The Creche
The Montessorian crèche is a place of first learnings that become positive preconditions for subsequent learning experiences and knowledge of the world; it is a place of relationship and training of the personal self. The Montessori crèche allows children to participate in five types of experiences:
- exploratory;
- practical life;
- language;
- fine motor development;
- sensory development.
Exploratory activities
Exploratory activities are designed especially for the young child who is an insatiable explorer of his own space, constantly searching for objects to manipulate, he makes the first movements to reach what interests him and, when he manages to get it, he wants to analyse it, hold it in his hand and make it interact with his body and the rest of the environment.
The objectives of the exploratory activities are:
- Develop the first grasps of the hand (flat and fist)
- Developing the first motor skills
- Discover how the world works
Materials used:
- Mobile
- Rattles
- Balls
- Natural materials of any kind
- Objects to tow or push
- Basket of treasures
- Heuristic game
Practical life
“Doing for real”, this is the practical life: it’s doing without fiction, taking the adult’s action as a model, using tools suitable for the child’s small hands.
The objectives of practical life activities are:
- To develop fine and exact hand movements
- Perform movements with precision, commitment and attention
- Bring out the child’s personality
Activities and materials used:
- Large pouring activities
- Personal care activities (washing your hands, combing your hair, dressing, undressing, putting on your shoes)
- Environmental care activities (sweeping, cleaning, washing, drying, dusting, rolling up a mat and storing)
- Kitchen-related activities (cutting, crushing with a pestle, grating, kneading, grinding, squeezing)
- Setting the table
- Relationship education (greeting, apologizing, speaking softly, waiting, thanking)
- Pretend play
Language
The young child has an innate propensity to assimilate the spoken language. Language activities facilitate the child, allowing him/her to better assimilate the language, syntax and grammar of the language with which he/she comes into contact.
The objectives of language are:
- To enrich the vocabulary
- Achieving knowledge of grammatical links
Activities and materials used:
- Telling stories and nursery rhymes
- Singing and talking
- Reading books
- Nomenclature
Fine motor development
The hand is that part of the body that allows the child to realize his ideas and give shape to the matter around him. Fine motor skills is the ability to control one’s body on specific movements made with the hands and fingers. These movements, extremely small and precise, require a high capacity of concentration on the part of the child.
The objectives of fine motor development are:
- Use the finest pretensions of the hand to manipulate objects
- Develop manual skills
- Develop eye-manual coordination
- Develop the first logical assessments
- Develop personal autonomy
- Stimulate character maturation
- Stimulate the ability to concentrate and perseverance
- Overcoming difficulties
- Solving problems
Activities and materials used:
- Open-close
- Slip-Through
- Insert-extract
- Screw-unscrew
- Puzzle
- Flat joints
- Matryoshka
- Graphic and pictorial activities
Sensorial development
Thanks to the 5 senses it is possible to perceive the surrounding environment and their development plays an important role in the child. Sensorial materials promote the exercise and development of the senses, allowing the child to explore and learn about the world around him.
The goals of sensory development are:
- To refine the senses
- Knowing and distinguishing the differences of the environment
Materials used:
- Balls of different materials
- Musical instruments
- Solid joints
- Colour box
- Smooth and rough tablets
- Coloured cylinders
- Smell bottles
- Sound cylinders
- Pink tower
- Brown stair
Kindergarten
The Montessori method of education is described as “cosmic method” because it goes far beyond just the acquisition of knowledge and developmental growth, to reach the development of the whole person. This allows the child to have a clear knowledge of the world and himself. This is done through the use of scientific materials.
These materials are:
- Simple
- Interesting
- Self-correcting
Practical life
Practical means basic, useful, relevant. Life stands for the way of living. Practical life activities are just that: the child learning to do useful activities in a targeted way. Development takes place through repetition.
The objectives of practical life activities are:
- To encourage the child to perform and repeat activities not for the end result, but for the process
- The child develops a positive attitude
- Development of independence
- Development of concentration
- Development of coordination
- Development of self-esteem
- Physical development
- Development of the order
- The child develops a critical sense towards his own work
- Learning to make smart choices, make decisions and persevere
Materials used:
- Pouring
- Threading beads
- Watering plants
- Sweeping the floor
- Dressing frames
- Transferring with tweezers
- Pegs on a basket
Sensorial
Everything we do involves the use of our senses. Children discover the world around them through their senses. Knowledge and learning are slow processes that take place through direct experience, in fact the quality of knowledge is directly proportionate to the quality and quantity of the experience and training that the child receives.
The objectives of sensory education are:
- To support the child’s development
- Encourage the child to use the hands and senses
- Educating the senses through contrasting stimuli
- Learning to compare, contrast and discriminate
- Building abstract concepts
Materials used:
- Touch boards
- Pink tower
- Smell bottles
- Knobbed cylinders
- Sound boxes
Language
The language area deals with the development of the ability to understand and use language to communicate. Having good spoken language skills facilitates the development of reading and writing skills.
The objectives of language are:
- To communicate ideas
- Understanding your society and culture
- Maintaining social relations
- Classify objects
- Encourage reasoning
Materials used:
- Three part cards
- Insets
- Sandpaper letters
- Large movable alphabet
Mathematics
Mathematics material introduces concrete learning before abstract learning. The tools allow self-correction and isolate one concept.
The objectives of mathematics are:
- To learn topological concepts
- Develop awareness of size, volume, area capacity, length, etc
- Learn quantities and numbers
- Mathematical operations
Materials used:
- Number rods
- Sandpaper numbers
- Spindle box
- Numbers and counters
- Beads
- Sequin boards
Cosmic education
By teaching subjects such as history, geography, botany and science, we present the world to children in the most concrete and sensorial way possible.
The objectives of the cosmic are:
- To know the world around us
- Learning scientific words about things in nature
- Learning to orient yourself over time
- Learning the names of land and water forms
Materials used:
- Zoology cabinet
- Life cycles
- Botany cabinet
- Sandpaper globe
- Water and land forms
- Child’s birthday walk
