Children (including toddlers) can cut, grate, peel, mash, spiralize! Often parents and care givers (including me) totally underestimate what young children are able to do because we are so focused on keeping them safe, on keeping them away from harm. Often we/I also focus on keeping the children and our kitchens clean! But we know that exposing our children to risk is important, we know that providing our children with real experiences and real skills is important, it's critical to their natural development. Children cannot get real skills from cutting wooden fruit. So what is holding us back? At this... Read more →

chowki: noun INDIAN a low wooden seat or stool. A Montessori Chowki is a simple Chowki that is sized proportionately for the child. Maria Montessori observed children using Chowkis in India. Since then their popularity has grown and the Chowki can now be found in Montessori classrooms around the world. What is so 'Montessori' about a Chowki? They can be child-sized so children can sit and use them comfortably. Chowkis promote movement, they promote flexibility in the classroom and can contribute to a dynamic workspace where children can develop to their highest potential. Chowkis can work well in small spaces... Read more →

A toddler-friendly Christmas tree? Is it possible? There are a few options that are toddler-friendly and depending on your decor and your child, you may be able to find one that fits your family. In the past, we've decorated our main tree very lightly with toddler safe decorations but toddlers looooove to take things on and off. Christmas trees look pretty and it's hard for toddlers to resist. While I can't guarantee your toddler will leave your main tree alone, here are a few options that allow for hands-on play, repetition (= concentration) and ownership for the toddler. I've read... Read more →

There are so many Montessori printables and matching style of cards available I want to share what we are currently using. What cards we use depends on our child's interests but there are some general themes that many young children will be attracted to. Some of the downloads I've linked to are Montessori 3-Part Cards. My child is pre-reading so I only use the image cards, we will use the other cards when he is older. We also do a lot of this work together as the focus is often on (verbal) language. Printables are often a really affordable option... Read more →

If you have more than one child creating a safe and enticing art area can be difficult. While I have three children only my eight and two year old use this area. Previously I've set up this area just for my toddler and I had six or so activities on trays. Now we have a combination of loose materials and a few trays out. This area is in our playroom and often my toddler is here being supervised by my (super relaxed) husband and sometimes by my twelve-year-old son. So for safety and to reduce scribbling on walls, I have... Read more →

I've recently stopped correcting my child. Previously I would hold back for as long I could before correcting him. But I've found that my simple word prompts or suggestions are not helping him in the long term. I've also found that my child needs much more time than I thought to self correct. I was recently watching Otto pour a drink of orange juice. I could tell that he was going to overfill and spill the drink. I was about to give him a simple prompt "it's almost full", or as I've done before "stop! it's full!", but I decided... Read more →

Once your child knows the names of many animals, many foods, many objects, how about introducing anatomy or "parts of" work? My toddler has loved learning new words like "thorax", "antenna", "abdomen", "mandibles" and "proboscis"!! This is excellent work for the child in the sensitive period for language. We do this work together. These cards are not designed for toddlers, I use them as prompts and my toddler also points to them while naming the parts. The models are really important to this work. Insects are fascinating to young toddlers. Model insects are useful as they allow the child to... Read more →

The days are getting shorter and colder and with the holidays just around the corner I've been looking for educational toys and games that my children can play with together. I've found a couple of gems! Our number one favourite right now is this giant road. It is versatile and toddler friendly! Perfect for my puzzle lovers. All of these games can be adapted to how your child or toddler like to play them. So we can use a lotto game as a simple matching game. We often don't take turns and it's not competitive. We can also store and... Read more →

Even in the cooler weather we are aiming to spend a minimum of three hours a day outdoors. We do this by exploring our backyard, our neighbourhood, our local park and forest areas and the nature reserve. Taking learning outdoors is important and learning in situ is important. There is no better place to learn about nature, about tree and flowers, about wind and rain, than outdoors. While I am very much in favour of free play and roaming around outdoors, it's nice to have a few tools and materials for the children to use too. Here are a few... Read more →

Do your children like to water indoor plants? A Plant Care Basket is a great way of developing the child's interest in plant care and it can also help develop a whole range of skills including coordination and fine motor skills. What is in our Toddler Plant Care Basket? small watering can - we use larger watering cans outside, the smaller size here prevents spills and overwatering. small scissors - for trimming plants, removing dead leaves and for harvesting herbs or flowers. Ours are little toddler scissors and good for small hands, they also have blunt tip for safety. small... Read more →

How we talk to our children is so important. But it's also difficult because often we are rushed, pushed, tired, under pressure and we don't always have a moment to pause before we react. This is true for me and on many occasions I've used negative language around toilet learning like "oh no...", "accident", and "mess". There is some feeling that negative language and possibly shaming about toilet learning behaviour can result in anxiety, constipation and toileting regression (like "holding on"). While we don't need to be thrilled about their behaviour, we can use a positive or neutral tone, and... Read more →

Puzzles are a big part of my toddler's work right now. Yes, he likes to play outside or tear around the house on his wheely bug or trike but he also has moments of concentrated work and a lot of that time is spent doing puzzles. He loves wooden peg puzzles but also the two and four piece jigsaw puzzles. These are the puzzles that he is using at 26 months, that we are rotating. Some of these he has been using for a few months and has mastered, while others are newish and are more of a challenge. Some... Read more →

You can teach toddlers to do almost anything. Can they use tongs? Yes, they can! From toddlerhood many children are able to wrap their little fingers around the tongs and squeeze them just enough to pickup their desired item and transfer it to a bowl or other location. Using mini tongs is a great way to add some fine motor skill work to an activity. Mini tongs are fantastic for developing: fine motor skills coordination concentration finger and hand strength. You can add mini tongs to almost any food preparation activity. While many toddlers will just ignore them and use... Read more →