What is the Montessori way?

Do you keep hearing that word – Montessori – and wondering what it is all about?

Montessori teaching aims to assist a child in learning through experiences in their surrounding environment instead of passively listening to words. A Montessori classroom differs greatly from a mainstream classroom in that it allows more freedom of movement and freedom of choice.

Even if you don’t choose to live or teach with a Montessori approach, there are some beautiful lessons that we can take from this philosophy. For example, finding opportunities around the home for your kids to help you and eventually to be able to do independently. Activities such as hanging washing, sorting washing, sweeping up mess with an accessible pan and brush, helping with the cooking, packing away toys that they have played with and more. Your day is full of lessons for your kids.

Our Montessori Sensory Boards are designed to spark that natural curiosity and independence in kids. Their wooden handmade design is classically Montessori, but also all of the pieces are strategically chosen to replicate tasks or objects that are found all around us in our natural environment at home.

When you consider all the pieces, you can see so many different learning areas that we know from mainstream schooling – particularly maths and science. The cogs can be explored to gain primitive mechanical knowledge, all the locks work differently and can be problem solved, and the abacus and numbers encourage counting.

I heard the most perfect quote from Albert Einstein a few years ago and I think the sensory boards embody it. He said,

“Every child is born a genius” (Albert Einstein)

If your child is naturally gravitating towards learning from their environment, go with their flow, provide opportunities for them to learn from their environment, and shape the opportunities around what your child is naturally interested in. You just never know where it might lead!

Alex Trichilo

Speech Pathologist and Mum of three

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