It has been a while since I’ve written a Montessori at Home post. So, I thought I’d give you an update on things we’re doing in our home.
Glasses
This image is one of our new drinking glasses solely for the boys. We no longer have a single plastic cup in our home as of two weeks ago. I got to tell you that it feels good and more simple. The Montessori behind “real” drinking glasses is that children will learn control of movement if spillage and breakage are the control of errors. Once a child breaks a glass, he will be sure to work on being more steady and move slower next time.
This change is an extension of what we’ve been doing for our boys for a while now. We try to make food accessible to our boys on low shelves with proper containers and scoops as well as a snack drawer. In addition, they can access glasses and water as well as items to help us set the table like placemats and napkins.
They appreciate the access but self regulation continues to be a work in progress. In other words, not eating all the crackers as opposed to only five as indicated on the container. I love to see success on that front, which seems to be happening on a daily basis at this point. Montessori Services offers some affordable drinking glasses for kids.
Simplify
I love this evolution of our learning space. Simplifying space and life, generally, takes time and patience. You have to push yourself to purge items and to remove items. What I’ve noticed about their space is that while I think every so often that there needs to be MORE, my boys are much more content, calm and engaged when there is LESS. Plus the room looks nicer.
This image is one example of simplicity. Petals fill this bowl. We brought flowers home the other day and these petals fell to the counter as I prepared the vase. I almost tossed them into the compost when it occurred to me that I should share them with our boys. T
he color was beautiful and the petals would be healthy for a bit longer. The work is about observation and exploration. What do you see? What do you feel? What happens to the petals over time as they aren’t receiving nourishment? Simple.
Open & Close Basket
We’ve done Open & Close Trays in the past. I like placing the objects in a basket that gives my boys enough room to explore with them. In this image, we have a glasses case, a small jewelry purse with a snap, a mesh drawstring bag, a simple jewelry box, small pill box, Altoids container that slides open, beaded jewelry box, simple spice jar with screw top lid and a small jar with a clamped lid.
What is great about these items is that many of them were gifts from family members who traveled abroad and brought a little souvenir home to us. My mom is a fan of the small jewelry boxes, which I love because you can use them for so many things (including a Montessori work!).
There is always more to share but the time will have to come later. Thank you for choosing to read this post. Please leave a comment and tell me how you integrate Montessori in your home or classroom.
Warmly,
Marnie