Montessori material: what are they and how to use them at home

The Montessori material has been didactically designed to meet the educational needs of children in the classroom , based on both their interest and the age of each one of them. They are very interesting materials , because although they look like games, they are tools with which children can improve their skills and learn a multitude of things in a fun way. At PregDream we tell you a little more about these materials and how you can use them at home .

MONTESSORI MATERIAL IS NOT JUST FOR BABIES

Montessori material adapts to the developmental stage of the child , which means that some are intended for the youngest and others for older children . These materials can be manipulative, sensory, playful, repetitive and progressive, that is, they go from less to greater difficulty.

With Montessori materials, children’s knowledge is expanded in multiple areas, such as practical life, sensory realm, language, mathematics and cosmic education . Different materials correspond to each area and each one of them is adapted to the age of the person who is going to use them.

With these materials, not only the expansion of knowledge is achieved, but also other important aspects such as autonomy , learning by mistake and the concentration that can develop after manipulating a material.

Adapt your home to suit your child so that they can explore their surroundings and move freely , as long as their safety is fully guaranteed. Explain the consequences of his actions at all times in words that he can understand, remember that this method is out of rewards and punishments.

Here we present a material of the most characteristic areas of this method. We advise you to inform yourself very well about the method and the materials that you are going to use before using it at home, because if you do not use it correctly it loses all its effectiveness.

SENSORY DOMAIN: BUTTON CYLINDERS

This material is intended for children between the ages of 2 and 5. Its objective is to improve the dimensional visual range and fine motor skills, that is, the ease for children to hold small items with precision with their fingers, such as a pencil for writing .

Thus, it consists of a wooden box with holes of different sizes and thicknesses . The child must fit the pieces into their respective holes, taking into account their height and thickness. Thus, skills such as eye-hand coordination and concentration will be worked on.

Remember that the child decides how much and when he learns , he must take it as a game for the method to be effective. In this case, an attempt is made to work on the senses of touch and sight, but with other materials, smell, taste and even the auditory sense are also worked, thus enhancing the child’s five senses .

PRACTICAL LIFE MATERIALS

At home, you have a lot of practical life activities without having to require any materials but that are included in the philosophy of the Montessori method , such as ordering, dressing, sweeping , collecting, etc.

The objective of this area is to enhance the autonomy and independence of the child , as well as having to carry out tasks with responsibility to develop both their physical and mental capacities. The respect is also promoted in this area.

By explaining why they have to do certain actions (such as taking their food plate to the kitchen, or throwing their snack garbage in the trash can), you can get them to understand that you have to do things right and create an environment of positive discipline.

LANGUAGE MATERIAL: STORIES

The stories are affordable materials for everyone and very useful to awaken the imagination and creativity of children. In addition, they help to improve both reading comprehension and writing by visualizing the words that they themselves read.

In addition, with stories, you also help your children discover activities that may interest them and develop new skills. They exercise memory , facilitate understanding and even help with the assimilation of content.

MATH MATERIALS: ABACUS

The abacus is a material based on an old calculator. Being a manipulable material with many colors, it is ideal for children’s mathematical learning , as it causes them a lot of interest and curiosity.

With this material, children can easily learn something as useful as the operations of decimal numbers such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and the position of numbers once they have internalized the notion of quantity. The horizontal abacus is the most used for the mathematical learning of the little ones.

At home, it can be used using as a reference the ages of the family members closest to the child , the house number and even the foot number. Thus, your child will have to represent these quantities in the material and it will be fun for him while he is learning the basic notions of mathematics. In the same way, you can be the person who puts a number on the abacus, and your child is the one who has to write it to show that he is internalizing it.

COSMIC EDUCATION MATERIALS: THE EARTH GLOBE

Cosmic education materials include subjects such as geography, botany, history, art, biology, and music , among others. With the globe, children can see where they are located and can learn different geographical locations around the world in a fun way.

At home, while you are telling a story to your child, you can point out the different places as well as the continents that the characters travel through and this will help them better assimilate the geographical content . They will realize the proximity and distance of the places and they will conceive it as a very entertaining activity.

In short, to be able to apply this method correctly, you must trust your little one, follow his rhythms, not limit him, observe him and eliminate the word “no” from your vocabulary making him understand things instead. Try to create an environment of love and affection , give him freedom and example and do everything possible so that he has contact with nature. All these keys are essential if you want to use the Montessori method at home. Let’s do it!