A Blog Series by Colleen Noll.
In this blog we will offer ideas for setting up your home to meet the developmental needs of your child. We will continue to review the Montessori philosophy, allowing you to connect to your plan at home.
Encouraging order, independence, and self-motivation is fundamental to the Montessori approach. At school, carefully designed classrooms allow children to develop competence in caring for themselves and their surroundings. You can prepare your home in similar ways.
Having a place for everything, on a child-friendly scale, means that children know where to find what they need, and have a place to put things when they’re done. An ordered environment also has fewer distractions, allowing children to focus on the task at hand.
” To assist a child, we must provide him with an environment which will enable him to develop freely.” Dr. Maria Montessori
Simplifying your home environment enables your child to understand what is expected of her. With your support, encouragement, and consistent, gentle reminders, even toddlers are capable of returning items to their rightful places.
By using open shelving, the choices are limited. With a toy box, the toys end up in a big pile, pieces everywhere and children struggle to care for their toys when heaped like this.
The shelf should have the activities at “eye-level” for your child. Each activity is separated with a basket or tray. Note: Keep other activities ready to go, by keeping in the closet, easy to switch out. This will allow your child to see all choices. Once you notice your child not taking an activity out for a while, swap it out. Don’t get rid of it, you will be surprised that your child might find a new interest in the activity at a later time.
Bedrooms for children of all ages should be free of clutter with clearly designated places for rest, self-care, and dressing.
To nurture independence and self-esteem, furniture for young ones should be child-sized and accessible. For example, a closet with low-hanging clothes and limited choices will enable your child to make his own clothing choices for the day and put away clothes independently, setting the stage for maintaining tidiness and organization later on.
For older children, the bedroom space should provide a place to sleep, play, and work, and should allow your child to feel ownership of their own space. The bedroom can be an expression of your child’s unique personality and interests, such as by allowing them to choose their own artwork and paint color, so that they feel pride in caring for their own domain. All areas of the bedroom should provide opportunities for clutter control to reinforce the value of organization and care of the environment, and your child should be fully responsible for maintaining tidiness in their own space. Particularly when your child is older and is responsible for completing independent reading or homework at home, the workspace should provide a clutter- and distraction-free workspace for focused concentration.
Welcoming young children into the kitchen is one of the easiest ways to support your child’s growing independence at home. Groceries can be placed on low, easy-to-reach shelves, so your child can make choices and be responsible for replacing items to their correct places. A stool placed near the countertop will invite help with washing dishes or food preparation.
If there’s enough space in your kitchen, consider a table and chairs that are child-sized, so that your young one can take part in meal preparation, sit comfortably for snacks, and clean up easily.
Have a “snack drawer” keep snacks available for your child to eat as they like, however with limitations, it is good for children to be hungry at family mealtime.
Allow your child to use real dishes, silverware and glassware. As opposed to a “toy” kitchen with toy dishes. Pour water into a small pitcher, allow your child to pour their own drinking water. It may spill, you can control the amount that is spilled by the amount of water you add to the pitcher.
Each day at MSOSV the children as young as 18 months begin to assist with meal table setting. It starts with a cloth placemat, plate, bowl and cup. The children set their own place. At age 2, the children take turns setting the table for meals. One child will set the table for 6 with tablecloth, placemat, napkin, plate, bowl, cup and silverware.
While you do not need to go to this extreme at home, allow your child to help set the family table or their own child-sized eating table.
Start young and allow yourself to layer in these activities for your child. You will be surprised at your independent child, who cries less, is less frustrated etc. Children truly do want to help and do things on their own. Being able to work next to you in the kitchen, with the laundry, the daily and weekly chores will help them feel a part of the family.