Montessori Flowers

Most mom friends of mine were excited to set up the perfect nursery for their firstborn child. It’s a natural part of the nesting phase before welcoming a new baby. I was no different, but the nursery I created looked nothing like the nurseries of my friends. One of Maria Montessori's key concepts was the importance of having child-sized furniture at a child’s level. A traditional nursery is set up largely for the convenience of the adult, while a Montessori nursery is truly set up for the child. The floor bed: I have already shared a post about the most striking difference between a Montessori nursery and a traditional nursery--the lack of a crib! We have a mattress right on the floor which Calvin was able to get in and out of on his own soon after he began crawling. The changing area: No changing table in a Montessori nursery! Ideally, the changing area should be in the bathroom so that the baby associates toileting with the bathroom from early on, but we have a

In a Montessori classroom, the final step in a child’s cycle of activity is cleaning up the work and putting it back where it belongs. I’ve had parents of three-year-olds in my class who were quite surprised to hear how proficiently their child could put their work back on the same shelf where they found it and roll their rug and return it to the rug basket. One would think that a room full of young children would be a disaster at the end of the day (and trust me, we do have those days), but for the most part the children take care of the classroom and make sure everything is in its proper place. “But why doesn’t my child do this at home?” I have been asked. After doing some thinking about it, I have decided that the main reason is probably too much stuff. For everything to be in its proper place, it first needs to have a specific place where it belongs. This is incredibly hard to do when a child has 500 toys. Perhaps an exaggeration, but I remember the daunting task of cleaning

In my last post, I talked about the Montessori floor bed. Part of the reasoning behind a floor bed is to give the child freedom of movement, allowing him the independence to get in and out of bed. For the same reason, Montessorians try to avoid restricting the child’s movement in other ways as well. We try not to have the child in any sort of seat or confined space which he cannot get out of when he chooses. This means no playpens, no Bumbo chairs, no bouncy seats.  From birth, we tried whenever possible to have Calvin on the floor so that he was free to move his arms, legs, and head around. One week old Calvin on his Topponcino, placed on his movement mat next to a mirror.  Here he is looking at his Munari mobile. Of course, there are situations in which we must confine our child. In the car, for instance, a car seat to keep a child safe is obviously important. However, we chose a car seat that is permanently in the car rather than one that can pop out of a base so the c

Walk into a Montessori nursery and the first thing you will probably notice is the lack of a crib. Friends thought I was crazy not to have a crib in our nursery. Honestly, when I first read about Montessori floor beds, I was quite surprised. A Montessori floor bed is pretty much what it sounds like: a bed directly on the floor. Ours is just a mattress on the floor, but there are plenty of cute floor bed frames for a more finished look. But what is the point of putting a baby on the floor instead of in a crib like normal people? A floor bed promotes independence . Once a child is crawling, he can choose when to get out of bed and do so independently instead of waiting for an adult to let him out. A floor bed encourages free movement . We are so excited for our baby to crawl for the first time or take her first steps, and placing the child in a crib inhibits her ability to do so. In my opinion, a floor bed is more respectful of the child than a crib is. I have heard frie