If you are setting up a Montessori home or a Montessori classroom you may need to visit your local hardware store. Our local hardware store Bunnings (Australia) has many useful things for a Montessori home including lots of practical life and storage ideas. Let's start with the obvious, Bunnings is a good place for sourcing indoor plants. Indoor plants are fantastic for care of the environment activities like watering, dusting and generally taking care of the plant. 🌱 Seedlings and herbs are always interesting to grow with children. While there are many seeds suitable to be grown by children, this... Read more →

Have you seen or used Read It, Build It, Write It boards? These are not something I've seen used in a Montessori school, or designed by Maria Montessori, but they have been increasing in popularity in Montessori families and homeschools. As my preschooler is writing more and more, we decided to give it a go! I LOVE trying out new products, especially those influenced by Montessori and include hands-on multi-sensory learning. Overall my preschooler (4yrs) loved it. Most of all he enjoyed the first two steps of reading and building because that's where he is most confident right now. Let's... Read more →

Have you been getting ready for Halloween? Here are a few Halloween themed activities we've been doing with Otto at four-years. Painting Paper Mache pumpkins (AU) with paint. I knew Otto would enjoy painting them and they look fantastic! I might seal them with some Mod Podge or something similar. I've presented this activity with three colours which Otto picked out, I would have presented this with more or fewer colours depending on his choice. He painted his other pumpkins other colours including some of our UV-glow paints (c/o Modern Teaching). We also coloured the Paper Mache pumpkins (AU) with... Read more →

Are you looking for food prep activities for your one-year-old? Involving young children in food prep activities allows children to be connected to their food. Rather than the food appearing at the table, the child can see how it is made. Food prep activities allow children to explore food, its textures and tastes, it can show children what they are capable of and help them to develop coordination and fine motor skills. Let's see some of our favourite food prep activities for children 12-24 months. Please use the ages listed as a rough guide and full supervision of all activities... Read more →

Finding good affordable artwork for our spaces can be challenging. We have been enjoying these beautiful images in the Australian Dreaming - 2022 Wall Calendar. I find that children are drawn to images of animals so I like using the Kangaroo and Brogla in our family spaces. But all of these are stunning. Each picture has a description which I've found useful for sharing the story and teaching my children about Indigenous art. There are other good options here. The First Scientists: Deadly Inventions and Innovations from Australia's First Peoples was released last week. I knew I'd love it, I... Read more →

In the last couple of weeks, Sydney has had some crazy, stormy and rainy weather. It's been the perfect time to study clouds! Above Otto (4yrs) tells me the clouds look like waves. The Cloud Identifier is hands down THE BEST tool we've used for studying clouds. It helps us to identify the clouds we are looking at, but more importantly, it has sparked a huge interest in clouds and what they look like. After we began using the Cloud Identifier, Otto started asking about clouds throughout the day and while we are out and about. The Cloud Identifier is... Read more →

The first blog post I ever wrote was about a book called How to Raise an Amazing Child: The Montessori Way. It's a fantastic entry-level Montessori book. The author Tim Seldin recently released another book with Lorna McGrath Montessori for Every Family: A Practical Parenting Guide to Living, Loving and Learning. As the title suggests, it's all about the Montessori Family ❤️!! "The Montessori way of thinking encompasses many things, but fundamentally it is a way of creating a culture that helps people of all ages to work together in peaceful, mutually supportive ways. Its approach is counter-intuitive to the... Read more →

Today I am sharing some practical life food prep ideas for two-year-olds! It is SO important to follow your child's development. Your child may be ready for some of these activities like peeling a banana earlier at 18 months. There are other activities that your child might not be ready for until they are three years old. You know your child best so please use these ideas as a guide only. I have listed these activities chronologically. The first activities are for younger children and the activities at the end are for older. There is a big difference in the... Read more →

Lockdown regulations are starting to lift in Sydney. While we are still laying low, yesterday I took a look around Kmart (Australia). Kmart has lots of really useful items for a Montessori home, and perhaps some for the classroom too. Let's take a look at some of my favourites. I've linked all products to Kmart but please note stock varies from store to store. Above is The Montessori Toddler and The Montessori Baby, this is the lowest prices I've seen which makes these books more accessible. We have three of these mini spray bottles at home. They are a fantastic... Read more →

Have you tried any new practical life activities lately? Here are five new practical life activities that we've been enjoying! Picking dried lavender. We have a lavender bush in our front yard that we can use but lavender is also available in small bunches in the flower section of our local supermarket. I've found this easiest if the lavender is dried, we cut lavender from the bush and leave it in the sun or in a window sill for a couple of days to let it dry. The child can pull the fragrant flowers off from the stem. It smells... Read more →

Do your children enjoy playing with Magnetic Tiles? We've had a small set of Magnetic Tiles for years however Otto (pictured) received another set for his fourth birthday. 🎂 He can do so much more building with this extra set, it's really opened up new ideas and new creations! Magnetic tiles can help to develop: concentration and focus critical thinking problem-solving skills creativity visual discrimination skills geometry skills patterning skills coordination independent play. Most of all we like to use magnetic tiles for open-ended play. But I believe in getting the most out of our materials, rotating toys and presenting... Read more →

I have something so fun to share with you today! I recently discovered the new subscription boxes from Montessori For Every Child and I placed an order as soon as I could. The subscription boxes have been designed by Harshitha who is a qualified Montessori teacher and parent, right here in Sydney. Yes, this is a subscription box based in Australia! 🇦🇺 The subscription boxes are designed for children from 2.5 years to seven years. I've used the subscription boxes with my four-year-old and there was a lot he could do. Some of the activities can be adapted depending on... Read more →

Setting the table is a practical life skill that we can introduce to our children from a young age. As soon as we start introducing solids we can use a Montessori Weaning Set (pictured two below). As soon as the child can walk they can begin to take their placemat and put it on their table followed by their fork, spoon, plate or glass. Without saying a word, simply by presenting the materials on the placemat, we are teaching the child where everything goes. By the time the child is a toddler, they may be able to set their entire... Read more →