How To Incorporate Montessori Methods Into Your Daily Life

Montessori became a huge fascination of mine very early on in my pregnancy. As a child I was not very confident and that led to a lot of my anxieties as I got older. I found Montessori as a way to build my child’s confidence at a young age.

Today I want to explain what Montessori really is but also how you can incorporate it into your daily life

If you are a brand new mama with a newborn or you already have young children and want to find new ways for them to learn. I want to share tips with you and really share that it doesn’t have to be this big scary thing. It doesn’t have to be expensive, it doesn’t have to be an all or nothing thing. Montessori is all about you an your child and what’s going to benefit them best.

So let’s talk about Montessori YOUR way.

*links below are affiliate links, I make a small commission off of purchases made. *

What is Montessori ?

The dictionary definition of Montessori is, “a system of education for young children that seeks to develop natural interests and activities rather than use formal teaching methods”. Now that seems like a wide response right? Really Montessori just focuses on promoting independence and growth at an individual pace. What I took from this and what Montessori schools will teach is real life situations and and tasks. Things like putting on your own coat and shoes or helping you cook in the kitchen.

Why Montessori?

I feel most families incorporate some of these methods in some way anyways but the new generation have really fully invested themselves in Montessori and gentle parenting. Like most humans, I will slip up in my ways of trying to incorporate it. Some things I just can’t fully agree with but that’s okay.

Things I CANT agree with

A lot of Montessori parents believe you shouldn’t baby proof, that your children should be able to climb and wonder as they please. As a new mom, I can’t get down with that lol. My nerves just can’t take that as I can always picture worst case. The Pikler Climbers make me SO nervous and they are SO popular for 1st birthdays in the Montessori world. We did however go with the Nugget which is a softer option in case of a fall.

I also don’t follow the 100% natural materials for toys or the no noise toys. I would LIKE to but I’m not strict on it especially as my son gets other and is interested in movies like Toy Story and Cars. The natural toys is really just a sensory experience that is great for young children. As far as the no noise toys, that is also benefits best for young children to help keep over stimulation at bay. Of course its also nice for parents, we all know how annoying those toys can be lol.

Ways You can incorporate Montessori

From the beginning the best way i found to practice Montessori methods was the Lovevery Play Kit Subscription. These toys offer open ended play and independence even in the early months. I personally really wish I would have started my subscription from the very beginning and I will for any future children I may have.

Baby Led Weaning:

This is also I great way to practice independence early on. We personally went with traditional baby food to start with and switched at 9 months. I don’t KNOW for sure since I didn’t try sooner, but I don’t think my son would have been ready to start right at 6 months. That’s 100% up to you and your childs doctor.

At Their Level:

From pretty early on as well you can start making everything at the level of your child. Your babies cups, bowls, spoons, snacks, all with in reach for them.

At their level also comes into play with speaking to them, what would build your confidence more when speaking to someone. The ability to look them straight in the eye or having to look up as they tower over you? Think about things in that way a lot more when it comes to your kids and your will start making small changes just from that.

Now, as our kids get older, the ability to cook small things for themselves, or use the bathroom without help are huge confidence builders. I plan to set up a whole area for him to be able to have what he needs to use the bathroom with out help.

Also, the Montessori kitchen towers OR the IKEA kitchen are great options for meal prep. Of course always supervising but kids are really a lot more capable than we think.

Some parents also set up a “Snack Station” just an area all the things they need for a meal would be, maybe even a pitcher so they can get their own drink.

The Montessori kitchen tower is what we purchased for our current home set up. he can then climb up to the counter.

Montessori Play:

Montessori is incorporated A LOT in play. One way is open ended toys as we talked about earlier. Lovevery has the best. They are also great because they come with the PERFECT toys for the age group and when you get your new box the old toys can be put away. Great way to use toy rotation in your toy room or toy area.

Toy Rotation:

Rotating toys keeps the space less cluttered and keeps the toys new and interesting to our kids. You ever seen a kid with a over load of toys and they tell you they are bored ? That was definitely me as a kid and I see it with my siblings now as well. I want to avoid that with my son as much as possible to maximize the life of his toys and keep him from having an over whelming amount of them.

Toy Shelf:

When doing your toy rotation, another popular Montessori method is the toy shelf. one toy or activity on each shelf that is in complete reach for the child to decide what they will play with and when.

I love this method and have practiced it from the very beginning.

Sensory Play:

I just wrote an article on this not very long ago, we LOVE sensory play and it is the perfect way to add real life objects and activities that stimulate the mind into your routine.

We will be getting the IKEA sensory table as a Christmas gift for our little man but we have just done sensory play outside this far and it has worked for us.

Thats it you guys! I could go on and on with this topic forever but I don’t want to bore you. If you like this one, head over to my instagram and let me know so I can write another one for you! I am definitely NOT an expert nor am I claiming to be. I just really wanted you all to see it doesn’t have to be scary or hard. It can be added to your daily life with out spending a ton.

I hope you all enjoyed, ill see you next week!

Check out my Sensory Play article or my Lovevery Articles

XOXO
GabbyKoren.