Montessori Learning Materials To Help Your Child Thrive

In January I wrote a blog post on Montessori Learning at Home and thought I should expand a little on this topic. With more and more kids being homeschooled since Covid-19, let us take a look at Montessori Learning Materials.

What better way to teach children how to complete daily tasks then by letting them explore fun hands-on activities. Practical life exercises provide a range of activities which allow children to develop control and coordination of movement. Teach your child practical life skills with budget-friendly development tools. 

Here is a list of the absolute basics:

• A small carpet – no bigger than 1m x 60cm
• A child sized table and chairs
• A shelf at child’s height
• Small Trays for the child to carry
• Baskets for Storage
• Child-sized Utensils, Bowl, Plate, Cup
• Child-sized Kitchen Tools
• Bowls for Transfer Activities
• Two Clear (Glass or plastic) Child-sized Containers for Pouring
• Child-sized Cleaning Supplies
  • Small Broom & Dust Pan
  • Child size broom
  • Small Spray Bottle and Cloth
• Child-sized Garden Tools
  • Watering Can
  • Small Shovel
  • Rake
• Tweezers, Tongs, Eyedroppers for Transfer Activities
• Threading & Bead Sequencing Work Materials (Pre-sewing)

Practical life activities prepare your child to be self sufficient in every day life scenarios. Montessori Learning Materials for Practical Life activities:

1. 2 bowls, 1 spoon, cereal or beans on a tray for scooping cereal or large dry beans from one bowl to another. 
2. 2 same size (small to medium) jugs, one filled half way with water, on a tray for pouring water from one jug to another
3. Open/Close – This is a great activity for coordination and developing hand strength. Different containers will work well, think purses with a simple zip, containers with twist lids, small boxes with simple closures or latches. Have a look around your home and use what you can find. You can even put a small “treasure” in a matchbox for example
4. A Mystery Bag. Simply put some everyday household items in a bag (a cloth opaque bag works best) and ask the child to identify each item using touch only. This helps to refine the child’s stereognostic sense and usually it’s a lot of fun too.
5. Clothes pegs. Put some easy-to-use pegs in a small bucket. Your child can put the pegs on the edge of the bucket or use pegs to peg their art work on a hanging art line/wire. 
6. Sink/Float. Montessori Learning materials can be anything you have lying around your home that you can use for the activity you are demonstrating. Again put the materials on a tray. In our basket we have a toy bus, a feather, rock, shell, a leaf, a peg and a seed pod. Your child will try and work out what materials sink and float. 
7. Dressing boards or soft educational cubes with zips, velcro, studs, buttons and buttonholes and laces.

Over the next few months I will cover the 5 sensitive periods and more Montessori Learning Materials for you to have at home.

Have you thought of a teepee corner to introduce reading?

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