Activity of the Week – Montessori Birthday Celebration

Montessori Birthday Celebration (Photo from Angie Lile at Vivid Life)

My son, Will, celebrated his birthday two days ago, and my daughter, Christina, is celebrating her birthday today! In honor of my children’s birthdays, I’m featuring some posts about a meaningful and educational tradition in many Montessori schools – Montessori birthday celebration, a celebration of life ceremony.

Celebration of Life Ceremony

The photo is from a post by Angie Lile at Vivid Life: Celebration of Life – A Montessori Birthday. In her post, Angie gives a lovely description of the birthday celebration for her twin daughters at their Montessori school.

I love that the Montessori birthday celebration gives a concrete way for young children to understand the months of the year and the earth’s revolution around the sun each year. It also is a way for children to feel special and to connect with their place in the world.

Not every Montessori school celebrates birthdays with a celebration of life ceremony, sometimes called a Montessori birthday walk. The first two Montessori schools I taught at had mainly American Montessori Society (AMS) teachers, and neither school used the celebration of life ceremony.

Following are some other helpful links about Montessori birthday celebrations.

If you would like to use the ceremony at home or in a school, it’s a beautiful addition to a young child’s birthday celebration. You’ll notice there are variations among Montessori birthday ceremonies. Choose whichever variation would have the most meaning or work best for your own child or school.

Birthday Ceremony at Montessori  from Joan4 at Squidoo (includes 3 videos)

Montessori Birthday Walk from Montessori Mum (includes 3 videos)

Montessori Birthdays from Life in the Pink Tower

The Celebration of Life (album page) from Montessori Methods

Nora’s Montessori Birthday Celebration from Kerry’s Ramblings

New Years from Montessori Mom (gives the idea of using the Montessori birthday celebration for a New Year’s activity as well)

A Homemade Montessori Birthday Celebration from Our Montessori Story

The book How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way by Tim Seldin has information on a Montessori birthday celebration.

Has your child experienced a Montessori birthday celebration?

Linked to Birthday Parties Linky

Related posts:

1. Start the School Year with a Celebration
2. Activity of the Week – Montessori Education Week Peace Lesson
3. Activity of the Week – Montessori-Inspired Decorating the Christmas Tree Activity