4:1

Yesterday I watched two additional children along with my girls. It was a house full of estrogen. 5 girls total along with our female cat (including myself).

The two other children were a 7 month old and developmentally delayed 2 year old. She is behind by a year and has the motor skills of a 1 year old. She can't speak but can understand most of what you are saying.

I haven't had much interaction with children younger than my own since mine were born. It seems like all the children we were around were in their same age range. Or maybe that is just what I gravitated toward because those children were interested in the same things my girls were interested in. It was a good experience to remind me what activities children their age are capable of doing.

When my girls were infants i didn't implement Montessori activities. I thought of it as more of homeschooling for preschoolers instead of a way of life. So they missed all the cool mobiles, pull up bars, and large mirrors at crawling level. I just didn't know all that stuff was out there. With my change in thinking I found myself observing what each child liked to do over and over again yesterday with the thought of what I could provide for them the next time they are here.

For example the older, yet developmentally delayed, 2 year old found the wet washcloth to be very entertaining and she mimicked washing her hands, wiping her face and washing a surface. She also enjoyed trying to put objects into containers. Crayons into a cup. The cylinder blocks and putting the knobbed cylinders into an empty medicine bottle. She also loved things that produced a sound upon an action she made. Pressing a button on a fridge toy to make music. Pressing keys on a small keyboard to make the sound of a piano, organ and even meow (it's a cat keyboard. Lol).

So for next time I'm thinking I will supply large knobbed puzzles, open and closing boxes, some stacking rings, maybe matching some animals and a sponging activity.

The infant was of course interested in mouthing things. She was interested in feeling different textures and object permanent games like peek-a-boo. So for her I may have a basket of things with varying textures, a rod from another set of stacking rings with just one large ring, a wet sponge, and if I could somehow get a hold of an object permanence box that would be great.

For anyone who is thinking of using the Montessori "way," for their infant see below for a diagram I ran across somewhere online:



The timeline is in another language but by piecing together the pictures and following the age range you can tell what activities are suggested for each developmental period of a child's life. Pinterest is also a great place for ideas and also Lisa Nolan's website, Montessori For the Earth, has curriculum for infants at a very reasonable price.

Providing activities to infants before they are able to walk or talk may seem silly or pointless even, but when I see a child at any age concentrating, absorbing, what they are manipulating I can almost feel the electrodes in their brains kicking into high gear and it excites me to provide more. For us Montessorians (yes, i just made that up, feel free to use it) doing these things, whether it be using a floor bed and hanging a high contrast mobile from the ceiling or just setting out a basket full of interesting, yet simple and plain, non-electronic toys, fills us with a sense that we are providing our children or students with opportunities to reach their potential, absorb the world around them more easily and use their senses in a way most adults have never imagined.