Switching it up - Intro to Montessori

April 17, 2020

This quarantine has made me realize many, many things. One of them is me realizing my 18 month old son’s toys are not encouraging him to learn.

These past 18 months we have been gifted and we have bought many toys for him. I am so thankful for all the wonderful toys he has received and he has definitely loved them all. 

Spending the majority of my time with Arian these past five weeks, I have realized that on any given day he only plays with about 10% of his toys!!! That means the majority of his toys are just taking up space and creating unnecessary mess throughout the house.

(Showing about half of his toys)

I know the importance of stimulating his brain and senses to encourage proper development. So many toys are constantly advertised as being able to boost a toddler’s brain. Sadly, many of them do not do that and may even lead to some delays. 

I am a big believer that not one size fits all. Some kids may do great with electronic toys and may actually learn a lot from them. Some others may not do so well and may need something different. 

Arian’s attention span is very short, as the majority of toddlers around his age are. Having so many toys to choose from on the daily becomes overwhelming and frustrating I am sure. He sometimes looks at all his toys and the only thing he does is throw them around the living room then moves on to play with something else, like my plant. 

I have decided it’s time to change things up and attempt something new. I have always known about Montessori and it’s benefits. After much research and deliberation I am taking a leap and changing his play area to a Montessori style play area!

Incorporating Montessori styled play involves offering your toddler an opportunity to develop their own capabilities. You give your toddler a chance to focus on one activity at a time, it is recommended that they do not have 6-10 toys/activities to choose from. After a few weeks/months you switch them around and introduce new (or in our case hidden) toys to you child. You do what is best for your little one and can adjust accordingly of course.

You also allow your child to choose their own activities. They are leading their play and do what they find most interesting. It's okay to encourage but never to force. I will go more into detail later on through our journey!

Some great reminders:

"Tell me and I will forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I will understand"
- Chinese Proverb

"Free the child's potential, and you will transform him into the world"
- Maria Montessori

I am excited to see how he will react and the new things he will learn! I am sure this might be hard at the beginning but I definitely think the end result will be well worth it. 

I will keep you posted on our journey and will continue  sharing more as the days go by! Let me know if you are currently doing Montessori or would like to try it out in the comments!

Enjoy your weekend πŸ’•

10 comments

  1. I discovered the same thing with my kids. They played with such a small percentage of their toys. I believe fewer toys is less overwhelming for our kiddos and Montessori styled play allows for our kids to feel more in control.

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    1. Definitely!! Excited to start our journey :)

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  2. Great Post! It’s always such a great idea to surround your child with toys that help them learn. We have a Learning Tree in our community that I absolutely love!!

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    1. Thank you so much for sharing this. I ordered a few things from website, so excited !

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  3. I've been taking care of kids as part time job. And its really a great factor that we consider educational toys for kids 😊♥️

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    1. So so important! So excited to see the changes!

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  4. Being a Montessori educator, I am of course biased towards implementing Montessori at home. It is a great child led way for children to learn, and is very beneficial to their overall development.

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  5. I didn't know this! My son has way too many toys but I always find him playing with no more than 5 or 6 of them. It's probably best that I remove the rest so he can really focus on the ones he so loves to play with!

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    1. Yes, I think many times they might even feel overwhelmed by so many. Good luck!

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