Montessori at home

[lisalu100]

I would like one room of my house to be predominantly for the children (19 month old I nanny for, and 3 month old DD).

I'm interested in doing Montessori work with them, but does that mean that I don't have toys for them, just work? What do others do? I guess I'm thinking about bigger items - a play kitchen, doll house etc. Will the toddlers still do their work, if they can see other toys? Or do you not have them, since they are play items, not real things? TIA

[jenfl]

We keep both "work" and toys around the house, and sometimes DD wants to play with toys, sometimes she wants to do her work. I'm not all-the-way Montessori, so we encourage imaginative play and have lots of toys about for her. She chooses what she's in the mood for.

[Down2Earth]

Play is work for a child.

[b_light]

We don't have a big enough house for a dedicated room, you are lucky! That will be great!

Our setup is (and for reference my son turns 3 in Dec.):

In our living room, we have a practical life bookshelf, next to it, his broom, mop, apron, dustpan, etc.

We have an easle with chalk, crayons, colored pencils, and a little dish with a sponge in it so he can erase the chalkboard. (I keep paints out of his reach, and we only do that occasionally).

We do have a tv, coffee table, and couch in the room, because it's our living room. The tv honestly hasn't been a problem (though if I had another choice, like a dedicated room, I would definitely not include it).

Inside the coffee table (it's open) is the four cylinder blocks and two mats. I originally bought the two mats when I was watching my nephew in our home. My nephew was 2 and my son was almost 2. The fought CONSTANTLY over toys and space. Literally every 5 minutes someone was hitting someone. Teaching the boys how to use those mats was an incredible sanity savior. And it gave them motivation to use them (the other boy would respect his space with the visual marker).

We have a "music" area with drums, a piano, a kid mp3 player, and two electronic toys I'd like to replace.

We have a large bookshelf for the entire family (it's wood, foot-long squares, 5 x 5, from IKEA). The bottom 2 rows hold toddler and sensorial materials. And soon, I'll be adding some language and math activities to the third row since he can now reach it.

We also have a toy kitchen in the room. It gets very little play. We also have very little food/pans/etc. for it. And, the thing he always wants to do with it is use his little wooden knife to cut apart the little wooden fruits and veggies. And I have no problems with that--it's strengthening his fine motor skills, right? I can probably count on one hand how many times he has pretended to wash his hands in the sink. Though he has free access to the kitchen and bathroom sink.

There is also a small table and bench. I'd really like to replace it with a smaller table and two chairs. (the bench is difficult for him to manuever).

Oh! Also in that room we have a small toddler chair (from tag toys), a hook on the wall for his jacket, and a spot for his shoes to go. But that's mostly because it happens to be the entrance to our home.

If it'd be at all helpful I can snap some photos of our setup to post.

[b_light]

I forgot, I also have a book basket with a few board books that I rotate and the pre-reader BOB books (his current favorite). We usually read books on the couch.

[SageR]

We don't have a dedicated playroom/schoolroom either. I have their things through out the house. There are books in every room.

Their imaginative play toys are in their bedroom. Downstairs we have art materials, musical instruments, blocks, games, and manipulatives. These are kept in a cupboard and on an open shelf in the great room and they use the floor, dining table, and coffee table to work.

I think interests vary from child to child and change over time. My toddler will play with anything. The only thing I notice him seeking out over anything else are books. But my 4 year old is far more interested in our "downstairs" materials than his "toys". The only time he even plays in the bedroom is if someone else is already in there. Interestingly he engages in plenty of pretend play - but, he prefers to use "found" objects as props. Given this experience I'd be really suprised if your children consistently chose pretend play over doing the real thing, but I wouldn't get rid of everything quite yet. I think it's really important that whatever materials/toys you do have that a good chunk of their time is unstructured.

[lisalu100]

Thanks for the insight from all of you - it was really helpful.

[IntuitiveJamie]

I don't have a room dedicated to work (that would be lovely). But I do have a closet in my sons room that has a bookshelf with work on it. It's set up like you would see in a Montessori classroom. I change out the work as I see a need too. Then the rest of the house is very Montessori friendly and I am always looking for more ways to make it so. Like a coat/sweater rack at the kids level and a shoe organizer . Other ideas and things we use are a broom and dust pan their size by mine and they help sweep up. Right now I only have a pretend vaccum for them but I am wanting to get a non motorized sweeper that actually picks stuff up. I don't have this right now, but I am trying to figure out a place to put their cups and bowls and drinks and snacks at their level so they can help themselves to food and drink. My only problem with that right now is that I dont know if I want them helping themselves to snacks all the time. I dont particularly want them snacking allll the time and they totally would; so I have not employed this quite yet. I try to keep my kids accountable for their stuff and their messes, which is just helpful, but also very Montessori (IMO). They are almost 4 and 2 and they both know to put their dishes in the sink and trash in the trash. I often let them help wash dishes. There are sooo many ideas and fun ways to do things! I am enjoying this way of teaching and parenting. I think it's very effective as well as fun! Good luck!