Care of the environment, including care of plants and animals, is part of the practical life curriculum and an important part of Montessori education. Care of pets can be a perfect way for young children to develop a number of skills along with many positive character traits.
Cynthia from The Montessori Child at Home, says it nicely in her post about “Taking Care of the Family Pet at L’s House”:
Care of the Family Pet (Photo from The Montessori Child at Home)
“Encouraging children to take part in the care of a family pet is a wonderful way of empowering children. Whether the family pet is a fish, dog, cat, guinea pig, chicken, horse, or elephant the lessons that are instilled in a child through caring for animals will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Including live animals in a child’s daily life greatly enhances their abilities to learn responsibility, empathy and compassion for other living things, respect for life, and the natural development of living things. In addition to being a loving companion, pets provide a comfort and solace in times of stress.”
My Experience with Children and Pets
Playtime for Wally (1988), Sneaker (1991), Harry (2002), and Caressa (2002)
I especially love seeing the companionship and character training pets can give children. As a Montessori teacher, I had fun watching the children in my classroom learn to gently care for gerbils and hermit crabs. With my own children, we had an outdoor dog and cat when we lived in the country during our children’s early years. Later on, we had fish, a regular-sized hamster (my son’s hamster named Harry {Houdini} for his uncanny ability to escape from his cage), a dwarf hamster, and a beautiful Chartreux cat named Caressa (my daughter’s cat from age 11). My now-adult daughter and her husband care for Caressa, who is a senior cat with lymphoma and kidney disease. Although it’s sad to know Caressa won’t live more than a year, it’s heartwarming to see the loving way both my daughter and son-in-law care for her.
Update: Because of her loving care, Caressa lived much longer than expected. My granddaughter, Zoey, grew to love Caressa as we all did. When Caressa died, I helped my granddaughter, Zoey, understand Caressa’s death a bit better through a life and death nature tray and pet loss books.
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Montessori Resources for Pet Care
Choosing a Pet for Children to Keep at Home from Montessori Services Pet Resources from Montessori Services
Caring for a Hermit Crab (Photo from How We Montessori)
Pet Posts (Photo from “Pets for Children – How about Hermit Crabs?”) from How We Montessori
Care of Classroom Guinea Pig (Photo from Discovery Kidzone Montessori Adventures)
Practical Guide to Practical Life (Care of Animals) from Discovery Kidzone Montessori Adventures
Care of an Animal from Montessori World
Care of Environment: Feeding the Fish from Shu-Chen Jenny Yen’s On-line Montessori Albums
Pets in the Classroom from A Montessori Musing Place
How to Talk with Children about Death: Creating an ‘I Remember’ Book (helpful for families dealing with the death of a pet)
More Montessori-Inspired Pet Activities
You can follow your child’s interest in pets with a variety of Montessori-inspired pet activities, too!
I’d love to hear about your child’s experiences with a pet.
Learn more about my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to. Teach Grace and Courtesy! I’m also one of the coauthors of the book Learn with Play – 150+ Activities for Year-round Fun & Learning!
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You’ve had a wide variety of pets! I grew up in the same mini-menagerie – dogs, cats, frogs, turtles, bunnies, a squirrel, birds, etc. We *just* got our first family dog (we’ve had fish for years), and we are loving him 🙂 It has been a joy to watch my kids bond with him. <3
Thanks, Dionna! I love to see the connection dogs have with their owners. I imagine your kids will have some amazing experiences. 🙂
We have a number of animals and our son takes a hand in the care of all of them. The only failure we have had in the animal kingdom is fish. We haven’t been able to keep fish alive for more than a week, although we keep trying.
Thanks for your comment! We found fish difficult to raise, too. I don’t know what the secret to keeping them alive is.
Pet care is part of our day and the kids’ responsibilities. The bonus is that now they *look* for ways to care for the dog, which I believe has grown out of the teaching!
Thanks for your comment, Laura! That sounds wonderful. 🙂
Montessori teaching is wonderful. I like what you said about how pets give companionship. It’s a very special kind of connection.
Laurie Hollman at Parental Intelligence
Thanks, Laurie! It is definitely a special kind of connection. I always loved seeing the connection my kids had with their pets. 🙂
I hadn’t realized pet care was part of the Montessori way, but it makes sense! Kids really do learn so much from caring for little live creatures. I love seeing the pictures of your children & their pets through the years!
Thanks for your sweet comment, Lauren! I had lots of fun searching through old photos to find the pet pictures. 🙂
My 2 year old loves each of the responsiblities that she’s acquired since we’ve owned chickens. In addition to learning about caring for pets, I use them as a tool about learning where our old comes from and respecting, rather than expecting, it.
Thanks for your comment, Bianca! You brought back memories of my childhood when I had to collect eggs from our chickens. I always thought that was lots of fun. 🙂
I do love the idea of empowering our children through pet care – making it not just about responsibility, but reaping the rewards, too! We look forward to the time when we don’t live under the rental agreement of “no pets allowed” 🙂
Thanks for your comment, Meg! That is a difficult part of a lot of rental agreements, isn’t it?! I hope you’re able to have “pets allowed” soon. 🙂
This is a great post. I started my schooling in a Montessori based program and it never occurred to me that there was a Montessori approach to pet care. But now that I think about it, we had rabbits, fish, and a turtle at the school. I will definitely be checking out these links. I’m curious how the approach various from how we care for our pets from an “attachment pet ownership” perspective.
I’ve spent some time worrying over whether my kids were missing out by not having pets. We do have tarantulas, but our littles aren’t old enough to help with them yet – for safety reasons. We have hamsters and this post reminds me that I need to find ways for my kids to help… I hope to have chickens eventually. I love imagining gathering eggs with my kids!
Hi Deb!
Thank you so much for this wonderful article. Much appreciated.
Montessori training is really amazing. Our kids learn things from very early ages, they will learn to care while this process. A complete book for me, I must say. Found it very helpful. I’ll also help others to go through this….. Our children can learn a lot as well as parents. Time to try with your comprehensive article. Dogs are Love.
Best Wishes.