Nurturing the Love of Learning: Montessori Education for the Early Childhood Years

Here’s a Montessori video that has much to offer parents looking for information on Montessori as well as parents and teachers looking for ideas to use at home or school. Nurturing the Love of Learning: Montessori Education for the Early Childhood Years is an excellent video produced by the American Montessori Society (AMS).

There are many basic Montessori principles shown in the video.

• The classroom environment is attractive and orderly with child-sized furniture.
• The children working with materials on the floor use rugs to identify their personal workspace.
• Children of various ages and abilities work together in the same classroom.
• Work is individualized.
• Practical life, sensorial, language, math, and cultural materials are used.
• The child’s independence is a primary focus.

Regarding independence, the video’s narrator says:

Respecting a child’s desire to be independent is a cornerstone of Montessori philosophy.

Not only is there a good overview of Montessori education for preschoolers, but there are many ideas parents and teachers can use in their own homes and/or classrooms. Here are a few helpful ideas:

• Washing clothes practical life activity
• Accessible materials for watering plants
• Color-mixing activity with small jars of red, yellow, and blue colored water and a medicine dropper
• Smelling bottles with scented cotton balls that the children match by smell (3 green bottles to be paired with 3 blue bottles)
• Objects used to learn beginning sounds of words
• Tray with sand for writing letters
• Basket for matching fabrics while blindfolded

Watch the video to see which ideas are most helpful for you.

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