13 MONTESSORI METHOD ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN - ECONOMÍA - 2024

We are going to present you some activities of the Montessori method that you can apply from home and in children 0-3 years old. Do you want to develop skills and competencies in your children from a young age? Doing so can make a big difference, and they will even thank you for it.

The Montessori method has shown that it has great results in its students and if you apply it your children will learn skills that are not usually taught in traditional schools.

Activities for children 6-12 months

1. Treasure box

We not only see that it is used in Montessori activities but also in other types of environments.

Objectives: That the child explore and analyze the material that surrounds him autonomously.

Procedure: In a basket or in a cardboard box we have to put the objects that we deem appropriate. For example: a toothbrush, spoons, hair ties, bows, a small ball…

Materials: All the material that we want, it is important that we do not carry the box or basket that we use.

2. We change the site objects!

Objectives: Explore and analyze that each material has its size and that not all of them fit in the same place.

Procedure: In a large tray we can put different materials such as chickpeas or chestnuts. Also, previously we will have placed spoons and cardboard tubes of different sizes with a part of them covered, so that they become small jars.

The children have to transfer the chickpeas and chestnuts from one place to another either with the help of the spoon, with their fingers or as they wish. In this way they will verify that there will be tubes in which both chickpeas and chestnuts fit, while in another they will only be able to put one of them.

Materials: cardboard tubes of kitchen paper, a cardboard or a paper to cover one of the parts of it, chickpeas and chestnuts or other material, a large tray and wooden spoons.

3. Sensory trays

Objectives: Explore and analyze the different textures of the materials that are in each tray.

Procedure: Use different trays with materials that have different textures to each other and bring them closer to the child. Our intention is that you explore and play with them, exploring their content carefully. You can choose the content you want, the important thing is that its texture is different from each other. For example: flour, lentils, uncooked or cooked pasta, chickpeas…

Materials: three or four trays and the material you want to fill them with, be it lentils, flour or pasta, among others.

Activities for children 12-18 months

4. We learn to open boats

Objectives: For the child to work on fine motor skills and learn to open and close boats.

Procedure: in a basket you are presented with different types of cans both in size and material. I usually use the jars that are spent in the kitchen, such as spices, among others. As long as they are of different sizes and materials, everything works.

Materials: jars of different sizes and materials, a basket or a small cardboard box.

5. We draw

Objectives: Develop your creativity and have fun.

Procedure: As you already know, there are finger paints that are edible or even that can be done at home simply with a yogurt and food coloring, I leave that to your choice.

On a sheet of paper or cardboard, the child should paint whatever he wants while exploring the texture of the paint and the base he is using to paint. They tend to like this activity a lot, especially because of the different colors that the paint has.

Materials: if you decide to make your painting at home, you will need yogurts and food coloring of different colors, also sheets and cardboard. The bigger they are, the better if you want to do the activity with several children.

6. Set of fabrics

Objectives: Develop your imagination and discover that there are different types of fabrics.

Procedure: You already know that there are many ways and games to use fabrics with children. However, since we are using the Montessori method we must let it develop its imagination and play with the fabrics as it prefers. When you are curious if we want, we can show you some games that you need to have a bandana for.

Materials: handkerchief of different colors and shapes.

Activities for children 18-24 months

At this age they can already do many activities for practical life that apart from promoting their independence, help them to work on fine motor skills, prepare future writing, etc. Here are some activities:

7. We match socks

Objectives: Identify socks of the same color and size.

Procedure: In a basket we will put different socks of colors and sizes. The idea is that the child knows how to match them and identify that this is what she has to do and not something else. Ideally, the socks should have bright colors for the activity to attract your attention.

Materials: socks of different sizes and colors and shoe box or basket.

8. Stringing activities

Objectives: Work on gross and fine motor skills.

Procedure: Although there are also games and materials that can be bought in stores. We can also use other homemade with which children can string objects. This activity consists in that the children have to put the objects inside the string in the order they want.

Materials: shoelaces or tracksuit, buttons, kitchen paper tubes cut into different sizes, plastic tube of pens, pieces of fabric with a hole in the center… You can use any material you can think of.

9. We explore our environment

Objectives: Discover what your environment is made of.

Procedure: Although it is best if you go out and explore it yourself if time allows you to go out for recess. We can also work on the environment that surrounds us using trays that we can fill with stones, sand, mud, water and tree leaves.

This activity can also help them to see that there are materials in the water that float and others that do not, although for that it would be better to use instead of a tray like the ones we have been using another of a deeper and more transparent type.

Materials: leaves, stones, sand, mud, water and everything that we want to use that is in the playground.

Activities for children 24-36 months

10. Liquid transfers

Objectives: Explore the water in the different containers.

Procedure: A plastic vase with water and others of different sizes will be placed next to it. The child will have to play to transfer the water from one container to another in order to check that all the amount of water that fits in a container can also be used by others of different sizes.

Materials: containers of different sizes and a vase filled with water.

11. Imitate the drawing

Objectives: To develop visual and attention skills.

Procedure: Different easy-to-imitate drawings are presented to you. The children have to copy them with the help of colored pencils and sugar and salt. They can also be encouraged to make their own.

Materials: drawings made by the teachers with colored pencils, sugar and salt; colors, sugar and salt and finally folios.

12. We classify objects by colors

Objectives: Identify that each object has a different color.

Procedure: The child is presented with materials with different colors. Erasers, pencils, pencil sharpeners, cases, papers… Everything that is close to us or is part of its environment. The child must place the materials that are of the same color in their corresponding basket.

Materials: colored baskets and materials of different colors that we want to use.

13. What cover goes with each object?

Objectives: To develop fine motor skills and to know how to identify which lid goes with each bottle.

Procedure: In a cardboard box place bottles, jars and jars of different sizes with their corresponding lids removed and mixed. The child will have to identify which cover goes with each of them and place it.

Materials: plastic bottles, jars or any other object with lids that can be used to carry out this activity.

Tips

As we already know, each child is different, so although we have classified these activities by stages it does not mean that they can be carried out by all children in general.

This method is governed by the fact that the child is the one who will control the duration of the activities they carry out, including activities and their learning. The teacher or the adult with whom she performs it, only has to worry about giving the child the right environment to learn, not intervening or avoiding stopping her spontaneous movements.

The activities that we have explained here must be put in the right environment and presented to the child when he shows attention for it, taking into account that at these ages the attention is very short, so it is necessary to show them how the activity would develop with our example.

The primary goal behind this method is “help me do it myself,” so children have to learn as they go to incorporate a sense of learning and achievement into the tasks and activities they do on a daily basis.

Many activities in this method are inspired to promote self-reliance, have built-in error control, appeal to the senses, and / or prepare the muscles of the fingers to hold the pencil.