Ying’s Mandarin Bilingual Montessori

Beautiful sunlight in the afternoon. I always observe and follow the children , then adjust the shelves.

Whenever possible, we offer real-life, hands-on experiences before or alongside pictures to children. This helps children build meaningful connections through their senses. 🌿

Today I welcomed my very first child to my childminding setting! 😊

He did an amazing job with the colour matching and posting activity, and I was so happy to see how well he did.

I also noticed that he really loves animals and enjoys reading books, so I popped to the library and borrowed some animal books for our next sessions. Looking forward to seeing him enjoy them! 📚🐾

Lavender has bloomed in the garden. Soft purple, and a gentle scent in the air whenever the wind passes.

We tend to follow the seasons as they come.

My daughter picked a few stems and quietly made a small lavender sachet. She kept holding it, just smelling it again and again.

In my childminding setting, the children do very simple things too—smelling, touching, filling, emptying. Very little talk, but a lot of focus.

Nature is often enough.

Yesterday I brought this Montessori material to the nursery where I work. Four or five children spent about half an hour working with it, and they only stopped because it was time to register. Every time they completed it, they couldn’t help clapping their hands. 👏

One of my colleagues said, “This is brilliant. It involves visual processing, problem-solving, and maths.” I said, “Yes, and it also has a built-in control of error.”

Later, during free play, I thought I’d let the little boy with Down syndrome have a go. To my surprise, he stayed with it for a very long time as well. Watching him carefully place the pieces used his hands and eyes, take them out, and try again over and over was genuinely amazing to see.