In Montessori you may have come across the kind of old-fashioned term “grace and courtesy.” Grace and courtesy might otherwise be known as manners but most broadly is how we teach our children what is acceptable in our society. Whilst we do learn grace and courtesy lessons to give to children in our Montessori training, grace and courtesy will not be the same for every family or community. Grace and courtesy will be culturally responsive. That is to say that these may differ based on … [Read more...] about Grace and courtesy – learning to say please, thank you and sorry
Montessori activities
What are stereognostic bags?
Back in this blog post of my favourite activities for 2.5 years olds, I promised to come back to stereognostic bags to show you how they work. These bags help children to develop that sense of feeling around an object to work out what it is just as we can put our hands in our bag to find our keys or glasses. These bags are often called mystery bags, but I do love hearing 2.5 year olds picking up “stereognostic bag” just as easily. These are great for developing their stereognostic sense, … [Read more...] about What are stereognostic bags?
Montessori activities for 3+ years
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 … [Read more...] about Montessori activities for 3+ years
Montessori activities for 2.5 years to 3 years
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 … [Read more...] about Montessori activities for 2.5 years to 3 years