When I started looking into Montessori activities when my first son was a toddler, I thought that you need a lot of nice, beautifully looking wooden materials. Why? Because this is what I saw when googleling and looking through social media.
But, we were living at that time in Ethiopia and besides some hand-made basic wooden toys, there were no quality toys, not even to speak of Montessori materials available.
How about you? Have you been wondering which are the basic materials you need to start with Montessori-inspired play and learning at home?
What is an environment in which children really like to play? Where they can be creative, independently explore and not get bored?
The good news for you is – you do not need a lot to get started with Montessori-based learning at home. Montessori is much more than wooden materials.
It is as much about the learning approach, the methodology to set-up and present materials, the space you are using and your attitude as a parent and guide for your child.
So, what is it that you need to apply a Montessori-based learning approach?
What you need to get started with Montessori-based playful learning
- Prepare the space
- Prepare yourself
- How to present Montessori activities
- Useful materials you might want to collect
1. Prepare the space
Before even thinking to buy any new materials, start with decluttering your play and learning space. Yes, you hear me, less is more.
Montessori puts a lot of emphasis on the prepared environment that allows children to learn in a concentrated and productive way. If you would like your child to play more independently and not to jump from one activity to the other, it is worthwhile looking into your play environment.
The play and learning space should be safe so that children can independently explore without you having to say ‘no’ all the time. It should also be beautiful and inspiring. Children as adults are more attracted by things that are beautiful and look interesting. It should also have a basic structure and all materials should be visible and accessible, so that your child exactly knows where to find a specific toy or activity.
You can access my step-by-step decluttering guide here.
2. Prepare yourself
We often think about our children and have a tendency to forget about ourselves. However, for children to be calm, happy and able to concentrate, our own attitude and energy level is very important.
If you are feeling well as a parent, your child will feel it and also be well. Taking care of yourself and taking time-off is important and will directly impact how relaxed playing and learning takes place in your home.
At the same time, Montessori-based playful learning is based on a positive parenting approach. It provides children with the freedom to choose and to play and learn independently, but also sets clear boundaries and routines to provide a safe space. Positive parenting techniques will help you to motivate your child to learn and develop new skills. It will also help you to deal with tantrums and other challenging behaviors.
3. How to present (Montessori) activities
The way how you set-up and present an activity to your child is crucial to motivate your child to be interested to engage in it. We often spend a lot of time researching and preparing for activities, but when presenting them to our children, they do not want to do them or jump up again after two minutes.
Activities need to look interesting without overwhelming the child. The less distraction by other toys, screens and clutter, the better.
Present activities as something interesting and not something that needs to be done. Little stories and some surprises/magic are also helpful to catch the interest of the child. If the activity is new take the time to show it first and ask your child to observe. Then invite your child to try it out. Refrain from correcting while your child is doing the activity. You can show again how to do it correctly afterwards.
Finally, observe whether the activity is too difficult or too easy. You can adapt the degree of difficulty. Your child should be able to succeed at it while being a little bit challenged.
4. Useful materials you can use to create Montessori-inspired activities
To get do Montessori-based playful learning activities, you do not need to have a lot of toys or specific materials.
Here is a list with some basic materials you might want to collect and have readily available to do a variety of different activities for different ages.
- Cardboard
e.g. pizza boxes, cereal boxes, etc.
Cardboard can be used for: Building projects, 3-part cards, memory cards, as a base for bigger painting and crafting projects. - Grains
e.g. dried pasta, beans, lentils, rice, etc.
Grains are a nice material to be used for: Transfer and scooping activities, tracing activities, sorting activities or to create simple shakers for music. - Natural materials
e.g. flowers, leaves, small sticks, stones
Natural materials can serve for: Sieving and sorting activities, creative drawing and crafting and vocabulary development - Toy animals and other small reel world objects
Children love animals. Toy animals and other reel world objects are very handy for language learning activities, matching and sorting as well as creative story telling and role plays. - Baskets
Baskets of different sizes are handy to store and present toys and activities in your play and learning space - Tray
A tray to present activities and avoid creating too much mess
How to get started with Playful Learning
In this FREE 3-Day Video-Course I am showing you the first steps you can take to stimulate and engage your child in playful learning activities at home without tantrums and without any materials you have to buy.
Hi, Nice to meet you
Learning and growing up with multiple languages does not have to be hard work. I am Maria, a mother of 3 kids, an development and education expert and Montessori homeschooler. Having lived as a family over ten years in Africa and Asia I know exactly how challenging it can be to get access to high quality educational activities. With my step-by-step playful learning method, I am showing you how to raise little happy multilingual learners with limited time and only using local materials.
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