Question:
I am new to Montessori. We are doing this at home. We have 2 beautiful twin girls, age 2.5. I am wondering if there is a chart that explains what activities are age appropriate? I don’t want to jump too far ahead, just not sure what to add to the girls activities.
Answer:
Really great question. Unfortunately there isn’t a “black and white” curriculum based on age. Montessori classrooms group multiple ages of children together (ie: 3-6 years). It allows the younger children to observe the more mature behavior of the older children and gives the older children the opportunity to mentor the younger. Montessori is child led, which means you offer a work and observe without interrupting the child’s concentration. You also fight the urge to correct the child’s work. If the child gets overly frustrated and cannot complete the work, that is your signal to let some time go by before you offer the work again.
Montessori nurtures the inner child’s strengths which means the work isn’t determined by the child’s age, but the child’s motivation and knowledge. That being said, I do have a few suggestions on age appropriate works for your sweet twins. I know you will be very pleased with your decision to introduce the Montessori Method in your home.
Environment:
{Finnian’s Montessori Bedroom Photo credit: Ohdeedoh}
The main goal of a Montessori environment is to assist the child in gaining independence. Cubbies or shelving units are low, encouraging the child to take out and put back toys independently. The bed is low so that the child can get in and out of bed without help. Many Montessori enthusiasts place the mattress directly on the floor. Hooks are placed at the child’s level so she can hang up her jacket independently. Designating an area for dirty clothes and shoes is also helpful. Organization is key so that the child clearly understands where everything belongs.
Practical Life:
This section covers activities of daily life. It helps the child gain control over the coordination of movement, encourages critical orderly thinking and begins her growth into a fully functioning member of society.
Suggested Activities:
- Hand washing
- Pouring
- Spooning
- Polishing
- Flower Arranging
- Helping prepare meals
- Fitting lids onto matching containers
- Transferring
- Matching
- Sorting
Language:
At the age of 2, children advance dramatically in the area of language. I would introduce sandpaper letters and numbers. Here is a video that explains how to use them.
Sensorial:
Imaginative Play: Imaginative Play is important too! Read a little about it here.
24-36 months is such a fun age, full of development. There are many more activities that are appropriate at this age, but I hope this gives you a good start. The Joyful Child by Michael Olaf is also a great resource. It explains how the Montessori Method can be taught to ages 1-3. This resource is available free through Michael Olaf’s website. At 3 years, your girls will be ready for even more Montessori works. I wish you many successes in your Montessori endeavors.
Love that bedroom. I love the idea of putting the mattress directly on the floor.
Thanks for the links. Of course I don’t mind! Thanks for letting me know. I think you did a great job answering this question. I love Finn’s bedroom too. You should see the art/play room she has made for him and soon to be brother. http://sewliberated.typepad.com/sew_liberated/2011/01/finnian-and-lachlans-studio.html It’s beautiful and inspiring. We didn’t do the bed on the floor because there are scorpions in Costa Rica where we were living when J-jo was born.
Wow! Thanks for including the link. I’m currently remodeling our school room. I wish it was big enough for the mirror area she has in her’s. May be I can still do it with a small mirror. LOVED it. Oh, and if I had scorpions…I wouldn’t have a mattress on the ground either. Good call. :)
OH wow!!! Thank you soooo much for the 411!!!
One more ? Do the sandpaper letters have to be on light blue and pink? Or can I use Blue and Red?
Thanks so much for all the 411!!!!
I personally like the red and blue better because it is consistent with the moveable alphabet that the twins will be using later. You can see the moveable alphabet here: http://www.adenamontessori.us/search_do.php
Plus, I love Michelle’s shop which is the one I linked to in the post. I love the style of the cards and how the dot shows the child where to begin their tracing. The cards are very high quality and Michelle is really nice during the ordering process.
This is a great post, and TOTALLY relevant to me, Mama of twin girls that are 2.5. We are a Montessori family, lots of photos of my twinkies working with materials at my blog. I’m always looking for ways to include them in age-appropriate ways while big sister and I are working on small pieces of work.
I should take a picture of their bedroom, it looks like Finn’s, but with two mattresses. And a little pink for good measure :)
Thanks!
Jessie – you SHOULD take a photo of the girl’s room. It sounds so pretty. I’d love to see it. I also love seeing your twinkies work on your blog. They’re really cute.
I am just discovering Montessori. Thank you for the “how to get started post.” Honestly, this is a total breakthrough idea for me. I have struggled for sooo long to get my playroom the right way, to find a schedule or school time that works for me and for my girls. Reading these posts of yours totally inspires me. And makes so much sense. I am realizing now that our playroom is WAY too crowded with bins and shelves crammed with toys and the girls were always fighting over toys or simply dumping everything out everywhere. I was so frustrated. I kept thinking: you have so many toys! why can’t you just play happily in your playroom, why can’t you find a toy you want to play with and just play with it!? I guess they were over stimulated with too much and that is how they reacted. I have been trying to implement these Montessori ideas in our play room…now I call it our school room. I have made several shelves in our living room with just single toys on them and I have put away ALL the toy bins and have only two toy trays out in their bedroom. I am now working on getting low, open shelving for the school room and getting trays together. This way of teaching, of LIVING, has really been a life saver for me. I am still feeling like I am fumbling in trying to make this transition. Living in Germany has been hard in this way that it has made me feel more isolated, as it is harder to find materials, books and such, over here. I still have tons of questions about Montessori. I will be checking your blog often for how to improve my new Montessori space and lifestyle. Thank you so much for your blog.