Do your children like playing and exploring with a measuring tape? I recently introduced some measuring activities to my preschooler and found the activities that included a measuring tape were the most popular. Note that we used a children's measuring tape. Please check your measuring tape carefully before giving it to a child, at this age I would only provide a children's measuring tape or use a soft fabric style measuring tape. Metal measuring tapes can be sharp and can retract quickly and aren't suitable for young children. Our measuring tape is from The Lovevery Problem Solver Play Kit. Learning... Read more →

Here in Australia, it's National Frog ID week! 🐸 During this week citizens are encouraged to record frog calls using the FrogID app, as a measurement of frog health and distribution around the nation. It aims to monitor frog distributions over time, helping us to understand how frogs and their ecosystems are responding to a changing planet. Participating in National Frog ID week is a great way to teach Environmental Stewardship. We started by downloading the FrogID app and taking a walk to our local nature reserve. Unfortunately, we did not hear any frogs but we were able to read... Read more →

We've used modelling beeswax many times before but we've always used Stockmar Modeling Beeswax. Stockmar Modeling Beeswax can be expensive and I wanted to try a natural alternative. I decided to try some homemade Modeling Beeswax. Working with Modeling Beeswax is a good activity to develop muscles in the fingers and hands. It can be calming and the children can work on their sculpting skills. Modeling Beeswax is firm and can be warmed by the child's hands which may help to develop perseverance and patience. When cooled it retains its shape so the sculptures can be used on a nature... Read more →

My preschooler recently transitioned from mostly using the Kuhn Rikon Kinderkitchen Knife to mostly using the 'big kids knife', the Opinel Le Petit Chef Knife (AU here). The Opinel knife is much sharper than the Kuhn Rikon knife so we needed to go over our safety rules. Our knife safety rules include: Sharp knives are stored out of reach of young children. We keep our Opinel knife with our adult knives, our child has to ask to use it. Children only use knives under 100% adult supervision. There is no walking off or turning away. We encourage children to hold... Read more →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

Pegs are a common household item that can be used for many children's activities. Depending on the type of pegs you have, you can start using pegs with your child from toddlerhood. Flexible plastic pegs can work best for young children while stronger stainless steel or wooden pegs are fantastic for preschoolers. Pegs can be found in many grocery stores and mini wooden pegs are available in stationary or educational supply stores. Pegs that we pinch the end to use are fantastic for helping children develop the pincer grasp, fine motor skills, hand strength, coordination and dexterity. Large wooden play... Read more →

It's Spring (here in Australia)! It's that time of year when we are thinking about sunny days, flowers, bees and new life. Butterflies are a popular topic that we'll be looking at as well as lifecycles. Here are a few butterfly puzzles that look amazing, below you can see the ones we are using. Photographic Butterfly Puzzle (UK) - 9 pieces, recommended from 2 years+. Australian Butterfly Jigsaw Set (AU) - 6 mini jigsaw puzzles, 3 pieces in each puzzle, the name of each butterfly is written on the puzzle. Recommended for toddlers. Montessori Butterfly Puzzle - three-piece puzzle. Montessori... Read more →

We've been learning about animal skeletons! I'm not sure how we fell into this topic but it's been a lot of fun. For a few months now we've been loving Whose Bones? board book it's one of Otto's (4yrs) favourites. The pages open out, so at first, you can only see the skeleton and the child can guess what animal it belongs to. Then we open the page out and see the whole animal and find some facts about each animal. My older children love these anatomy models and I've found them useful for teaching Otto about skeletons. This is... Read more →

Would you like to hear about a new range of furniture designed by British architects and handcrafted from Japanese cypress? Aromon has just launched beautiful children's shelves, tables and chairs, and I think you'll love them. I have a discount code for you, at the end of this post. "Inspired by the Montessori education method, our furniture and bespoke spaces provide a healthy, safe environment to encourage exploration and independent play whilst stimulating the senses." - Aromon. The design of Aromon furniture is unique and so is the wood that they use. Aromon products are made from sustainably sourced Japanese... Read more →

I've previously written about the Developmental Stage of Drawing as I find these stages in development endlessly fascinating. I recently discovered the Developmental Stage of Writing. I love this chart below as it isn't about what age your child is, but rather where your child is developmentally. It can help us understand where our child is at and what stage they are going into. Source: First seen at Destination Kindergarten, also available at West Hartford Public Schools. My child has just turned four (48 months) and is Pre-Literate. He is in the Symbolic/Mock Letters stage but is also close to... Read more →