Preparing a Montessori-friendly home environment can seem daunting, but you can do it bit by bit. It doesn’t even have to cost much. And the results are priceless!
John Bowman’s Montessori at Home eBook (available exclusively as part of the Montessori at Home eBook and Materials Bundle in the Living Montessori Now shop) is filled with amazing ideas for families. John Bowman has some great advice about preparing a Montessori-friendly home.
Here’s an excerpt from John’s book with some of his introductory advice. (Note: Because my blog dimensions are different, the layout won’t be the same as in the Montessori at Home eBook.)
Photo Education of Ours
Children absorb their immediate environment. Montessori designed her Prepared Environment to be clean, orderly, and attractive. A disorderly, chaotic environment encourages these qualities in your child’s brain. An attractive, orderly environment helps your child’s brain develop more optimally. You don’t have to make your home a showplace or spend a lot of money. Simple tips:
Keep it clean. As soon as your child is able, she can help you keep your home clean. Children can learn to sweep, dust, clean glass, polish silver, help with laundry, and many other home chores. Regular times set aside for cooperative cleaning encourages good habits and responsibility as well as maintaining a clean environment. See page 116.
Reduce clutter. Unattractive spaces can be transformed by eliminating clutter and focusing on a few pieces. Reducing the clutter on every wall, shelf, and surface in your home can dramatically improve the environment’s aesthetic. Garage sales, Ebay, and Goodwill are your friends in fighting your inner pack rat. Consider adding shelves in your garage or basement for those items you just can’t part with.
Photo: Counting Coconuts
Make a child-sized work area. A child sized table and chair will get your child’s personal work area started nicely. Later, you can add low shelves to hold your child’s toys, learning materials, books, and decorative items. Consider a good quality set made of natural wood. Here are DIY table plans.
Use a variety of materials. Glass, wood, woven baskets, wool, pottery, fabrics, nuts, gourds, dry grasses, flowers, stones, and other materials add texture and interest. Your child needs exposure to more than synthetic fabrics and plastic. Let your child touch!
RootsLiving.com
Take it outside. Montessori believed that nature talks to children. You don’t need a landscaper to have an attractive, interesting outdoor environment. Get started with simple steps, then check out the internet, home improvement stores, and magazines for ideas and develop a plan. Kids need lawn areas to move freely. A play set with different movement and climbing opportunities is always welcome.
A simple stone or brick patio with a table, umbrella, and chairs is not hard to create, makes a great family project, and provides a place for eating and outdoor activities. Grow flowers and vegetables in pots if you don’t have room for a garden.
Display works of art. High quality art prints add a wonderful aesthetic quality to your child’s environment. Mix classic and modern works and a variety of styles, including art photographs. AllPosters.com is an example of a source of large art prints of famous works for as little as $2.99. Check out sites like Displays2GO for cheap poster frames. Interesting sculptures and cultural items are also good.
Play music. Music, especially classical and other complex kinds of music, promotes brain development. Play music instead of having the TV on all the time. When your child feels like it, encourage him to dance. Dancing is a wonderful large motor activity that promotes coordination and balance.
Excerpt used with permission of John Bowman.
The book continues on with specific ideas for various parts of the house.
John Bowman’s Montessori at Home eBook (available exclusively as part of the Montessori at Home eBook and Materials Bundle in the Living Montessori Now shop) is filled with amazing ideas for families.
The Montessori at Home! eBook and Materials Bundle Available Exclusively on Living Montessori Now!
You can get a free download of 51 sample pages from Montessori at Home eBook by clicking here! (This includes information on John’s simplified Montessori reading sequence.)
Here’s the direct link to the purchase page for the Montessori at Home! Materials Bundle,which includes the Montessori at Home eBook AND over $60 worth of Montessori Print Shop materials to go with the book (now only $14.95)!
- Phases of the Moon (3-part cards & chart)
- Animals of the Continents
- Continents 3-Part Cards
- Land & Water Form Photo Book
- World – Control Maps, Masters and Labels
- Moveable Alphabet – Print – (includes full instructions)
- Sentence Cards – Step 1 – Set 1
- Word and Picture Cards – Step 1 – Read Pictures
- 1-100 Math Series
- Geometric Matching Cards
- Geometric Solids 3-Part Cards – Blue
- Skeleton Nomenclature Cards
- Tree Nomenclature Cards
- Phonics Sound and Picture Sorting
- Association of Objects
- What Does Not Belong
- The Five Senses
- Plant or Animal?
- Animals and Their Names
- Color Grading Cards
- Metal Insets – Shape Outlines
Excerpts and Activities from the Montessori at Home eBook
you can read all the excerpts from the book that I’ve shared here at Living Montessori Now:
Activities with Marbles and Golf Tees from Montessori at Home!
Building a Flashlight and Pipe Building from Montessori at Home!
1000-10,000 Activity from Montessori at Home!
Make Fossils from Montessori at Home! 
Cutting with a Knife from Montessori at Home!
Free Play Tubs (Sensory Bins) from Montessori at Home!
Create an Attractive Home Environment from Montessori at Home!
Concentration and Normalization from Montessori at Home
How to Prepare a Montessori Jar for Meaningful Preschool Activities at Home (an activity prepared using one of the book’s printables)
Allow Time for Repetition and Concentration from Montessori at Home!
Activities Using Some of the Montessori Print Shop Materials from the Montessori at Home eBook and Materials Bundle
Here are activities I published using just 4 of the 21 Montessori Print Shop materials from the Montessori at Home eBook and Materials Bundle:
Montessori-Inspired Phases of the Moon Playdough Tray
Easy-to-Prepare Montessori Animals of the Continents Activity
Extending Montessori Animals of the Continents Work
Hands-on Fun with Montessori-Inspired Human Skeleton Activities
Seashell Color Matching {Easy-to-Prepare Variation of Montessori Color Box 3}
Again, John Bowman’s Montessori at Home eBook is available exclusively as part of the Montessori at Home eBook and Materials Bundle in the Living Montessori Now shop)!
Learn more about my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to. Teach Grace and Courtesy!
The Montessori at Home! eBook and Montessori at Home! eBook and Materials Bundle are AMAZING resources! You can learn more about them here. Buy them in the Living Montessori Now shop.
If this is your first time visiting Living Montessori Now, welcome! If you haven’t already, please join us on our Living Montessori Now Facebook page where you’ll find a Free Printable of the Day and lots of inspiration and ideas for parenting and teaching! And please follow me on Pinterest (lots of Montessori-, holiday-, and theme-related boards) and Twitter (blog posts by me and others along with the Parent/Teacher Daily and other interesting information). You can find me on Google+ (post updates), bloglovin’, Instagram, and YouTube, too.
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Thanks for this awesome promotion, Deb! I hope many more parents join the 8000+ all over the world who are using the Montessori At Home! eBook to give their children a great start in life. I love getting emails from parents about the activities their kids are doing. Thanks for offering Montessori At Home! on Living Montessori Now..
I could do with some ideas for my back garden. I want to have a little raised grass area with paving around it. Maybe the Montessori book will give me some inspiration. Thanks for your great blog posts.
I really like the child sized table mentioned in the post, keep posting 🙂
Great post 🙂 I want to have a little raised grass area with paving around it. Maybe the Montessori book will give me some inspiration. Thanks for your great blog posts.
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I really like the child sized table mentioned in the post, keep posting ????
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Nice post. I really love to keep my children engage with variety of painting projects. I teach them g, my good stuff using DIY projects ideas. Recently my son received the first prize on butterfly decoration art and I am feeling proud. You are right we should create Monterrori environment at home…
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