montessori - part one

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back when thehobbit was a dinky guy, i stumbled upon montessori education. i looked into it, but didn't implement anything, because i had shortly after stumbled upon waldorf education. the latter suited thehobbit's personality & style of learning much better. i did send away for the fabulous catalog however, which i still get.

recently i realized that montessori would be a better fit for elfling, so began re-researching it. as elfling only just turned two, i needed more information on implementing montessori at home, as opposed to homeschooling montessori. one of my favorite blogs is written by a former montessori teacher, who now has a toddler of her own. i popped over there, & found some things to get us started.

i have no intention of becoming a montessori blogger, but i thought i would share, every so often, some things that we are trying out. this post is the first installment :)

a scissoring activity. don't freak on me, i bought toddler scissors. he can squeeze his finger between the blades as hard as he likes, but it won't cut him. i tried it. hurts like the dickens, but it left not even a scratch. like meg, i created a kit: a box, which holds strips of paper, & scissors.

elfling has yet to get the hang of the scissors, but that doesn't seem to keep him from having fun. i have to hold the paper for him, & he uses both hands to work the blades open & shut. he likes to have the cut bits fall into the lid of the box. when he's bored with the activity, he goes about taking each scrap of paper out of the lid, then tossing them all over the room. the tossing part he does have the hang of.

when even paper-tossing loses its allure, he puts his scissors & intact strips back in the box, shuts the lid, & hands it to me. i like to keep this kit on a higher shelf, so whilst i am putting the kit away, he walks around, picking up his tossings.

for those of you who don't believe little ones can pick up after themselves, take a look at meg's toddler in action, here. when i saw that, i knew montessori was just what elfling needed :)


~peace.