Homemade Montessori

[Brighids Flame]

Hi! I'm a future Montessori teacher, current Montessori enthusiast, and for 9 months I've been making my own Montessori and Montessori-esque materials. I am a (formerly full-time, now part-time) nanny for a 3.5 year old boy, and over the summer I turned one of the bedrooms in my house into a mini classroom. I have different shelves for sensorial, practical life, math, language, and cultural, as well as a shelf for art supplies and an easel. I am interested in making quality items that will last many years (as I plan to continue having a Montessori classroom-at-home when we have children of our own). So far I've made sandpaper letter boards, some tens digits cards, and set up quite a few different pouring, spooning, and stringing activities using materials purchased at thrift shops and craft/hardware stores.

Whether you homeschool full-time, or just like having a few Montessori activities around for your little ones, I'd love to hear what materials you use, what your set-up is like, and creative ways that you are bringing the Montessori method home!!

[Yaliina]

[Ella Enchanted]

[Brighids Flame]

Here's something you can do with items you already have lying around the house:

Push Pin Shapes: In this activity, the child uses a push pin (any thumbtack with a handle on it will do, and you can use a larger or smaller sized handle depending on the child's skill level) to punch along the outline of a shape on a piece of construction paper. If they've punched the holes close enough together, and stayed on the lines, the shape will punch out once they're finished. This activity can be used for a wide range of ages (3-7 is ideal) and any number of subjects. Children can punch out continents and make their own map of the world, shapes and parts of a flower to make their own nomenclature cards, letters to make their own movable alphabet, the possibilities are endless. Some sites recommend using a carpet remnant underneath the construction paper, but I think the Montessori school I attended as a child simply used a piece of corkboard. This activity improves fine motor skills, prepares a child for writing, and familiarizes them with whatever shape they're punching out. The best part when you're doing homemade Montessori is that you can allow the child to assist you with creating the new materials for your classroom. The child I watch positively glows when using the sandpaper letters that he helped me construct, and is proud to show them to anyone who visits. If he would like to participate, this Sunday I'm going to be doing the push pin activity to make some shapes for making our own nomenclature cards. I'll simply sit down a begin doing one myself, and if he shows an interest and asks to participate, I will give him one to try.

Materials needed:

Push Pin(s)

Construction Paper

Markers (for tracing or drawing the shapes on the construction paper)

Pictures printed from the web/Household items(lids, boxes, playing cards, etc.) trace around them on the construction paper

Corkboard/thick foam/thick cardboard/thick felt/carpet remnants about 6"x8"

Even if you don't have all of these materials lying around, this activity will cost you less than $5 at a craft or hardware store, and will last you many years! There are a number of websites that detail this activity further, so if you'd like more information, googling something like push pin shapes montessori will get you plenty of results!

Do either of you lovely audience members have any questions about making your own Montessori materials, or suggestions for activities that could be both fun and relatively simple to make?

[aishamama]

I love your ideas. Do you have any pictures of your mini classroom?