Montessori Play Bristol

💜Happy International Women’s Day 2022💜

Remembering all the great women today:
Maria Montessori was a pioneer in the world of education.

She was also an advocate for PEACE nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1949, 1950 and 1951.🕊️

💚Truly an inspiring role model for teachers, students, parents and children alike.

🤍One of the first female medical students in Rome

The colours of this important day represent…

Justice and dignity ~purple

Hope ~ green and purity ~white.

Women have come a long way but there is still plenty of work to be done!

Check out this event in Bristol below 👇🏻 👇🏻

Tears were brought to parents' eyes this morning as a Welsh school sent out this lovely message. Today, the pupils' assignment is to just be kids, making memories in the snow. ❤❄
Courtesy of on Twitter. Shout out to Ysgol Panteg in Pontypool! 👏

🌼🌼 Happy St David’s Day everyone 🌼🌼

Celebrating different events are a wonderful way to immerse children in history and stories of another culture.

The Montessori approach respects a children’s need for naming and labelling everything they see around them. 👀

St David’s Day with the daffodil, emblem of Wales, is a perfect opportunity to present this. There is no such thing as a tricky word!

🎄Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas from Montessori Play Bristol 🎄

Following your child’s Sensitive Period for order is just as important during this festive period.
Keeping routines in place where possible and making sure there is also time to pause and self regulate.

✨We look forward to more Montessori inspired times in 2023 ✨

🎄Christmas traditions are a fun and informative topic to share with young children. Stockings, sleighs and carrots for the reindeer might be many children’s tradition, but countries all over the world celebrate in so many different ways.

🇮🇹 In Italy a character known as La Befana fills
Stockings with sweets or coal 😃

🇳🇱In the Netherlands Father Christmas has a white horse instead of a sleigh

🇳🇴In Norway porridge is left out for a character called Jul Nisse

🌍Montessori placed great importance on children as “ Citizens of the World” saying:

"An education capable of saving humanity is no small undertaking; it involves the spiritual development of man, the enhancement of his value as an individual, and the preparation of young people to understand the times in which they live."

Tell us some of YOUR family traditions!

🎁Xmas shopping part 3🎁

This is an excellent time of year for a declutter to make room for Xmas presents incoming!

At the root of the Montessori approach is simplicity so really take a good look at what your child/ren use regularly and with purposeful intent. Children can be overwhelmed by too many options.🤯

Rotating is one option or why not consider recycling/
donating to charity?

🎁Part 2 of our Montessori Xmas Wish List🎁

“The hands are the instruments of man’s intelligence” according to Dr Montessori.

🖐🤚Montessori introduced exercises of everyday living or practical life to children. She recognised the inate desire they possessed to do what adults are doing and the need to perfect these skills.
This next toy promotes concentration, hand eye coordination, fine motor skills and independence.✋🤚

If you want to make your own,
using a simple basket and attaching keys and padlocks with a ribbon is also a good option!

https://www.jojomamanbebe.co.uk/media/catalog/product/d/4/d4994.jpg?quality=80&bg-color=255,255,255&fit=bounds&height=800&width=623

Keeping those hands busy and purposeful!

www.jojomamanbebe.co.uk

🎁Looking for the right activity to gift your child this Xmas?

🎁These simple puzzles for toddlers are perfectly made to teach shapes and are crafted from quality wood with ONE clear focus.

🎁They isolate the skill with no other distractions

🎁A child’s Sensitive Period for language can be met through the teaching of the names of these shapes

Follow for more gift ideas....

Montessori Wood Puzzle Peg Board Geometric Shape Match Baby - Etsy UK This Baby & Toddler Toys item by TapintoysShop has 1273 favorites from Etsy shoppers. Ships from Latvia. Listed on 16 Nov, 2022

⭕️ Circle of Life ⭕️

This morning one of our library books got us talking about food chains and food webs.

We discussed predators and prey,
carnivores, herbivore and omnivores and how some animals at the top of the food chain are apex!

We then got a very big play matt (a blanket!) emptied out the contents of our animal box and the children created food chains and webs.

🦁 🦌 🐊 🐠 🦖 🦕

As we start to think about Xmas shopping let’s remind ourselves of what to look for in a new activity or toy for our children-

Here are a few guidelines

✨Simplicity: isolating one concept not many concepts which can overwhelm

✨Control of error: can a child correct himself or does it involve an adult?

✨Reality based: fantasy figures confuse a child and use up energies needed for real life

✨Made from Natural material: offering a diverse range of materials is more stimulating than all one material eg plastic

✨Catches their “Sensitive Period”

Look out for updates on suitable activities/ toys...as we share what’s on our Montessori Christmas list.

Did you know today is as part of . 🧦 🧦 🧦

As well as donning odd socks for the day and discussing kindness and this is a great opportunity to play with socks!

🌟(One of the wonderful things about Montessori activities is you often have all you need lying around the house!) 🌟

🧦 Pull them all out of the drawer and throw them on the floor. Begin matching them into pairs and see if your little one joins in. You can complete the task and them mess them all up again, leaving them ready for matching again.

🧦Get the pegs out, peg up a few and again leave some lying underneath ready to be pegged up! (Little hands find pegs irresistible!)

🧦Put socks on! Perfect time to provide opportunity for independence and allow little ones to begin putting socks on, or perfecting their foot dressing skills!

Visual memory identification, identifying similarity & difference, fine motor skills and independent dressing…all being practised through the use of some socks and pegs!