A couple months ago I was babysitting my 18 month old grandson Quinn for a few hours. (Don't let that big innocent stare fool you.) During that time, he must have fallen on his little diapered butt over a hundred times -- on purpose. He put a sofa cushion on the floor and then methodically practiced falling on top of it over and over and over, chuckling to himself each time. By the end of the evening, he had mastered falling down, a vital baby skill. According to Montessori, a child has a "limitless motivation to achieve competence over his or her environment" and Quinn had just demonstrated that motivation.
Today at storyhour (in the middle of riding the Wheels on the Bus, Motor Boat, and Mama's Little Baby Loves Bouncing) I talked about the Montessori method. Here are some of the very simple, practical exercises I demonstrated:
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| I was careful to show Kiley & Elsie how to pinch the end of the clothespin together to make it open. |
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| Pouring. Equipment, two cups on a tray. Start with rice or beans, and then as the child's skill improves, use water and provide a small sponge and instruction for clean up. |
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| Sorting. Elsie and Kiley were fascinated with these brightly colored pom poms, and neither bright young thing tried to eat them. Pom poms are so sensorially fun that Elsie had to experiment with them. Could she hold them under her chin, under her neck? She could. Could she clench a large number of them into her hand at one time? She could? A little exploration is all well and good. Not a lot of sorting happened. At hers and Kiley's age, just taking the pom poms out of the basket and putting them in the cups was sorting. Later, more colors could be added, as well as varying shapes and sizes. |
Some great Montessori websites:
http://www.infomontessori.com
MontessoriMom
http://www.blog.montessoriforeveryone.com/great-ideas-for-toddler-activities.html
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