5 Minimalist Montessori Lesson's for Preschool Mom Life I Hill Country Homestead Texas
Montessori preschool’s are a great option for young children. The Montessori Method has been proven and is highly popular for educating children far above their grade level. Montessori school isn’t always an option when it comes to finances and for some families it just makes more sense to educate the children at home until school age. The secret is, Montessori doesn’t have to be fancy or cost a lot of money. The lessons for children ages 1-3 are fairly simple and don’t require a teaching certificate. Follow these 5 easy presentations and give your toddler the Montessori head start they deserve.
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Vocabulary Nomenclature - Language
This is the most basic lesson that can be given to a child. Basic nomenclature cards are the first lesson in any Montessori Language portfolio and the variables are endless. Classically, fruit and vegetable nomenclature are introduced first. Once the child has mastered the set, you move on to another set. There is no limitation to the extent of their vocabularies at this age. Let the child set the pace. Observe how they choose to use and interact with the vocabulary and move on or stay in the same lesson at the prompting of the child. We change out the set about once a week to keep things interesting. The cards featured are authentic Montessori nomenclature cards you can order off a Montessori website like Montessori Outlet or save some money and order basic realistic Fruit Photo Cards here on Amazon. If you have lots of time, shoot some photos of real fruit and laminate! There are also hundreds of beautiful printable sets available online from other home school Mom’s and Montessori teachers. A few good places to start are…
Sound Work - Phonics
This is an activity that should be repeated daily until your child can read well. Some Montessori classrooms use a sound-book at circle time daily and sound work always holds a lot of space on Montessori classroom shelves. Sound work is so important because, well, everyone wants their kids to read, right? The more emphasis on sounds at this age the better. With the right practice and repetition it is normal to see most children reading small phonetic books between 4-5 years of age. We usually use the sound work pictured, a sound book and a carefully selected phonics show on YouTube (gasp), yes we use the television. Amazon has a really nice and basic phonics set here or you can get an awesome Montessori set at Living Montessori here.
Cutting Work - Art
This is a great activity to always have available. Cutting work is a very early lesson in the Montessori classroom and for good reason. They love to cut at this age. If they are given a lesson and allowed to practice at will, the desire to be destructive with scissors disappears. Ever had a child cut their own hair or anything else they were not supposed to cut? This is usually a desire to cut being acted upon and could have been avoided with the opportunity to cut in a productive way. Cutting work is always on a shelf in a Montessori classroom and children are able to choose it whenever they feel the ‘need’. Do this in your home as well and the urge to cut can be practiced in a positive manner by your toddler and you can avoid any potential cutting disasters! Use child safe scissors and small strips of paper that will be easy for little hands to hold and manipulate.
Practical Life - Fine Motor
Any activity that uses those tiny pincer skills is great for repetition. We had a lot of dried okra pods which are a lot of fun for a toddler to seed. If you are short on okra you can use beads or beans. If your child struggles with putting things in their mouth you will need to fully supervise this activity until they have grown out of the mouthing stage. Be creative with this and watch to see when your child becomes bored with it, then change the activity. Some creative ideas would be dried corn on the cob and removing the kernels, removing seeds from a small pumpkin (shown on cover), or interesting beans, lentils or seeds in a dish to pinch into another dish.
Math - Rote Counting
Repetition in this activity has similar importance to sound work, practice daily makes perfect. Counting the numbers in order and number recognition are the direct aim when presenting numbers toddlers. When numerals 1-10 are mastered by the child you can introduce counting quantity with interesting objects to keep numbers interesting.
Montessori can be pretty easy, right!? Montessori demystified, it really can be for everyone! Have any questions on execution or anything else? Ask away!
