“Each class was like opening a new world of knowledge, (it) also motivated and inspired us to start from wherever we are/were and start putting things in place. I would say the course left me very enlightened and prepared” – Obiamaka (Nigeria) COURSE CONTENT Week 1: Understanding Montessori – Your child’s Read more…
Per requests, these are some ideas of practical life activities to start with toddlers. I will be writing a lot about practical life this year because it’s you know… practical daily life. These pictures were taken between 11 and 15 months Care of the Environment Care of Self I don’t Read more…
This is the second post in the series for www.hangoutnigeria.com on things to do with kids in Nigeria. Location: In Lagos: Nike Art Gallery, No. 2, Elegushi Road, 3rd Roundabout, Epe Expressway, Ikate Cross Road, Lekki Phase 1 Peninsula, Lekki Lagos, NIGERIA. Telephones: +234 80 340 96656 +234 80 330 Read more…
“The tiny child’s absorbent mind finds all its nutriment in its surrounding. Here it has to locate itself and build itself from what it takes in. Especially at the beginning of life must we therefore make the environment as interesting and attractive as we can. “ – Maria Montessori (The Absorbent Mind)
We set up Montessori spaces for our son from birth. He has also been given a lot of freedom of movement from birth and the result has been very good gross motor skills, body awareness, confidence and independence. He is very aware of his capabilities and doesn’t take uncalculated risks. I really believe these have been largely due to the environment. I have shown his spaces during the symbiotic period. Those spaces were temporary. Because we were not in our home for the first 7 weeks of his life, we created small but temporary spaces to meet his needs. Once home, he spent most of his time in his room, and because it was prepared for him, he had freedom to move. I just observed and made simple modifications to the room when needed but never really got in his way or tried to help him and he figured it out. So let me show you his room!
Welcome to our Montessori Infant room. I wanted to put a book shelf in the room but didnt want to take up space so I used this wall space behind the door. He is now able to reach the lowest shelf at 10 months.
The title of this post is “helping your baby learn how to walk” instead of “teaching your baby to walk” because contrary to what most of us think, you can’t actually teach a child to walk. He teaches himself. A lot of adults do try to teach the child by holding Read more…