Montessori For Babies

Infants are born with immense potential. They are eager to learn, explore, and try new things. Dr. Maria Montessori’s research and experience teaches us that brain and physical development progress faster at this time than at any other time in life.

We encourage parents to use Montessori ideas as early as possible. There is already so much you can do – how you touch the baby, talk to the baby, set up your home, and how you respond to their efforts at communication. A baby has an unconscious absorbent mind. They are taking in impressions of the world around them without any effort. And they absorb the good as easily as the bad.

In a carefully prepared infant Montessori environment, the babies are provided with rich sensory materials and a calm but stimulating setting. They learn to use their large muscles for crawling, walking and running. They use their small muscles for grasping and touching, and later, for eating, writing, and painting beautiful pictures.

Here are some of our favorite ideas for introducing Montessori to babies…

Unsure of where to begin creating a Montessori environment, specifically for their babies? Let’s take some time to discuss how to prepare yourself and your home environment. If you are brand new to Montessori, it is important to realize that Montessori is a lifestyle, and not just about shelves, pretty wooden toys, or educational activities. It is so much more!

Living a Montessori lifestyle means your child is treated with dignity, respect, kindness, and love. We show our babies that we view them as capable individuals with their own opinions, desires, and needs. In terms of Montessori baby spaces, this means you create your space with your child’s needs in mind, not your own convenience.

There are several basics key features of a Montessori bedroom:

When it comes to toys many people feel overwhelmed by them even if they don’t apply Montessori principles to their homes. What kind? How many? Add finding Montessori friendly materials and it’s easy to become completely confused and unsure of what to get.

When shopping for Montessori babies it is best to keep materials as simple and as natural as possible. Avoid things that are too flashy, heavy or complicated. Instead, focus on beauty and, most importantly, function. For a baby, you should typically have 3-5 options out at a time. It is important that baby can access his or her toys.

Here is a small list of some amazing Montessori friendly toys to purchase for a baby:

We suggest to buy less than you think and, rather than needing to buy a lot, also let your child explore household items. The baby is able to choose more easily when there is less available and they can more deeply explore these items.

Babies tend to spend a lot of time in bike seats, car seats, baby wraps, and bouncer chairs. Here are some ideas to counter all this sitting and restricted movement:

In a Montessori environment, adults speak very respectfully with the child. The same thing applies even when we speak with an infant. They understand everything even from a young age, so here are some tips you can use even if they cannot yet answer back:

All of these tips are a great Montessori starting point for babies and preparing your home environment, but keep in mind that the environment will need to evolve. Baby’s needs are constantly changing, and it will be important to update your space as your child grows.

We hope you will enjoy beginning the Montessori Method from birth and love encouraging your baby’s independence!

Infants 6 weeks to 16 months old have “absorbent minds,” priming them for optimal development when put in carefully prepared environments like those at our infant Montessori program in Eden Prairie.

For over 25 years, our staff has been carefully preparing infants with an environment that primes them for future development.

Both of our location have a Nido room which includes 12 infants and at least a 1:4 teacher to child ratio. This allows us to pay proper attention to the needs of your baby at all times.

To learn more about our infant Nido Environments for the Eden Prairie community, including the opportunity to learn Spanish as a second language, book a tour by contacting us at (952) 944-8466. We look forwarding to meeting both you and your baby!

The post Montessori For Babies appeared first on Eden Prairie Montessori.