Day 3: The Toddler Shelf

Making Your own Works

I want to start by saying that I deeply respect the meticulous design of the Montessori materials and the training with these materials that Montessori teachers undertake to be certified. The Montessori at Home approach does not seek to emulate the Montessori classroom. Instead, we are finding ways to bring the approach into our own home space and that will naturally involve a certain down-home feel.

Making is close to my heart as an early childhood educator and especially as one who embraces the Reggio Emilia approach for early childhood. A full discussion of Reggio is beyond the scope of this post, yet essentially it evolved in Italy at the turn of the century – around the same time as the Montessori Method. Reggio schools are all about recycled materials, sensory experience and learning through creation. There are many early childhood classrooms with curricula that draw on a blend of both Montessori and Reggio approaches.

As a parent incorporating Montessori for your own child at home, making works also allows for an environment that is tailored and responsive to your child on a different level. Children are often intensely curious about funny items they discover in the home; boxes, sticks, strings and things can all take on new meaning in a child’s hands. By noticing your child’s interests in their environment and using some creativity you can make some wonderful additions to the work shelf with materials you already have available.

Here are a few that have graced ours over the past years…

These Sensorial Scent Jars were made from large salt and pepper shakers. They can be filled with a variety of smells using spices, herbs, or essential oils on cotton balls. One summer we did vanilla, strawberry and chocolate as an ode to ice cream!

Another take on Sensorial, a set of Sound Cylinders. These began as recycled tea canisters and were wrapped in colorful paper. We filled these with dry leaves, rice and beans to create a range of sounds from soft to loud.

This Practical Life work, Chopstick Placing, gave new life to colorful chopsticks that had lost their partners and an old soap dispenser with a top that stuck. This task works grapho-motor skills as children try to insert the pointed end into an increasingly smaller hole.

This Practical Life work, Yarn Pulling, was created by the teacher of our Montessori From the Start Playgroup who also happened to be a fiber artist. Children loved pulling the different textured yarn as far as it would go. The yarn was threaded through the holes and knotted so that that turning the box provided never-ending opportunities to pull.

A paper cup, silverware, a play plate and a photocopied, laminated placemat become  Place Setting in this Practical Life Work. I loved encouraging my son to practice setting his place at his small table with his own plate, cup and silverware.

This Language work, The Color Pull Ball gave new life to play scarves and an O-ball from babyhood. The tactile action of pulling the colors from the ball held children’s attention for just the right amount of time to name the color. Finding the correct color once the scarves were scattered about reinforced color names.

Children in the 15 – 24 month range are in the naming stage of language. Simple word books are favorites and vehicles were all the rage in our home. This Language Work, Vehicle Matching was made by photocopying, cutting and laminating pages of a book. Naming and matching are important stages of language learning in Montessori and lay important foundations for expressive language and symbol identification.

Later the printed word is removed from one of the pictures and a child can match it, using the labeled picture as a guide. These are called Three-Part Cards.

This Math Work, The Counting Box, was made with cardboard and construction paper. It served as a way to practice early counting using any kind of small object that was interesting: buttons, beans, acorns, pebbles, pom-poms, sea shells. Shown here are the classic Counting Rods.

I encourage you to use Pinterest to fuel your inspiration, there are a myriad wonderfully inspired ideas out there if you type in Toddler and Montessori. I also love the blog How We Montessori.