Q & A with Montessori Minute’s John Bowman

Really, anything of sensory interest that is safe for kids to hold and manipulate can go in a sensory bin. There are a world of things you can use besides the omnipresent plastic items. Sea shells, pine cones, interesting rocks / gems (many are very cheap), silk flowers, marbles, small wooden crafts shapes, spiny rubber balls, shot glasses, small glass imitation crystal spheres, little ceramic figures, orange & lemon peels, spices, sand. coffee, unpopped popcorn, wood & glass beads, cotton balls, pieces of different fabrics – just try things. Be sure to include various spoons & types (metal, glass) and sizes of cups so your kids can pour and spoon up material. Tongs and tweezers will encourage the opposed thumb grasp as a preparation for writing.

Take photos of some of the items you put in the bin and have your child match up the items to their pictures-  this starts the process of developing abstract thought. Make name labels saying hard, soft, rough, smooth, etc – any words that describe things in the bin – and have your child match items to their descriptive terms.

If your child is starting the reading Sequence I describe in Montessori At Home!, you can find objects with phonetic names – hat, bat, dog, pig, mug, cup, etc. – and make name cards your child can read after she matches the items to their cards. If your child is into numbers, you can include up to 10 identical items in the sensory bin and have your child use cards with either colored dots or numerals on them to match up specific numbers of the objects or match amounts to numerals.

Sensory Bins are like many early learning activities for home – they can be expanded in all kinds of ways to teach a world of things using one material!

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Q…

I am excited to give these activities a try.  I was wondering, is it best to try and group all of the materials in one location, or in different places?  We don’t have a specific school room, just an "area" so most of the time school items are put up, but perhaps it would be better to leave Montessori materials where they can always be accessed.

A…

It is ideal if Montessori activities – which are really just self-contained materials – are displayed on open low shelves where your child can easily access them for repetition & independent work whenever desired. Really, any good manipulative or learning material can be put in its own nice box, bowl, bag, or on a tray and now it can be a Montessori material!

Montessori is both an approach and a very practical way of presenting young children with interesting materials that fit their developmental needs. There is a good bit of ‘theater’ in Montessori that rarely gets talked about. The way the teacher / parent slowly and quietly carries and calmly, slowly demonstrates an activity with exaggerated movements; the way each material has its own special spot on the shelf; the use of glass, wood, ceramic, woven textile, metal and other materials besides the ever-present plastic; creating a work space first – all these seemingly small elements add up to an experience young kids find fascinating! Rituals are designed largely to help participants focus on an activity or message. Whether it’s a religious service, preparing woodworking tools in a shop every morning, or the seating and introductions in a corporate meeting – rituals help people focus. The use of a Montessori materials is its own little ritual, with the goal of helping the child begin to focus on the activity. The materials themselves isolate experiences and activities to further encourage focused concentration. It is this attention focusing that, over time, develops into a heightened ability to learn anything!

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Q…

I’m pretty new to the Montessori type schooling.  I don’t remember how I stumbled across this blog but I really have fell in love!!!  My 3 yo and 2 yo LOVE the tot tray activities.  I have a small problem sometimes though…my 2 yo wants to do EVERYTHING the 3 yo does, even though she is developmentally unable to do it. Do I try to direct her to her age appropriate activities or continue to let her attempt something that she can not do?  Thank You!!!

A…

Yes, you need to provide activities suited to both kids developmental levels. The 2 y/o will still sometimes want to do what Big Sis is doing, that’s just siblings. Montessori materials are designed as a progression of increasingly complex skills and information. Over 200 activities are described in my book, Montessori At Home!, so you should be able to find activities for both. Also, some activities can be modified to appeal to both your kids ate the same time, you just have to be creative.

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Q…

John, I really love this first Montessori Minute. I had no idea what Montessori meant until I read this post and have begun to explore this fantastic way of teaching and learning. My question: Is the sensorial learning meant to try and engage as many of the senses at once as possible or is it to individually stimulate the senses to eventually collaborate together for learning? Hope that makes sense. Thank you very much! Look forward to reading all your future posts.

A…

So glad you like the first Montessori Minute! Carisa is a treasure and I am honored to have a place on 1+1+1=1. Montessori really is a wonderful approach to helping the natural development of children. I saw so many children make dramatic gains in self-esteem, muscle control & coordination, and brain development over the years using Montessori environments, all guided by their own ‘inner teachers’.

Most Montessori materials are self-contained activities. This helps children focus their attention right from the start. Most of the Sensory activities focus in on one or two senses, which again encourages concentration. The trick is adding conscious decision-making based on sensory input. Recognizing similarities and differences, and then gradations of sensory stimuli and acting on these perceptions builds strong brain nerve networks. Purposeful activity is a recurring theme of Montessori. The blindfold really helps a child isolate and concentrate on their other senses. Of course, many activities engage multiple senses, which is also great. Experience = strong brain nerve networks. Purposeful, decision-making activity based on sense perceptions = even stronger brain nerve networks! Hope that helps.

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Q…

Carisa, I love that you and John are working together to bring us these great ideas on doing Montessori at home! Thank you!!

I have an 8yob (3rd grade), a 6yog (1st grade), an almost 4yog and a 2-1/2yob.

Carisa, I would like to know more about how you include the Montessori activities in your schedule with the older kids. Is it every day? Are you all working at the same time, with you flitting around between them, or do you have a focused one-on-one time with each of them? And how do you keep everything organized in your head? I know you’ve written several posts on storing Tot Tools, etc, but I still feel overwhelmed with keeping it all straight and planning for 4 kids.

John, my questions are about age appropriateness. Can activities like the ones shown above be used for both of my young children? Or do I need to vary or extend the activities for my 4 year old, and how much? Also, the issue I struggle with most is my 4 year old finishing her "work" quickly and then not being interested in doing it again, even on another day. For example, she’ll do a sensory bin one day and then she’s over it…she’s ready to move on to the next thing. Which I love! I’m not trying to hold her back, but as we move along, I see that she needs more direct instruction or hands-on help, and that also frustrates her because she’s very independent. In other words, mentally, she’s ready to move on, but physically she’s not, if that makes any sense (and there are no physical issues…she’s just an older 3yo trying to be 6yo). 🙂 Any advice on working with my almost 4yo and keeping her interested but also challenged?

A {from John}…

I’ll do my best on your questions. In Montessori At Home! I have a page titled ‘Ages & Activities’ that gives a rough idea of which activities are typically appropriate at which ages. Children at different ages and developmental levels definitely need different materials. My book has over 200 activities, so you should find something for each child! One of the beauties of Montessori is that you can have activities at varying skill levels out at the same time for the kids to choose among. They can do a different set of activities each day if they like! The idea is to trust their inner guide – that’s what Montessori did. When they find a material in their ‘Learning Sweet Spot’ (also in the book) that holds their attention, they use it until it is mastered then move to a slightly more challenging material / skill / information. This keeps them moving along. Self-contained, attractively put together Montessori materials have the nice feature of being really interesting to children, which adds to their focus. Repetition with materials a child likes is a really important part of Montessori – that’s how children achieve mastery. ALL young children are independent – that’s how they’re designed. Your 3 y/o should be using Practical Life and Sensory materials that interest her and hold her attention – try some out! These will develop her muscle control and give her successful experiences. Look through activity /material photos in the book with your kids and let them choose what they would
like to do. Hope that helps!

A {from Carisa}…

I am more Montessori based with the younger kiddos. Krash still does some, but it’s mainly Ladybug. Although I am entering into a new world soon and am going to begin continent studies with all 3 kids together using the Montessori method for that. I am also incorporating some Montessori based ideas into school this summer.

As for keeping my head straight-no way. Never. I always feel somewhat nuts! 😉

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Q…

I’m not sure if this is the best place to ask or not, but how can I determine which hand is dominant in an almost three year old who still uses both hands frequently for all types of  activities (throwing a ball, coloring, picking up toys, holding his cup, etc.)?

I’d like to work more on some of the fine motor skills needed for writing, but I want to make sure I’m encouraging the use of the "correct" hand for him.

A…

Some children start displaying dominance by one year of age. By 2-3 yrs. many develop a clearly dominant hand. Others remain ambidextrous until 5-6 yrs. Most pediatricians agree that it is not a good idea to try to direct a child into right or left hand dominance. It is largely a matter of genetics, with the rest determined by each child’s individual nervous system development. Keep providing all the small muscle activities you can that your child enjoys and you’ll be giving him what he needs to develop. Hope that helps!

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Q…

Love the article — I remember hearing something about Montessori having a way they help teach children to properly hold their pencil. I have a 4 year old who insists on holding his pencil in a very funky way to write. He refuses to try to change and I was wondering what advise or fun activities John could give on helping him learn to hold his pencil properly. Thanks!

A…

I’ll try to give you some ideas about your 4 y/o’s ‘creative’ hand grasp. I bet there are many parents with the same question! A proper writing grasp, as shown in the post, is a pretty complex small muscle skill. That grasp usually doesn’t just happen all by itself. It takes progressive small muscle activities to prepare a child for executing the grasp. Your son may not have had enough small muscle practice yet, so how about we give him some?

TRANSFERS are some of the best activities for this. He can start by squeezing water up in a sponge and squeeze it out into another bowl. Then try pouring beans or rice back and forth between plain cups. Next he can transfer rice then water between pitchers with handles and lips. Kitchen tongs and ping pong balls moved between egg containers comes next, which opposes four fingers to the thumb. Then he can use tweezers to move beads or peas. Finally, an eyedropper to move colored water between cups. Enough practice with each of these in sequence will help get his fingers ‘educated’. You can also get your boy various sizes of nuts, bolts, and washers and let him put together the sizes that match (Left is loose, right is tight). A basket of various containers and lids will also be good. Drape clothing over the back of a chair & have him sit facing it and practice using fasteners of all kinds. Teach him how to cut a banana using a dull butter knife, & how to hold the knife. Spreading peanut butter on crackers would be good (in more ways then one!). Spooning up things will also help.

Any kind of small muscle activity (small blocks, legos, etc) he likes enough to repeat will help him develop the control and coordination required for that writing grasp. Once he is holding a pencil a little better, have him TRACE things – wooden crafts shapes, jar lids, cookie cutters, etc. Tracing is great prep for writing.

After a bunch of small muscle practice, if your son still isn’t quite using a correct writing grasp, there is a little plastic thingy that goes on a pencil and puts the fingers in the correct places. You don’t want to use this too long or it becomes a ‘crutch’, but it can help get things going in the right direction.

I hope that helps!

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