When I have someone over to my house who knows a bit about Montessori, they often observe my elder child and comment something like, “Oh, he’s clearly a Montessori kid!” He doesn’t go to Montessori school, and we don’t have any of the classic Montessori materials out, so what brings guests to this conclusion? For… Continue reading Following the Child
In a Montessori classroom, there are rows of shelves filled with open trays of carefully grouped pieces. It is beautiful… but at home with little chaos tornados running around, it would be a disaster. At home, everything is going to get dumped on the floor and no one is going to spend more than a… Continue reading Easy Tidy Toy Organization
Including a toddler in cooking is much easier said than done. Toddlers love to be helpful and it’s incredibly beneficial for them too. Unfortunately, it can be really hard to find the extra time and energy required to let our toddlers help! Toddlers naturally slow tasks down and produce extra cleanup. But on the flip… Continue reading Rice Work
I never thought much about board books until having a baby of my own. I started reading to my little one because… you’re supposed to…. and there’s not much to do with a baby… but to my surprise by six months he was already showing clear interest in books and now 13 months, he rarely… Continue reading Better Baby Books
Frequent hand washing is so important to our hygiene that it’s great if we can make it fun. And for young children, simply being able to do real activities independently is fun – especially when water is involved! My friend, Dave, creates awesome custom tools and tool adaptations that make building and doing other physical… Continue reading Toddler Hand Washing
Hosting a toddler tea party for your 30th birthday is cool, right? At least, in the Montessori fashion, I got the toddlers to do some of the work… For tea we had: Mint tea with lemon slices and milk Mini PB&Js served with strawberries Mini cheese and mayo sandwiches served with oranges Mini banana honey… Continue reading High Tea Work
