The Montessori toddler classroom is mostly made up of Practical Life materials, with many “pre-Montessori” materials that are typically used with this age group (1.5-2.5 years). Montessori for toddlers focuses on certain key aspects:
General Equipment: The Montessori toddler program is designed to gear children towards the development of basic skills and independence. This is only possible if the furniture and resources are at the child's reach. Therefore, long low shelves, small tables and chairs, an easily access easel, working mats, age-appropriate books, musical instruments, plants, artwork etc. are all set appropriately.
The key areas of development for a toddler are:
1. Practical Life: Practical life activities include pouring, transferring work (both for the whole hand and fingers), stringing beads, dressing frames, sweeping, mopping and dusting. These activities develop the child's control of movement that is essential to perform non-academic and academic tasks.
2. Sensorial: The sensorial activities include activities with colour, size and shapes such as; colour tablets, cylinder blocks, smelling bottles and tasting food. These activities are mainly set out for the refinement of the senses. Sensorial learning is now being laid as a foundation in many schools for a conceptual understanding.
3. Language: Language is offered to the child through wooden puzzles, matching work, classification of materials, singing songs and reading books.
4. Food preparation: Scooping, chopping, juicing, pounding are offered to the child as food preparation activities. Such activities allow children to prepare a small snack independently, thereby enhancing their fine motor skills and giving them a feeling of accomplishment. These are activities that are familiar to the child and so we enable children to move from the 'known into the unknown'.
Children in a Montessori school have a freedom to choose the activities they want to work with rather than being directed towards what they should work with. However, the Montessori approach is neither ‘permissive’ nor ‘authoritarian’. It is actually an approach where children have freedom, but within clear and consistent limits.
We ensure that the free will of each child is gradually being educated. Each choice they have is constructive, developmentally appropriate and interesting.
We call for meaningful opportunities for real choice at every level of the learning process.
2. Sensorial: The sensorial activities include activities with colour, size and shapes such as; colour tablets, cylinder blocks, smelling bottles and tasting food. These activities are mainly set out for the refinement of the senses. Sensorial learning is now being laid as a foundation in many schools for a conceptual understanding.
3. Language: Language is offered to the child through wooden puzzles, matching work, classification of materials, singing songs and reading books.
4. Food preparation: Scooping, chopping, juicing, pounding are offered to the child as food preparation activities. Such activities allow children to prepare a small snack independently, thereby enhancing their fine motor skills and giving them a feeling of accomplishment. These are activities that are familiar to the child and so we enable children to move from the 'known into the unknown'.
Children in a Montessori school have a freedom to choose the activities they want to work with rather than being directed towards what they should work with. However, the Montessori approach is neither ‘permissive’ nor ‘authoritarian’. It is actually an approach where children have freedom, but within clear and consistent limits.
We ensure that the free will of each child is gradually being educated. Each choice they have is constructive, developmentally appropriate and interesting.
We call for meaningful opportunities for real choice at every level of the learning process.
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