Montessori Language activities for preschoolers are concrete and effective. My 3-year-old has entered his sensitive period for learning sounds. Each week one part of his learning involves a sound of the week.
Originally I had placed objects, images, and a sandpaper letter on a tray and left for him to discover. It was hit or miss. He wasn't quite drawn to it. Then, I decided to add an element of surprise to the Sound of the Week.
Montessori Preschool Language Activity
I made a Montessori Preschool language activity – Sound of the Week Bag. The bag includes real images, small objects or replicas, the sandpaper letter, scraps of paper, and a crayon for rubbing the sandpaper letter.
Additionally, I provided an invitation to go on a walk to discover things in our environment that begin with that particular sound. We naturally go outside after breakfast anyone so this activity provided a nice segue for us.
“Watching a child makes it obvious that the development of his mind comes through his movements.” ~ Dr. Maria Montessori
For example, this week we're covering “f” (to make the sound: place your upper teeth on your lower lip and blow out quickly keeping your mouth closed) so we'll head outside and inevitably head to the pond to check on our FROGspawn, then maybe we'll head to the FOREST and see buds of the first FLOWERS of the spring or FERNS beginning to grow into our path. You get it. I will carry a notebook jotting these discoveries down, perhaps even snapping a photo, to review at a later point.
Why is this activity beneficial to your child?
- Gets a child excited about learning and discovering
- Within the context of a child's world
- Combines learning and moving the body
- Learning sounds naturally and organically, in a way that the child is likely to retain the knowledge
When an activity isn't going as planned or as you imagined, make a slight change and the whole world could open up!
Enjoy!
Marnie