montessori at home

What is Practical Life?

October 11, 2010

Practical life is an area in the Montessori philosophy that encompasses, well, skills practical to everyday life. They are a series of fine motor skills that include cleaning and caring for the environment as well as preparing food. These activities benefit the child because it develops control of movement and hand-eye coordination that form the [...]

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Treasure Basket: Fall

October 8, 2009

Here is the treasure basket I’ve had out for about a week and will most likely continue to keep out for the rest of the season. It’s location may change and I’d like to put a few more items in it as well. I have a few pine cones I might put in, but my [...]

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Homemade Child’s Placemat

September 4, 2009

Last week during a few of Joey’s naps I made a few placemats for his eating dishes. I like them and they were really simple to make. I just traced the dishes and silverware on a plain piece of cardstock, cut them out, glued them to an 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of cardstock, and then [...]

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Treasure Basket: Primary Colors

September 1, 2009

A few weeks ago, I decided to change our treasure basket to reflect the primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) over the next few weeks. The plan is to have just one color in the treasure basket for two weeks and then switch to the next color. The last two weeks were red and yesterday [...]

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A Montessori Infant Education Video

August 28, 2009

“Each object in the prepared environment is a potential learning tool, not just a toy or a diversion.” I came across this video earlier in the week and thought it was worth sharing. It gives a brief explanation of how the infant learns, the need for repetition, and how the environment aids the child in [...]

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Why use a work mat?

August 20, 2009

Lately, I’ve been thinking about our use of the work mat in our home. I have one rolled up sitting next to one of the work shelves, but honestly sometimes I don’t even use it (big Gasp!, I know…). Joey usually pulls work off the shelf so fast and in quick succession that I’m reshelving [...]

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