Montessori in the Learning Room

A little re-arranging and the learning room gave up enough space for our Montessori shelves and activities. In time (and with more $$ in the budget) we will add more activities. I think this is a good start, and already I see good fruit from this. The children are very orderly here, as compared with the rest of the house. Even Peanut seems to respect this need for orderliness. It’s a mystery to me, because if I had panned 180 degrees with the camera you could see proof that a respect for order is more elusive in other parts of the house. I’ve had the area set up for about 2 weeks now.

Peanut has his mat out and enjoys a “squishy” puzzle. The children use their mats to define a space that is exclusively theirs. An activity is brought out and enjoyed. After they are done, the activity is put away and the mat is rolled up and put away as well. This is working very well for the time being.
The Matreshka dolls were an unexpected hit! Sparkly can’t get enough of them – he likes to separate, sort, arrange, match the design on the top of the doll with the design on the bottom. Peanut is surprised every time he opens one and a smaller one pops out!

The lock box has been a neat addition.

Sparkly really enjoys this activity. There are small nails, a hammer, some shapes (tangram shapes) with little holes in the middle for the nail, and a corkboard. I think it will be very good for his small motor skill development. Since he loves the activity he is inclined to be very patient and persistent – more good traits! I was so pleased to see him gently helping Peanut today. This went on for about a half an hour. I got out the camera after watching quietly.

All in all things seem to be functioning very well. We’re all really enjoying the new activities, and Peanut especially is enjoying having things down on his level so he can be occupied during lesson time.