There’s this common misconception that gardening is an activity best suited for the elderly. However, that is not even remotely true. You see, studies have shown that there are many benefits of introducing gardening to kids at age toddlers to preschoolers. Through garden play, children acquire and improve crucial skills, have fun, and develop self-confidence all the while enjoying a nature-friendly childhood the Montessori way. But, how exactly does gardening help a child’s development? … [Read more...]
Indoor Garden Craft Ideas for Kids – Plants That Stimulate the Senses
Every parent wants their kids to enjoy the outdoors and to have a strong connection with Mother Nature. And while most grown-ups are grabbing every chance of escaping from closed environments, many kids tend to do quite the opposite and spend days without seeing the sunlight. Thankfully they have us, the parents, to help them out and guide them the Montessori way. There are plenty of indoor garden ideas and projects that will capture your kid’s attention while expanding their interactive … [Read more...]
Learning About Birds in the Montessori Preschool Classroom
Birds play a crucial role in Nature and represent a great diversity of the animal kingdom. There are roughly between 9,000 and 10,000 species of birds. Choosing to study birds is always guaranteed to be a popular topic with children in the school and a homeschool classroom. I created a set of materials that can help you to generate more interest and engage children into a learning process - reading, spelling, sorting, train memory while getting familiar with some of their favourite feathered … [Read more...]
How to Make a Vegetable Garden for Kids
Children love dirt! Gardening is a perfect excuse to get dirty! Ann Sanders of A Green Hand shared her easy to implement step-by-step guide to creating a nourishing vegetable garden with your children. Gardening is one of the major part of Practical Life activities children learn to master in Montessori environment. In addition to presenting amazing health benefits, gardening allows children to be engaged in the process that does not produce immediate result. This teaches children to be patient … [Read more...]
What happens if every child picks a flower?
With great pleasure, I introduce to you an inspiring blogger, author and nature lover Linda Åkeson McGurk of Rain or Shine Mamma. In this guest post-Linda is offering a different perspective and approach to nature-based learning and to the way we approach children's interaction with nature. “Don’t pick that flower! It’ food for the bees.” “Leave that rock! Imagine what would happen if everybody picked one.” “Don’t touch that bug – you may hurt it!” If I had planted a tree every time … [Read more...]
15 Hands On Summer Nature Activities for Kids.
Summer is the perfect time for kids to spend all day outdoors and make explorations in nature. Joe of Nature Rated definitely knows how to bring adventure into everyday life. Joe created a great infographic as a handy reminder of all the meaningful and fun things active children can do using their hands and imagination in nature. What are your kids doing this Summer? For many of us Summertime with the kids is a time to enjoy the outdoors, the sunshine and if you're lucky the … [Read more...]
3 Easy Steps to Get Your Kids Crafting With Natural Materials.
In this guest post, Penny of Mother Natured shares some brilliant craft ideas for children using materials generously given to us by nature. There are some great advantages to using leaves, bark, flowers and other natural items in your children's art and craft activities. Not only will you save money on craft supplies, but you'll end up with beautiful, unique creations every time. There's another reason, though, that's less about craft and more about the fundamentals of your child's … [Read more...]
How to Make an Easter Garden – Natural Small World for Play
We are very excited to celebrate another significant holiday with our family and church. Easter is right around the corner and conversations on the topic occur in our home naturally all the time. This year I suggested to my 5 yo Blossom to create an Easter Resurrection garden. My daughter was chuffed! After reading and discussing the story of resurrection we thought of elements that should be included in Easter garden - tomb, rock, cross and hill. Creating small worlds together with kids gives … [Read more...]
The Many Benefits of Learning in Nature
“There must be provision for the child to have contact with nature; to understand and appreciate the order, the harmony and the beauty in nature”. Maria Montessori Nature offers infinite ways to support a child's cognitive, physical, and emotional development. This is not to say that nature can completely replace time children spend in the classroom. However, I believe that if teachers and parents neglect the benefits entirely natural environment presents to us, children may miss out on … [Read more...]
Sensory Explorations Outdoors – Touch With Nature Hunt Printable
Children discover the world using their 5 senses. They connect to it by absorbing sounds, textures, smells, pictures, tastes, emotions. At a young age, children are incredibly sensitive. Learning occurs naturally when they have an opportunity to utilise as many senses as possible. In the Montessori classroom, there are several areas of development, one of them is sensorial. Montessori sensorial aims to establish a strong connection between brain and senses in the process of learning, … [Read more...]
Learning About Land And Water Formations – Montessori Outdoor Explorations
Nature is a wonderful and inspirational source of learning opportunities no matter where you choose to explore it. Children are free to learn and discover outdoors at their own pace, which normally requires a great deal of movement. As you probably know, learning and movement are closely intertwined. We do lots of outdoor explorations with hands-on activities. As Maria Montessori said: "Nothing should be given to the brain that is not first given to the hand". Living right next to the … [Read more...]
The Silence Game In Nature – Empowering Children with Mindfulness
Many of us probably didn't know how precious moments of silence are until we became parents or teachers. We all can agree that our world lacks silence today more than ever before. The noise we create is not necessarily produced by loud sounds. Noise can be made by clutter, unnecessary overload of visual and sensory information and stimulation. Noise takes away focus from what truly matters and distracts attention. Children react to overstimulation in their own way - through emotional outbursts, … [Read more...]
Montessori Inspired Explorations At The Beach
Taking Montessori classroom outside creates great opportunities for hands-on learning using minimum materials and effort. Sun, fresh salty air, sound of crashing waves - what a perfect setup for fun explorations for kids. We headed to the beach to do fun Montessori activities as a part of preschool homeschool program. Before allowing children to play and simply have awesome time in nature, I prepared and organised Montessori inspired activities taking advantage of the natural outdoor … [Read more...]