Montessori and the City

Screentime and children

A while ago a wrote a post about screentime and children for a friend's blog, How We Montessori a while back. In a previous post i did try and provide a link for this so that anyone interested could have a look, but for some reason i couldn't set it up.. but no matter, i'm going to post it here so that anyone interested can have a look, a few parents who go to the nursery where i trained have approached the nursery manager and asked where they can see it so here goes:

Kylie of How we Montessori asked me the questions and i answered them as honestly as i could, obviously the ages of my children have changed since then, (they are now 21 months, 3, 6 and 8)

Screentime and children

 

1. Can you explain your position on screen time and why you feel it is such a
        negative?

My feelings towards screens, that is, televisions, computers and handheld devices and the role they play in children’s lives began when my eldest son, J, now almost seven, was in his
infancy in 2005. When he was a baby it would be on in the background if we were
watching something and when he was a toddler we would put it on for him. The
changes in his behaviour were immediate. Usually being an energetic and curious
young boy he would be unable to pull his gaze away from the screen, sitting in
a trance like state, unmoving. Afterwards when it was switched off he would
throw huge tantrums that were difficult to calm. My husband and I questioned the
need for the television at all, and when one evening we accidentally came
across an article about psychologists advising against television for the under
3’s our suspicions were confirmed and we drastically reduced what and how much
he watched. I wasn’t alone in my approach and knew of other parents at the time
who described unwanted behaviour from their children after watching television
and reduced their children’s screen time accordingly. My husband and I did
research into the matter, and around 2007, by the time my second child, A, was
born we had discovered a huge amount of evidence to suggest that screen time
for young children was negative rather than beneficial. In fact, what my
husband and I found alarmed us and changed my attitude towards screens forever.
I would like to point out that at this time in my life I knew nothing about the
Montessori Method.

In an article written by psychologist Dr Aric Sigman, about the negative effects of television and
children he writes:

“In August 1999, the
American Academy of Paediatrics issued guidelines recommending that children
under the age of two watch no television or any screen entertainment at all
because television can negatively affect early brain development.”

(taken from Dr Aric Sigman’s
article : “The impact of Screen Media On Children: A Eurovision for
Parliament.”  found at www.ecswe.org)

The importance of what happens in the first three years of a child’s life is backed up by authors such
as Sue Palmer who writes in her book Toxic Childhood that “massive numbers of
neural connections are made in a child’s brain in the first three years of life
– especially those associated with (development) of concentration, planning,
self-control and empathy..” (Palmer, 2006) similar evidence can be gleaned from
authors such as Lise Eliot in her excellent book “What’s going on in there?” a
book about baby’s brain development. (Eliot,1999), These examples are really
just scratching the tip of a very big iceberg and the more we looked the more
we found.

You see, screens, including computer screens and hand held technology such as phones and other
communications devices, have a direct impact on children’s concentration as the
screen flickers constantly. This flickering forces the brain, adult’s as well
as children’s, to slip into the alpha state of brain waves, a state that makes
people particularly receptive to what they see. This is very worrying as in
this state unwanted ideas and images can lodge themselves into a child’s mind
on an unconscious level which means we the adults don’t know how this affects
the child’s mind for years to come and also the child is unaware of it as well.
Not only that, but many psychologists write about the damage that the constant,
quick succession of images on the screens has on children’s brain development
also. On a lot of television, especially terrestrial daytime broadcasts, you
get ‘montage telly’, where the programmes are edited to cut rapidly from shot
to shot. Music videos and movie trailers are especially guilty of this because
they try to pack a lot of information into a short space of time. This is not
healthy for children as the “rapid shift of images conditions the developing
brain to expect a higher level of stimulation than that available in real
life.” (Palmer, 2006) This becomes addictive and could be why children feel
lethargic, tired and angry when it comes to switching the screen entertainment
off. Parents would do well to question what and who is influencing their
children’s behaviour via this kind of technology.

I began to keep my children (only A and J at the time) away from most terrestrial television especially advertisements, only putting on children’s programmes supposed to be tailor
made for them and to assist their learning, supporting language development.
However, I quickly realised that this is total nonsense. I stopped believing
the promotions of these children’s programmes and channels as having
educational value; suggesting that the child, by watching these programmes, has
eye to eye contact with people on the screen, and that viewing also encourages
parent child interaction as they can talk about and discuss what they can see.
Rubbish. How can this really replace real life experiences? Any parent would be
far better off taking his/her child for a walk in a park with real people and
engaging in proper eye to eye contact, talking together about what they see in
the world around them. 

When my son, J, was 3 and my daughter, A, was 1, I came across a local Montessori nursery that was so different to the other nurseries I had come across.  It was a wholesome, ordered environment with real, child sized objects and activities for him to do with his hands, that
would assist him with his physical and mental development and….there were no
screens present. No computers. When I questioned one of the teachers why there
weren’t any to be seen her answer was that it was not beneficial for the small
children. This intrigued me and that along with other positive benefits I could
clearly see from this Montessori environment led me to train to be a Montessori
teacher in 2009.

Through my studies of Maria Montessori’s texts and learning about child developmentalists and their works, such as Piaget, I learnt that children learn by physically interacting with
their environment, not by sitting just watching the world go by. As Montessori
states in her book, “The Absorbent Mind” what the child, from birth, takes in
from their immediate environment becomes their inner life and forms the
building blocks of the personality that defines them ever afterwards. This
means that what young children need is concrete experiences, real life
conversations, and real objects to touch with their hands and lots of
opportunities to be outside interacting with the natural world. The television is
an abstract reality, it is not really there. A picture on a screen of a shell
will not provide a child with any information other than its visual aspect. A
real shell in a child’s hand means that the child can experience it on many levels;
he/she can touch, smell and listen to a shell that is actually there. As well
as this, a child under 3-4 years has no idea that the screen is not real.
However, it will become the child’s reality if he/she is over exposed. This is
very much the case with computer screens and games as well, which our children
have never been exposed to at all, as my husband and I believe they take away
children’s ability to imagine as what they are doing is wasting time within the
confines of someone else’s ideas of what is on a screen.

During my training in the 3-6 Montessori curriculum in 2009, I became pregnant with my third child, F, my youngest son. During this time I became very interested in the 0-3 curriculum
and found further evidence to prove to me that screen time and young children
shouldn’t mix. I read Paula Polk Lillard’s book, “Montessori from the Start”
where she states that babies have a sensitive period for concentration, that if
they are not allowed to have quiet time to concentrate, then that time will be
lost and the child will have missed out on a vital developmental step. (2003,
Polk Lillard) I also came across Dr Silvana Montanaro, who wrote “television is
an anti-experience, because it separates individuals from themselves and from
the environment and makes them believe they are living while they are only
observing passively what other people decide to make them see.” (taken from
www.montessori.org) I also found out about Urie Brofenbremner, Professor of
Human Development at Cornell University who wrote that “the primary danger of the
television screen lies.. in the behaviour it prevents..”(taken from
www.montessori.org) Montessori frequently discusses the importance of
children’s development through movement and screen time destroys this
opportunity for children to do this.

This lead me to the
understanding that precious seconds of my children’s lives were ticking away.
What else could they do doing with their time?

When my third child, F, was
born in 2010, I determined that from the beginning, things would be different
for him. We had already drastically cut down on what and how much our eldest
two children watched but we took further steps. F has never watched television
or been exposed to screens, (although he is aware of their existence by their
appearance in the outside world), and he will soon be celebrating his second
birthday. When I got pregnant with my fourth child, S, born 2011, my husband
and I decided to unplug the terrestrial television permanently and cancel the
subscription to our tv license as we realised that no one, including ourselves,
ever watched it anymore.

 

1. You have four children, how does screen time work in your house, are there
        different rules for each child?

I have to say at this point that I am not unrealistic
about the use of technology now within everyday life, but I do think that
children’s exposure to it can wait. We still have one tv in our house and it is
still capable of playing dvds, although as explained before no longer has the
capacity to show terrestrial channels. It was surprising how quickly our eldest
two children adapted to the terrestrial television being switched off over a
year ago now and the pair of them will sometimes go for weeks, especially in
the summer, and not watch it or even ask for it at all. Occasionally they will
ask to watch something and so we take them to a local library and let them
choose something from the children’s section that they would each like to
watch. When we get home they agree which film to watch first and then watch one
film one day and the next another. We restrict the time the telly is on for,
between 40 minutes to an hour and a half, about the length of a child’s film
and then when the film/programme is over one of them will usually get up from
where they are sitting and switch off the set by the wall plug themselves. When
the television is on either myself or my husband is downstairs with them and
one of us takes our youngest two children upstairs to another part of the house
to play where there is no television. This type of situation usually only
happens around once or twice a month. My eldest two, J, nearly 7, and A, almost
5, also go to the cinema with my husband during school holidays to see a movie
whilst I stay at home with my youngest two, F, 2 and S, 8 months. F and S don’t
have any exposure to screens at all at present and so I keep them away from
them. None of our children have ever played computer games and are not allowed
on the home computer at present as we believe them to be too young, agreeing
that children are better equipped to handle computers when between the ages of
9-10 years at least. We do have a laptop but when it is not in use it can be
closed and placed up on a shelf out of the way. Since we have done this myself
and my husband have noticed greater creativity and spontaneity in what our
children do and we both really feel we are encouraging the use of their
imagination more.

I have split this article into two parts because it is so big and will post the next part of the article in a couple of days.

Anyone interested in what they have read here please let me know in the comments box. I would love to know how others handle screens and their children in their homes...

No, my children don't attend Montessori schools.......

I may surprise some to know that my children aged from 1-almost 8 years don't attend Montessori schools or nurseries.

This is due to circumstance. We have tried a couple of local pre-schools but found that they didn't work for us and the ones that could be more workable are just too far away.

Living in an urban environment i feel that my children are strapped into the car far too much as it is without travelling for hours to get to schools that are miles away. I feel especially strong about this concerning my two youngest as they are at the developmental stage in their lives when they should have lots of "Freedom of movement" (another important Montessori concept) where they can physically move around and are able to select what they wish to do if acitivities are available in their environment.. Movement and the ability to move is very important to young children's development and it isn't just Montessori who believes this.. most well known psychologists and child developmentalists such as Piaget, have theories that support this idea.

So, solution.. i try to involve the philosophy of Montessori as much as i can at home and also combine it with what my children are experiencing in state run education. My two eldest attend a local state run primary school. My eldest son, J, nearly 8, attends full time. My eldest daughter, A, now 6, attends part time.. we flexi-school.

Neither A or J went to reception, (for those outside the UK, most children attend school full time, 5 days a week, all day from the September term after their 4th birthday).

This may seem odd, but i have a hard time agreeing that children should go to school full time at this age. I'm not looking to offend anyone who sends their child/children to school at this age, as of course, every parent has a right to parent their child as he/she sees fit, but for our family it seemed too much too young. However, i'm hoping that anyone reading this will not take this personally. In this post i'm only seeking to make clear how our daily lives are set up at present.

A stayed at home with me and her two youngest siblings and we learnt phonics, maths, reading, writing, early science and arty things at home. Before J turned 5 we did the same. Both children, A and J, have attended year 1 at state school, but A has been going part time. Three days a week at school, two days a week at home. This way she is able to socialise with other children, but still have Montessori influence at home.

I do have some equipment, but only select pieces that i know how to use due to my training as a Montessori teacher. Some of it's bought, some of it's made, or has been given to me by other ex-teachers. We have a small box of doll's house sized objects which has been instrumental to A's learning of phonetic sounds (this deserves a post all of it''s own at some point), a large movable alphabet (one can be found here), the letters for this can be made from cardboard as you can buy the box separately here or this could also be made rather than bought too. We also have alot of pink series material, this can be seen here and alot of small objects to associate with simple three letter words that are characteristic of this level of phonics. We also have some home-made sand paper letters which bought brand new can be seen here.

 

All of this equipment should really have their own separate posts so that i can explain how they work and also why i consider them important to home-schooling.. However, i just have to say that i'm not saying that if you are considering home schooling your child, or flexi-schooling you should rush out and buy all this equipment. This is all stuff that i have accumulated over the past 5 years or so and it's a mish mash of home-made things, gifts from others, ebay items and admittedly bought from brand new over a period of time. I'm also not trying to advertise the shop used in the links above, its more to show any one not familiar with Montessori materials what the equipment looks like..

We also have some maths equip, the golden bead series, (an example of which, is here) which again was made up over time from other teachers and from ebay, (and still is not complete) and sandpaper numbers, (here) and counters (here). I have made these myself from cardboard and card from cereal packets (again this needs another post of it's own) and really that's it! More or less...

We try to make this learning fun and subtle and this is one thing that i love about the Montessori method is that often the child is unaware that they are learning phonics or writing.. it is done in such a way that it is made enticing and also becomes a part of the child so that it becomes second nature.. a book that is very good at portraying how to do this as a parent and really helped me when we started out can be found here. Lynne Lawrence is a head teacher trainer up at AMI in London, and if anyone is interested she is talking at a Montessori Conference at this time and place). I would love to go but can't this time :-( Still, if you are interested go along if you can!

This has been a bit of a long winded post, that poses more questions than what it answers but i shall finish it by saying that it's never too late to introduce the Montessori method to your children, and even if its just small amounts and not a full blown schooling that your child encounters then i believe that it's atill beneficial.. even in small, regular doses or in bits and pieces i don't see why it can't help a child/children. In the perfect world the full Montessori education from birth - 24 years of age would be available for all parents who wish their children to encounter it, but this, obviously is not the case for most of us..me included.

We have to make the best of our situations and i would encourage those parents who are interested in how it all works to find out and if you like it involve the philosophy at home.. you really don't need to buy loads of stuff.. (infact unless you are planning to run a nursery i would encourage you not too! partly for the sake of space!) its best to learn the principles and practicalities.. again another good book for this is here and actually has some photos and two pieces of writing contributed by me in it!

If you really want the essence of the Montessori Method though, the best place to start is with books written by Maria Montessori herself. A great one is the Absorbent mind, The child in the family, The Secret of Childhood and the Discovery of the Child. It really can be a fliexible method that if used with love and empathy of the child can go a long way to making a difference to family life.

 

 

 

Have you seen "Montessori Design by Nuccia?"

Having trained in the Montessori Method and being besotted with Montessori parenting at home i'm always on the look out for objects that will not only encourage my childrens development but are practical, well made, have no imperfections and are beautifully simple in their design.

There seems to be alot of online shops that cater for the smaller people in our lives in the U.S and Australia, but here in the U.K products are difficult to come by. There are a couple of well known shops that sell the actual Montessori materials but it is debatable whether such equipment should be used at all in the home or just be reserved for use by trained Montessori staff in nurseries.

One important thing that i feel the Montessori materials can teach us to ape in objects used in the home is the simplicity of them. For example, the pink tower, is all one colour because it minimises distraction so that the child can focus on the size of the blocks. How many objects/toys for children do you see like this in shops or supermarkets? The nearest you'll get, (which is about as near as pluto is to the sun) to something like the pink tower is plastic stacking cups that are all different colours.

I'm constantly on the search for objects made from natural materials, one colour or tone, practical to use employ Montessori principles, such as encouraging focus and concentration, and also if possible unique...

This is where products from Montessori Design by Nuccia comes in.

I first saw Nuccia's, the founder, products at a Montessori seminar up in London a couple of years ago and was smitten. Her products are well thought out, beautifully simple, practical and designed with young children in mind to be used at home or in a Montessori nursery.

In February i bought this for S, to help develop her wrist movements, (something she was struggling with, especially when trying to open jars)

its called the Bambini Bolt and can be found here.

I had the pleasure to meet and speak with Nuccia and she kindly agreed to partake in an interview with me so we can know more about her lovely products..

How did you first come across the Montessori Method?  What appealed to you about it?

Nuccia:  I first came across Montessori when I visited a small Montessori nursery on the Isle of Wight owed by a family friend twenty years ago and I remember being impressed by how calm the classroom was and how ‘homely’ it felt.  Looking back I now realise that the school had limited amounts of equipment, the majority of the children’s day was spent gardening or cooking, perfect.   

 What motivated you to set up a business?

 Nuccia: I set up Lymington Montessori School in the heart of the New Forest, in 1997, I sold the school as a going concern after 10 years.  Through my experience as a Montessori Directress and school owner I realised  that there was a lot of time spent sourcing appropriate equipment for the children to use.  This experience and knowledge enabled me to set up Montessori Design.

 Your products are notable for their well-designed handcrafted look.  How do you think these items benefit the Montessori environment either in a classroom or at home?

Nuccia: “….. what is above all essential is, that it should be ‘artistically beautiful’.  In this case beauty is not produced by superfluity or luxury, but by grace and harmony of line and colour, combined with that absolute simplicity necessitated by the lightness of the furniture.”  The Advanced Montessori Method 1  Maria Montessori Clio 1991

When we design our equipment we follow the Montessori principles in that the equipment must be ‘fit for purpose’, attractive and where possible natural. 

 Have you seen your products in action in the classroom?.

 Nuccia: The majority of the equipment we design and make came about because I made it for my school following the designs and requirements established by Maria Montessori, so I know they work and last.  The Spanner Cube was design by myself and made for me when I had my school and now Andy (my partner) makes them for Montessori Design!  I am the Accreditation Coordinator for MEUK (Montessori Education UK) and so I am constantly in contact with the schools that have bought pieces of my equipment therefore, I am regularly updated with information, suggestions, comments and re- orders.

 Have you ever practised the Montessori Method at home?  If so what was your experience of it?

Nuccia: I don’t have children of my own, so I have not personally implemented the Montessori methods at home, other than with my nephews, nieces and 22 year old step son.

Have you found that the Montessori Method has influenced your life outside being a parent or teacher?

 Nuccia: My whole life revolves around Montessori (except when I’m riding my horse!)  I work part-time at Bournemouth Montessori College and part-time for MEUK so everyday I am ‘doing’ something regarding Montessori.  One of the things it does give me is a sense of order and                  structure to look at things in manageable stages and to deal with what life puts in front of me as a
learning curve.

Thank you for your time, Nuccia. Its good to see someone here so dedicated to the Montessori Method and producing such well thought products that are also accessible to nursery staff and parents. We can learn alot about the Method from the way you have made Montessori's principles into actual objects. If you wish to order items from Nuccia then the best way is to email her. Her details are on her website, the link to which is provided above. :-)

 

time passes.......

Today is my eldest daughter A's 6th birthday.  A couple of weeks ago it was my youngest son, F's birthday and he turned 3. Next week it will be my eldest son, J's birthday and he will turn 8.

So many birthdays crammed into such a small space.... and i watch child changing...

A and F have reached developmental milestones in the Montessori scheme of things. 

 F has undergone a change from the "unconscious absorbent mind" to the "conscious absorbent mind"..and from a "spiritual embryo" to a "social embryo" (a reason why children aged three go into "the childrens house" what we in the modern day would associate with nursery or pre-school). The Absorbent mind is a fundamental part of how children under six learn and in a nutshell basically means that a young child will take in everything around them, their environment, into themselves and it will influence them, their behaviour and who they are forever.. it will be part of what they become... this is why young children need alot of rich sensory input (no telly) and alot of exposure to nature and positive experiences and an environment that is beautiful, calm and encourages independence.

"Adults admire their environment; they can remember it and think about it; but the child absorbs it. The things he sees are not just remembered; they form part of his soul." Absorbent Mind, Maria Montessori

Under the age of three this process is alot of sensory impressions and experiences that become a part of the unconscious mind, in montessori this is termed the "mneme".. when the child turns three he/she is alot more conscious of what he/she is doing, is more physically developed and it is more a time of the child making sense of the experiences in the conscious mind... also its when children begin to remember things..(although i consider this a generalisation as certain individuals can allegedly remember growing in the womb) the experiences before are not harder to access as they are in the unconscious.

A really good quintessential book about the montessori method and the under threes is Montessori from the Start and is a wonderful book.

A has now turned 6 which again in a nut shell is a big milestone in Montessori's education. She is able to understand abstract ideas more, is less dependent on concrete materials such as using counters or fingers in  maths and is really interested in imagination and imaginative ideas which contrary to common belief are a part of the Montessori system of education, just not before the age of six. This also coincides with children's teeth falling out...

the interesting thing is here that A's teeth started to fall out quite early, when she was 4 actually!, and she has been able to think imaginatively and understand abstract concepts for a long time, earlier than her school peers so her teacher has described.. are the two events linked?

This was A's birthday cake......

She wanted a chocolate cake with pink icing.. i didnt have much time and i dont like using food colouring that isnt natural because of the horrid chemicals that i dont believe children should be exposed to.

Solution: i used organic raspberries, which i heated over the hob in a saucepan with a couple of teaspoons of caster sugar. When they had turned to mush and released their juices i put the pulp through a strainer to catch the seeds, of which there are many, and let it cool. While this was happening i mixed some Stork margerine with a bit of icing sugar to make a basic icing. Then i tipped in the raspberry puree.. mix it all up! Ta-dah, healthier pink icing.. ok, its still got sugar but its a good way of getting fruit goodness into unsuspecting children.

J wants purple icing on his cake, so i'll use blueberries... F's request for his cake next year is harder.. he wants green icing...:-)

I got this amazing cake recipe from a fab blog by Alicia Paulson..here if you havent seen this blog have a look.. its not Montessori but she has some lovely posts about sewing, cooking and most excitingly her lovely baby..

 

tadpoles... we love them!

The Tadpoles are growing and changing every day.. look at them now!

they've lost their feathery type gills and their slender appearance and have a more frog like shape to them.

But with change and growth comes my concern over what they actuallt eat..? I went online and did a google search and the general advice seems to be fish food... but to be honest the children and i sprinkled some in and they just ignored it

so, i went to the local Dobbies (i love that place) and asked in the aquarium section, and the lady there recommended i give them blood worms.. but when i opened the blister pack the children took one look and after the intial reaction of running away and screaming, (they do look gross) they forbid me to put them in with the tadploes in case they eat the tadpoles!

But despite this the tadpoles seem to be growing and even have poo-strings trailing behind them which means they must have been eating something....From watching them it seems to me that they seem to be eating the jelly left over from the frogspawn.. they often return to it and seem to take comfort hiding in it when the children lean in a bit to close to look at them... so my advice so far to anyone keeping tadpoles at home is dont throw away the frogspawn..leave it in there with them..

So far this is a great experience not just for the children but also for me... its made me realise they probably need a pet..maybe a fish when we let our frogs (fingers crossed) go? and also its made me realise that real experience is far better than books or documentaries on telly.. i've read alot about frog cycles, especially as part of my montessori training and none of the books i've read have ever said anything about the young tadpoles needing the frogspawn jelly...Nothing beats real, concrete experience it seems....(Montessori was really right)

we've also observed that the now are air breathers rather than just being in the water with their gills as they were before.. they swim up to the surface all the time and can be seen breathing out little bubbles of air..(so cute) before diving back down..

I've also moved them to a bigger tank as they seemed a bit crowded

good for the tadpoles but also better for the children as now they can watch them far more easily...A even said "ah, this is much better than telly.." (That's my girl!)

Frog spawn!

I felt over-joyed when a friend of mine, a retired Montessori teacher, gave me a jar of frogspawn for the children to watch them grow and develop.

It brought back memories from my childhood because although i never went to a Montessori school, i was lucky enough to go to an old fashioned school that had a big fishtank at the back filled with frogspawn every year. I sat quite close to that tank and used to spend ages staring at the tadpoles and enjoyed looking at the tank every morning when i got into the classroom feeling excited when i noticed them changing..

My children have never experienced real frog spawn, until now..

I was given them last monday and already they are changing...look!

to be honest i thought they may be dead at first, but when i put my face close to the glass one of them flicked it's tail about!

The children are amazed by them and i'm hoping they will survive the entire life cycle and turn into frogs so that we can release them into a pond somewhere!

I'm so pleased because they will be able to see this for real instead of using plastic models like what usually happens...

i will write more posts and take more photos as they change further!

The practical life that my two year old loved the best...

Firstly F, was 2 when he started doing this particular activity, but he turned 3 last week so the title of this post is not that correct...

However, he started doing it when he was about 2 and three months..

He has always loved helping out in the kitchen without being prompted which i found lovely.:-)

and his younger 1 year old sister also loves being in the kitchen, but usually to raid the cupboards and throw out jars and packets of food...not so lovely... (another post to write about)

Without a doubt the kitchen activity that he loved and still loves doing is "cutting" as he calls it, using a knife, yes, a proper grown up knife, to chop up vegetables..

The way he uses the knife is he holds the cucumber of whatever vegetable it is, is with one hand, gently presses down with knife in his other hand and does a sawing motion.

He loves it..he remains completely focused and silent whilst doing it and it keeps him this way for a long time..the longest time was 40 minutes or so and i was thrilled because when he finished he had this calm satisfaction about him that Montessori describes in her books.. (i can't think of a direct quote off the top of my head, but i will dig about through her books again and find one).

To prove how focused he was his younger sister tried to disturb him by putting a wooden tractor on the table and a bead frame as can be shown here, saying loudly "Air go, Air go" (translation:Here you go in one year old's south eastern counties English accent) and he completely ignored her much to her annoyance... again this is reminiscent of a story in a book written in a book by Maria Montessori where a girl uses a piece of equipment (the knobbed cylinders) and is so focused that she doesnt even respond to the chair and the table she is working at being lifted up and moved..

Yes i have to keep an eye and where he does this is right next to the area where i do the food prep in the kitchen and there have been nerve racking moments where i really can't get on with any cooking when he was younger..but he obviously gains alot from it and a big part of the Montessori method is observing your child and finding what interests them so that he/she has the opportunity to exercise manual skills so important for his/her development but also concentration. He has also got alot better at it because he has been doing it over a long period of time..

I cannot state this enough though, if your child is concentrating on something, no matter what it is whether doing a puzzle, or examining a blade of grass, do not disturb them... Montessori describes children constantly disturbed whilst concentrating by adults become extremely frustrated and akin to "living in a nightmare".

as you can see the way its set up is so that he has everything he needs to do the activity..he has the chopping board, an apron, and a bowl to put the chopped veg in.. there is none in there because he keeps eating it, or his one year old sister steals it and eats it, but again he was so absrobed that he didnt even look at her!

The way i figured out how to make this less dangerous was to first chop rounded veg that can roll away into flat strips so that it cant move and the knife slip.

Also when Finn first saw me chopping veg and then wanted to have a go i started him off with 'soft' veg like mushrooms, and then progressing onto more crunchy like cucumber, and then finally 'harder' veg like carrots, again sliced lengthways first so as to not roll away.

Also having a low table and a child sized chair also helps because the child can't fall or slip from a great height with a knife in his/her hands.

If your child is interested in something that has the potential to be dangerous try to stave off the panic.. there are ways around things so that he/she can still be involved and so that he/she can get alot from the activity. Using cutting tools that mean you have to press down and slice through have never worked for F, because he doesnt seem to understand that he needs to move his fingers out the way. The sawing way of cutting works much better for him. This may even lead onto sawing wood..

Observe your child and see what what interests them, it could be anything and involve them letting them concentrate when it happens.. it is the backbone of how Montessori works both at home and in nurseries...

Sewing with children

The weather is getting better now.. thank goodness...

but only in the last couple of days..and the children have been off school for nearly 3 weeks for the Easter holidays so its been a lonnggg hoilday, and of course, no TV :-)

We have done many activities indoors that have had differing degrees of success but one that really went well with both my sons, aged now 3 and 7 was sewing.

Sewing cards and threading beads didnt really provide enough interest for my boys earlier on in the holidays so i raided my cupboards and found two embroidery hoops and some calico that i haven't used yet..combine that with some left over embroidery thread and hey presto..a sewing activity.

This is what my 3 year old son achieved

and this is what my nearly 8 year old got up to

Unfortunately i didnt have enough room on my camera to take the end results of what they did but it kept them concentrating for about 45 mintues or so.. notice the difference in the size of stitches...

i think this worked for them better because it was more realisitic.. i shall do another post on realistic activities compared to pretend activities another time as its an important part of how Montessori works.

also i'd like to share the sewing my daughter, A, aged 5 has done but i'll wait until she has finished :-)

If your children don't want to eat fruit..try this!

Well.. it was bound to happen sooner or later...

Fruit is officially boring in our household. Especially apples for some unknown reason, which i found very awkward because they are a good staple to have in the house.. and they don't go squiggy in your bag..... unless they are ancient!

However, boredom and apples are a problem no more!

May i introduce the apple peeler! aka apple carnage device...:-)

The nursery where i trained had one of these but it was much bigger. I found this on Amazon, and the children love it! The first time F, 3, used it he was gob smacked! He laughed and laughed and then he stuffed his mouth with the peel and the sliced apple. You can't see it here, but the apple is sliced into a spiral shape that even amazes my eldest, nearly 8. and because they all now partake in preparing the apples, of course they want to eat them! Problem solved! Everyone's happy. All you do is pull the corkscrew bar back  just push an apple onto the three spikes and then let your child turn the handle and in one go the apple is sliced, cored and peeled. Magic!

The Montessori Method encourages children to partake in the preparation of their own food from an early age and this is a great way to encourage them to partake in fruit/snack preparation.

We also found this apple slicing and coring device on Amazon too.. but i think the children prefer the above device more because its just more fun, (and once set up easier to use)

There are of course loads of food preparation activities you can do with children of varying ages and anyone reading this if you have others that you use in your home i would love to hear about them! Please feel free to leave comments!

Montessori creates calm and gives the opportunity to concentrate

One afternoon when returning late from the dreaded school run after being stuck in heavy traffic for ages, i returned with all 4 children to a dark, cold and empty house. My husband was out for the day on business and i had fed up, tired and very hungry children bickering and fighting with each other as i tried my best to step over the chaos and cook the dinner. The noise and tears continued for some time until my eldest son, J, aged 7, noticed i was busy chopping vegetables and enquired what i was doing. When i replied i was trying to cook the dinner he offered to help. It did occur to me to say, no as i really wanted to get the whole affair over with as quickly as possible, however i handed him a peeler and some potatoes and it instantly pulled him away from the squabbles with his siblings, he sat in silence for a good 20 minutes and actually, he did a really good job peeling the spuds.

The best way of explaining what happened and how something such as potato peeling was able to direct him away from destructive behaviour is to quote Montessori herself:

"In order to learn the child must first be able to concentrate...but no one can force concentration upon her. She develops concentration by fixing her attention on some task she is performing with her hands..." taken from 'Look at the Child' by Aline D.Wolf.

What the Montessori method has made me realise is that these precious opportunities to concentrate are around us everywhere and in many everyday, real activities that are not just done for the sake of it, but to actually contribute to household family life.

It really helped me get the dinner ready sooner and no-one even noticed that some of the potatoes were more peeled than others..;-)