Simone Davies, Author at The Montessori Notebook

Montessori and music: creative ways to integrate music in the classroom and home (including the Yoto Player!)

An often overlooked area of the Montessori classroom or home is the music area. I’ll admit, I’m not naturally musically talented. Fortunately, babies, toddlers, and preschoolers are such enthusiastic, nonjudgmental participants that I’ve never felt shy about playing music, dancing, or singing with them. So let's look at creative ways…

Montessori and grandparents

Introduction A grandparent wrote to me as they want to be involved with their grandchild but don't know the best way. The parents want them to follow Montessori principles and let the child choose for themselves; the grandparent also wants to be able to read books with them and have…

One Simple Practice to Be a Kind and Clear Guide

We want to be a kind and clear guide to our child. And people want to know why their child listens to me.Well I have been lucky enough to practice with many toddlers over the last 20 years, raised two children in a Montessori way, and my Montessori training has…

20 ways to connect deeper with the Earth, the Montessori way

As parents, caregivers and educators, it is now more important than ever to help our children connect deeper with the Earth, the Montessori way. Dr Montessori wrote: “We must study the correlation between life and the environment. In nature all is correlated. This is the purpose of nature. Nature is…

When our child gets frustrated easily

"My son is 2, nearly 3, and is full of energy and confidence. However, he seems to get frustrated quite easily and it escalates fast for him so that I have to remove him from the situation or he will scream, hit my daughter usually, or us his parents and…

A beautiful public Montessori school in Austin, Texas we wish we could all attend

I'm super excited to share with you today an amazing public Montessori school in Austin, Texas. It's been a while since we did a school tour around here and so important to highlight that there are many great programs making Montessori accessible to all. Montessori For All is based in Austin, Texas…

Is Montessori parenting a fairy-tale? That’s what the Atlantic said. Here’s what I think…

An article appeared in The Atlantic on 27 February 2024, The Fairy-Tale Promises of Montessori Parenting. The article gives a good overview of Montessori at home, its origins, its aims, and how it might look at home. “Psychologists generally agree that the ideal parenting style is “authoritative” and is characterized…

S2 Bonus episode: A quick personal update, The Montessori Child book, and talking to children about war

Hello there! I'm popping into your podcast feed with a catch up on what has been happening the last 2.5 years since the last podcast episode, including the launch of The Montessori Child book. The book picks up where The Montessori Toddler leaves off, covering how to bring Montessori into…

A Montessori year-end review – you, your child & your family

To get into the new year, let's do a Montessori year-end review to take stock of where we are at and how we can support our child’s development going forward. So I’ve put together some questions for you to ponder what you learned last year and to consider what you…

Supporting our child’s social development – yes, it’s also part of Montessori!

Today we'll be looking at how to support our child's social development. Do we force them to be more social? How do we accept them for who they are and teach them skills? Our children are in community from the day they are born. Their first community is their family,…

Montessori activities for 3 – 12 year olds

I am excited to share with you a 12-page PDF download to help you find engaging Montessori activities for 3 - 12 year olds. This resource is going to be one of the appendices in our upcoming book, The Montessori Child, which comes out in March 2024. So I thought…

My favourite Montessori activities for babies and toddlers

Over the years writing this blog, I've assembled a lot of blogs with my favourite Montessori activities for babies and toddlers at various ages and stages. Yet I only just realised that they are not so easy to find. I've created this page so you can easily bookmark my favourites!…