Montessori

With Luke approaching two, I've been trying to think of activities for him that are both educational and stimulating. Blocks are great, farm animal toys, puzzles, and the outdoors in general.

I recently purchased Teaching Montessori in the Home: Pre-School Years: The Pre-School Years . Luke is hardly a preschooler yet, but there are some fantastic Montessori ideas in it.

What I love about Montessori in the early years is the insistence that anything a child is able to do on their own should be done on their own. The second principle is "A place for everything, everything in its place." After reading the book I'd say it would be most beneficial starting at age three, but I'm hoping some of the activities can be modified for a two year old. In the next couple weeks I hope to be putting together some projects that I'll take photos of and post.

Yesterday I finished a color-sorting game using pieces of colored foam and a muffin tin. While Luke can distinguish the different colors and understands the concept of the game, all he wanted to do was put the foam the pieces into a cup and carry them around all day. So, we've got some work to do. I'll post a pic later though to show how I did it.