Montessori at Home

02/08/2021

A day at Little Seeds Montessori - the big brother to Montessori at Home. For more information on the pre-school please visit https://www.littleseedsmontessori.com/

05/05/2021

Very Exciting News. Montessori at Home is expanding. We are becoming Little Seeds Montessori Pre-school and Nursery and moving to a brand new home at the Bovingdon Baptist Church. For more information please have a look at our lovely new website. We are open for site visits from 1st June and accepting new applications now. www.littleseedsmontessori.com

Montessori Pre-school and Nursery for children aged 2-5 years

28/11/2020

Assist Montessori childminder with all aspects of childcare for up to 6 children aged 2-5 throughout the day. Ideally you will have:

Enhanced DBS check.
Safeguarding training.
Experience in a childcare role.
Level 2 childcare qualification.
Montessori assistant qualification would be ideal but otherwise some knowledge of or willingness to train in the Montessori method.
A love of working with small children.
Endless patience!
Willingness to undertake short training courses as required when working with children.

This role requires a person who is soft, giving and generous with their positive energy towards young children. I believe in treating children with respect, empathy and kindness in all that they do. Any applicant for this position will need to hold the same values.

07/09/2020

Our new Space theme basket was very popular today! It contained:

1)Sparkly space play dough for rolling out and ordering planets into (blue play dough with added glitter and black food colouring streaks). Children push planets into the dough in order following the book above - we name the planets at the same time.

2) Solar System 3 part cards - available on the resources page of my website along with instructions on how to do 3 part cards (nomenclature cards).These cards are used for visual matching and to name and discuss the planets and the Sun. https://www.montessoriathome.info/resources

3) Object to picture matching activity using items associated with space travel. The items are from the Safari space toob and available on Amazon. We use them to match and discuss each item. The set of picture cards is also available on my website resources page. If you don't have or want to buy the objects print 2 sets of the cards and use as pairing cards. Instructions for pairing cards are on my resources page too.

4) Two wonderful books both also available on Amazon. Very nice books dealing with the subject matter in short sentences but with loads of age appropriate information. Highly recommend them both. We read through the books and bring in our models to add to or aid the discussions.

05/09/2020

Hi all, please have a look at this guest blog that I did for the lovely Sylvia Arotin of Guide and Grow Montessori. The blog is an expanded version of a very popular post that I put out during lock down on food preparation activities you can do at home with your little one. If you missed the post or would like to find out more about what Practical life activities can do for your child please have a read. Also have a look at the Guide and Grow website it is a fantastic free resource for parents.

-Written by guest blogger Angie de Mink “ The essence of independence is to be able to do something for one’s self” Dr Maria Montessori. Independence is, in fact, the aim of childhood. As adults, our role should be one of guidance and support for our children working towards becoming independe...

15/04/2020

Morning all, to follow up my ten day series of Montessori activities you can do at home with your 2-5 year old I am posting today to share the link to the free resources page on my website.

There is a lot of content there already but this page is a work in progress, I will be adding content continuously. There are lots of free printables and instructions on how to do each of the activities as well as some basics on how to optimally do Montessori at home. Please message me if you would like any more information.

09/04/2020

Day 10 and the last day of this series of activities you can try at home with your 2-5 year old. Keep watching this space though I will be following up this series with some video tips on how to do Montessori at home and presentations on how to present some of the activities in this series to your child.

I am ending the series with practical life activities. Part of the practical life curriculum is called: Care of the Environment. As the name suggests this area aims to equip children with practical skills and the ability to be independent performing tasks like cleaning and tidying up, looking after the garden or plants and looking after pets. As well as fostering independence we aim to enable children to understand their place in the world and how their actions impact the world around them. This curriculum area is the start of that.

So the activities for today are:

1) Caring for a Plant
2) Flower Arranging
3) Dustpan and Brush
4) Pe***ng
5) Folding
6) Mirror Polishing

1) Caring for Plants: In my setting watering the indoor plants is something we do daily with a small jug, this is great practise for pouring water. I also have a small pump spray bottle for spraying the leaves and a damp cloth for wiping the leaves. Demonstrate how to do each task and explain afterwards why we do it. This can become a child's daily responsibility.

2) Flower Arranging: Even the youngest children can do this one, they really enjoy putting the flowers in and taking them out and re arranging. Children who can use scissors can also be involved in cutting the stems down before arranging in the vase. As always, demonstrate first and allow your child to be involved in the whole process including filling the vase with water.

3) Dustpan and Brush - This skill takes a while to master but again even the youngest children in my setting attempt this and just keep practising. This is demonstrated with the pasta being tipped onto the tray, swept into the dustpan and then tipped back into the bowl. It is great to present this like this initially but allow your child to practise this around the home whenever the need arises to actually sweep something up (as long as it is not really dirty or dangerous).

4) Pe***ng - This was given as an activity suggestion in my first post in this series, using the pegs around a bowl, here this skill can be put to real use by teaching your child to actually peg clothes with you. The picture shows a very tiny washing line but if you do not have one just allow your child to help peg your washing if you have something low they can peg onto. Otherwise a makeshift line can be made with string or shoelaces tied between two chairs. Socks are good for pe***ng as they are small.

5) Folding - This seems very simple but as you will discover it really isn't and again is something that takes practise to achieve. As shown in the picture this is presented using 4 square pieces of fabric with either one or two lines across the middle of each showing your child where to fold. The first piece of fabric has one horizontal line across the middle so is folded only once, the second piece of fabric has two lines - horizontal and vertical and is folded twice. Fabrics 3 and 4 are the same but with one diagonal line and then two. As always demonstrate first.

6) Mirror Polishing - This can be done with a small mirror or a large low wall mirror that your child can reach. Provide a damp cloth for cleaning and a dry one for polishing. I also provide the small pump bottle for wetting the cloth. I have known children spend more than half an hour doing this. This can be done on low windows too.

With all practical life activities it is very important that when showing your child what to do you speak as little as possible, let them watch your movements not your mouth, and that your movements are very clear and deliberate. Make sure your body is open and turned towards your child so that they can see your movements fully.

08/04/2020

Welcome to day 9 of Montessori activities you can do at home with your 2-5 year old. Today we are looking at one of my absolute favourite subjects - Art. Many things can be achieved through art, any and all other subject areas can be brought into an art session.

There are no specific Montessori art activities but there is an ethos behind art in the Montessori classroom, this is called process art. Process art is only concerned with the enjoyment of the artist during the creative process. It is NOT adult led or outcome driven. Young children enjoy art for the creative process, for experimenting with different mediums not for the end result. They do not want to be told what to create, how to create it, or have to compare what they created to what an adult created for them to copy.

With that in mind I have some suggestions for you today for process art but really this can encompass anything where we are simply providing a child with the tools and mediums with which to work and letting the child express themselves. This is very much inline with Montessori ethos of following the child and freedom within boundaries. The "finished product" in my pictures are the result of my own child's work they are not suggested outcomes to copy.

1) Nature Pictures: Using a collection of things collected from our garden - the flowers were dead heads we did not pick them. Glued to the paper using glue sticks. Add any other medium such as paint or crayons can be combined as your child wishes.

2)String Painting - A bowl of paint works best for this. Simply cut lengths of string, dip them into the paint until well covered and place gently onto the page. We fold the paper in half when finished to create a mirror image pattern. Demonstrate the technique here.

3) Sponge Painting - Cut shapes with old sponges, this can also be done with potatoes. Demonstrate how to print with the sponges if your child has not done this before.

4) Finger Print Painting - My children still love this. For very young children this will just be about making finger prints or hand prints on the page. Older children of 4 or 5 may be able to or may be interested in using the finger prints to create other things as shown.

5) Box Art - This really needs no explanation - simply provide your child with the boxes, the paint and the glue and see what gets created. Younger children may need assistance to glue the boxes together the first time.

Art for very young children is also about learning how to use and manipulate the tools required for creation. Just taking the lid on and off of a glue stick is a big achievement as is spreading the glue, cutting the string etc. Demonstrating and practicing these classroom skills is part of the Montessori curriculum. Spend time with your little one showing them how to use the glue, how to hold scissors, how to mix paint etc.

07/04/2020

Hi all, for day 8 of Montessori activities you can do at home with your little ones we are coming back to the practical life area of the classroom.

These activities are all based around food preparation. They are super simple and young children love performing them. While allowing your child to master really useful skills these activities all work to refine hand eye coordination, fine motor skills and build finger, hand, arm, and core strength.

The activities are:

1) Juice Squeezing
2) Cheese or Carrot Grating
3) Chopping
4) Boiled Egg Peeling and Chopping
5) Soapy Water Whisking

1) Juice Squeezing - Pretty self explanatory but demonstrate first. This is actually quite hard work for little hands. It takes a lot of upper body and arm strength so it may take a few tries before your little one masters this and produces some juice. Provide your child with a glass or cup so that they can pour what they make and drink it.

2) Grating - This can be done with any food soft enough for your child to grate. Younger children need softer foods, 4/5 year olds can try with carrots or harder foods. Demonstrate how to do this and be happy for your child to ear whatever they grate.

3) Chopping - Again this can be done with any food soft enough for your child to chop. Soft fruits are great, banana, watermelon, strawberry etc.

4) Boiled Egg Peel and Chop - This is fantastic for refining your child's lightness of touch (required for later writing), a really gentle hand is needed to peel the egg without taking half of the egg with the peel. This can be quite tricky and will need practise. Once peeled allow your child to chop the egg and consume!

5) Whisking - This is fantastic for building arm and wrist strength as any bakers out there will know! If you do not want to waste food that you do not particularly want whisked do this with a bowl of water with a little dish washing liquid squeezed into it. If possible allow your child to squeeze the dish washing liquid into the bowl as this is also great for hand strength. The water must be whisked fairly hard to make the soap bubble.

All of these activities while seemingly simple are new experiences for your child, many of which will not be at all easy as they are still building the skills and strength required to complete them with ease. Mastering these skills and being able to perform them independently does wonderful things for your child's self esteem and ability to be independent. These types of activities are always available in my environment and the children are always drawn to them. They are generally things they see adults doing so they love to try.

These activities can be done independently or made part of a mornings activity where your child helps to prepare their own snack and juice drink.

06/04/2020

Today I have got day 7 of Montessori activities you can do at home with your 2-5 year old. This post is late unfortunately as the UK suffered with facebook outages yesterday. Some users could access it. some could not. I could not. Anyway here it is today for you.

Today I am sharing a series of 4 activities from the the Montessori culture curriculum. This series is used in Botany, Zoology and Geography and is a great way of presenting a subject to a child in bite size stages. The series I am going to show you is presenting the Tree and is as follows:

1) The Real Experience
2) The Puzzle
3) The Pairing Cards
4) The Three Part Cards.

You will need a printer for activity 2,3 and 4. Links to these resources are included below. You can make the resources yourself if you have the time and energy for drawing them.

1) The real experience: Wherever possible we always start this series with the real experience which here literally means take your child outside and look at a tree! (if you have a garden or are still allowed outside to exercise during lock down). If you have a magnifying glass let your child study the tree bark and leaves, touch them, talk about them and explain what they do. If you cannot look at a real tree look at one on line. https://www.p4panorama.com/Gallery.aspx/tree-of-life-bahrain-360/

2) The Puzzle: In the Montessori classroom we have puzzles that show the component parts of the tree, as shown in the picture. I have made an at home version that you can print, available on the link below. Print two copies, use the first copy as a control chart for your child to build the second copy on top of. If you can stick them to cardboard, they will last longer (cereal packets are great). Cut the second copy into pieces as shown in the picture. Demonstrate to your child how to do this first. If you want to you can name the parts but this is not the main objective. https://www.montessoriathome.info/resources - under paper puzzles.

3) The Pairing Cards: These have been mentioned in previous posts (flower and fish paring cards) and the presentation here is the same. This activity is taking what you have already looked at with one tree and deepening your child's knowledge by introducing them to different types of trees. The pairing cards are 2 sets of 6 cards. Lay the first set out across your mat or table face up. Place the second set in a pile face down. Turn the second set over one at a time and match to the first set. The first time just use this as a visual matching exercise, after that introduce the tree names as your child turns each card over. https://www.montessoriathome.info/resources

4) The Three Part Cards: These are used to further deepen your child's knowledge by naming each of the component parts of the tree. The cards are three parts in that one whole card with a picture and label is visually matched to two separate corresponding cards with the picture and label. Again allow your child to visually match the first time you do this before introducing the part names with further practices. Your child does not need to be able to read to complete this, they can visually match the word. Very young children (2) will likely not be able to so just have them match the picture cards. Older children who know some letters may be able to spot the T for trunk or B for branches etc. https://www.montessoriathome.info/resources Choose Botony 3 Part Cards, scroll down to the tree set.

If the weather is nice and you can, do the whole series in your garden where you can see real trees. Extend this series by looking at trees in books or online or outside wherever possible. Older children will be able to have much more in depth conversations - these activities can be used to pass large amounts of knowledge to your child just by talking as you do them.

03/04/2020

Hello all! Day 6 of Montessori activities you can recreate at home for your little one.

Today I am sharing some activities that work to refine a child's senses in some way. Today's activities work with the child's ability to discriminate using their tactile sense (touch) and their Baric sense (weight/pressure). These are from the Sensorial curriculum area within the Montessori classroom.

To work effectively with refining each particular sense we want to isolate that sense, for these activities that means we do not want the child to use their eyes! So we work with either an eye mask (airline ones work brilliantly, or any other eye covering). Just have your child close their eyes if they are not happy to cover them up. Most children love the excitement of needing to wear the eye mask.

Today's activities are:

1) Mystery Bag
2) Steroegnostics Bag
3) Rough and Smooth Bag
4) Heavy and Light

1) Mystery Bag - An extremely simple activity requiring a bag of some sort, drawstring ones are great, an eye covering and 6-8 small items to put insider your bag. For young children (2-3 yrs) show them the items before they go into the bag. Cover your child's eyes and hold the bag open. Allow them to choose an item. Let them feel it with both hands but do NOT let them look at it. They are trying to decide what the item is using touch alone. Use items familiar to your child that they have experience of prior to this activity. They will want to uncover their eyes and look, it is strange for them to work without the use of sight.

2) Stereognostics Bag - Stereognostic meaning to build a muscular impression/memory of something based on experience of handling it. You will need 2 bags this time and 2 sets of 6-8 matching items. Usually in the classroom this is done with 3D shapes. Here I have used 2 small cubes, 2 marbles, 2 pegs, 2 keys, 2 pom poms and 2 pieces of pasta. Place 1 set of items into each bag. Again cover your child's eyes and allow them to pick an item from bag 1. Allow them to hold onto this item with one hand while trying to find the matching item in the second bag with the other hand. Try to match all the items. Be patient - this can take some time.

3) Rough and Smooth - This activity requires your child to pair items in the bag, using touch only (use your eye mask again), based on their texture (rough or smooth). Allow your child to pick one item out at a time then try to find it's partner. I have used two items that are rough and two that are smooth. In the classroom this would be achieved using activities called touch boards that introduce the child to the feel of and vocabulary for rough and smooth and then the touch tablets that require a child to pair tablets based on how rough or smooth they are, so it is a two activity process. If your child does not yet have rough and smooth vocabulary spend some time before this activity letting them touch the rough and smooth items and you naming them as rough or smooth. Here I've used two new dog chew toys (rough), 2 blocks covered with sandpaper (rough), 2 wooden blocks and 2 sofa cushions from a dolls house! - both smooth.

4) Heavy and Light - This activity is working with refining your child's Baric sense (ability to discriminate based on weight or pressure). You will need the eye mask and various small items of different weights. Cover your child's eyes and put a heavy item in 1 hand and say heavy, put a light item in the other hand and say light. Do this a few times. Then place a heavy item in 1 hand and a light item in the other and ask your child which is heavy. If they have understood the concept they should hold up the heavy item. Then ask which is light, hopefully the light item is held up. When starting with this use very contrasting weights in each hand, so one is obviously the heavier item. With practice move to using items with a less obvious difference in Weight. Older children can also grade the items according to weight - heaviest to lightest once they have grasped heavy and light.

01/04/2020

Here we are for day 5 of Montessori activities to do at home with your 2-5 year old.

Today I have some maths foundation activities for your little ones to try. All working with visual matching, sequencing, grading and classifying, vital skills for little ones to understand before moving to working with numbers. This post is a little longer than previous posts but please persevere.

Today's activities are:

1) Colour Sorting
2) Colour Matching
3) Colour Grading
4) 3D Shape Matching
5) Classifications Box

1) Colour Sorting - this is a very easy activity to recreate and can be done with any groups of items capable of being sorted by colour (cars, pegs, pens etc). If all else fails cut discs of card and colour them. With very young children 2 or 3 different colours are enough. You will need a sorting tray (a dips tray from the kitchen works brilliantly) or a few small bowls to sort in to.

2) Colour Matching - again a seemingly very simple activity but pairing by colour can take a while to grasp. The activity shown is actually used to refine a child's visual discrimination skills but also practices basic maths skills. There are 3 different pairs of colour tablets here but once your child has grasped red, yellow and blue this can be increased to include different colours. This activity can be recreated using rectangles of coloured card. Lay 3 colour tablets out on the floor or table and show your child one at a time how to match the remaining three, then let them try. Do not name the colours initially, once the child is able to match then name the colours one at a time with each new practice.

3) Colour grading - for older children who can name many colours and who are able to visually distinguish the subtle shade differences in colours. Here you are using the colour tablets to grade from darkest to lightest or lightest to darkest and to introduce grading language to your child, lightest and darkest as well as darker and lighter. As shown in the picture this can be done around a sun to make it look like the sun and it's rays. When grading take one colour at a time, lay all the tablets out on a sheet of white paper and allow your child to grade according to shade. I've included a link to the new resources page on my website with a printable colour grading sheet for cutting out. https://www.montessoriathome.info/resources

4) Geometric Solid Shapes Matched to Bases - This is very easy to recreate if your child had a shape sorter at any point. You simply draw around the base of the solid shape and cut this out. Demonstrate to your child how to match the solid shape to the flat bases and let them try. In a Montessori classroom this activity is preceded by feeling the shapes and discussing their properties (pointy, smooth etc). It is followed by naming the solids up to 3 at a time. Don't try and do all of this at once, feel and classify, match to the bases and then name as separate activities. If you do not have shapes from a shape sorter use household items and make your own bases as shown in the DIY picture.

5) Classifying - The actual activity is shown here and comes with multiple options for classifying and matching (numbers, shapes, colours etc). The child posts tiles through slots in the box that match with a picture on the top of the box. The DIY version is made with a box of any description - shoe boxes are great. Make slots in the top, I've shown only three but you can do more. Use anything that you can find for your child to post through the slots in the top. Very young children just love the action of posting through the slot (great for eye hand coordination). Older children like to match and post items into the correct slot. I've shown a version with cardboard shapes and one with numbers. With the number option your child can either match the numbers visually or older children can count out the correct amount of corresponding card strips to post into the slots. Use the zero slot to explain that we post nothing there as zero means nothing.

Sorry for the long post today. I hope you persevered and enjoy these activities.