentration and scaffold skills as the child masters activities. By offering a child a purposeful activity you are addressing the needs of the whole child, basically encouraging children to be curious learners and explore the world around them.

Here are some ideas to support child's development:

1. Music and movement — dancing, singing, banging/shaking instruments, running, skipping, climbing, swinging, biking

2. Language — books, rich language in daily life, baskets of classified objects (with cards)

3. Art and craft — scribbling, painting, cutting, gluing, sewing, clay, stamping

4. Practical life (activities of daily life) — preparing snack, helping prepare meals, cleaning, baking, watering and care of plants, gardening, making the bed, helping with laundry

5. Eye-hand coordination — threading, sorting, posting (putting things through slots and holes)

Conclusion

The goal of every parent should be to encourage and nurture their children to have a lifelong love of learning, self-confidence and intellectual independence. The Montessori Philosophy develops children's functional independence, allowing them to reach their optimal development at their own pace.

Today Montessori education is available in every country. However don't wait until your children are school aged. There are many Montessori inspired toys and resources available for home use that will give your young learner a head start to their education.

Belle and Pepper stock a range of affordable Montessori inspired toys for young children to enjoy at home. Check out our range of products here.