«  
  »

Montessori musings… the Tinkerous Toddler’s adventures at nursery part 1

By Luci McQuitty Hindmarsh, on February 2nd, 2012
achieving success through Montessori education for infants

Montessori Influence. Styling by The Tinkerous Toddler

The Tinkerous Toddler is now three weeks into her nursery experience. She attends a group at a local Montessori School for a couple of hours per day, twice a week.

It took a lot of reading up and a lot of visiting nurseries to decide that a Montessori environment felt right for her. So I thought I’d post updates as we go along, for anyone else thinking of trying out Montessori for their child.

In case you aren’t quite sure what Montessori is all about, take a look at this explanation of the Montessori environment for babies and toddlers on MariaMontessori.com. The great news for us so far is that I can already see it having a positive influence on the Tinkerous Toddler.

For example, she is starting to discover the joy of autonomy. Even though one of her favourite phrases is “I can do it”, until now she’s been reluctant to actually be on her own for any length of time. By that I mean play on her own whilst I am around, not that I try to leave her home alone whilst I nip to the pub for a swift half! So I have really welcomed this change. Autonomy is a beautiful thing. Being happy to spend time on your own and being able to amuse yourself are both powerful life skills in my book.

I can also see a difference in how she is engaging with her toys and activities. It’s like the experiences at nursery have caused a whole new bunch of neurons to spring into action and start connecting. She is increasingly thirsty for knowledge and increasingly willing to spend time figuring things out for herself.

I guess this could simply be a stage in her development that was going to happen anyway, two-year olds are highly inquisitive beings after all. But it is the speed with which things have altered that makes me feel it is thanks to Montessori.

So, the Tinkerous Toddler is off to a positive start. I’ll keep you posted on developments. If you have any questions, just give me a shout.

My Twitter profileMy Facebook profileMy Google+ profile

Luci McQuitty Hindmarsh

mother.wife.me AKA Luci McQuitty Hindmarsh. I'm a London based blogger, writer and social media maven. This is a personal blog about my life as a MOTHER to a little girl, WIFE to a businessman husband and all the other general stuff that happens to ME.
Luci McQuitty Hindmarsh on Google+

Related Posts:

Parenting See all comments and leave yours
  • http://www.littleredfarm.com Rachael @ Little Red Farm

    This is good to hear as my son will be joining a Montessori school in September. At the moment we do Montessori activities at home (I show them on my blog) and after I started even the first few activities I noticed a difference in his keenness to explore and learn and that was at 18 months!
    So good luck!
    Rachael
    x

    • http://blogabyebaby.wordpress.com MotherWifeMe

      Fantastic! Am going to check out yr blog – when I’m not sat huddled in the bathroom checking comments before I head to bed!!

  • actuallymummy

    I have heard really great things about Montessori and I have also seen children who have struggled to behave properly in state schools having previously been Montessori schooled. I really don’t know enough to comment (I am guessing that the child in question was always destined to be a problem – her parents were a complete joke) but I have heard that Montessori is brilliant for younger children so it’s lovely that she’s blossoming :)

    • http://blogabyebaby.wordpress.com MotherWifeMe

      Yes, I’ve also heard the transition can be difficult for some children – but more that they don’t like a suddenly loud and boisterous environment. So, going to suck it and see for a while, as last thing I want is to create problems down the line. But also spoken to people whose children have gone from one to the other without a murmur. It certainly feels like the right choice for the moment, but who knows what tomorrow brings!

  • http://www.nurserygardens.info Aaron

    Hi friend, I love your blog!