Montessori Toddler: Activities around the home

Jan 17, 2019

Montessori

If you’ve been following along my Instagram Stories you would’ve seen that Aliyana has been in the toddler Montessori program for almost 6 months now and her development has been phenomenal. The first time I attended the infant class (when she was 6 months old) I saw a little 2-year-old boy set the table and do all these amazing things and I questioned how can Aliyana possibly do that in less than 2 years…. Well, here we are! She’s doing it. AMAZING RIGHT!

A little bit of a background, I didn’t grow up with Montessori nor did I know what it was. There was a moment when this form of learning was imprinted in my head and that was when I was around 20 years-old working at my first job. One of the owners brought his daughter to work who was probably around 2 or 3 at that time and I remember how interacting with her impacted me. She was funny, smart and already reading books via pronouncing sounds. What the! I asked my boss how? He said, “It’s all Montessori. At that moment, I knew it was something I wanted to look into for my future children.

Today, I want to focus on a few things I do with Aliyana (age 12-24 month-appropriate activities). I’m by no means a certified teacher but these are all the things that she has learned through school and have worked well in our household.

In the kitchen:

  • Pour small glass of water using a small jug
  • Wipe spills with a sponge or hand-mitt (I cut a regular size sponge in half so it’s perfect for her small hands)
  • Set the table – using the Montessori placemats, toddler forks, spoons and plates.
  • Drink from glass vs. plastic (we call it her big girl glass which is either a small bistro glass or an espresso cup). When she was 6 months old, I purchase little shot glasses from Ikea and started using those. Yes we broke a few along the way and the thing we need to remember is that THAT IS TOTALLY OK!
  • Using small kitchen tools –  peeled/cut bananas, cut strawberries, crack, peel and cut eggs and most recently (at 23 months) peel and cut cucumbers.

In the Bathroom:

  • Brush her teeth (we would do another brush over)
  • Wash hands
  • Comb her hair

Other things:

  • Have low hanging hooks so she can hang up her own jacket.
  • Grab her shoes when it’s time to go out and put them back in its appropriate place when we come home.
  • I almost ALWAYS ask her to help me get things, for example when Leroy pee’s on the floor, she’ll go under the sink to get me the spray bottle to clean it.
  • When I remove wrappers,  I’ll give her the wrapper to either put in recycling or the garbage.
  • After a diaper change, she’ll bring her diaper to the diaper pail for disposal.

Aliyana loves that I call everything a big girl (something). She’s so proud every time she accomplishes a task successfully.
We did a fun little flower activity this weekend with everything we already had at home and I found the little baby funnel at The Soap Dispensary for $5.00!

I’ve linked a few of my favourite kitchen tools below. Happy Shopping!


Shop This post

Apron
Montessori Placemat
Hand Mitts
Strawberry Slicer
Quick Sticks
Glass Pitcher
Wooden Spoon
Egg Slicer
Toddler Vegetable Peeler
Wood-Handled Spreader Set
Apron
Montessori Placemat
Hand Mitts
Strawberry Slicer
Quick Sticks
Glass Pitcher
Wooden Spoon
Egg Slicer
Toddler Vegetable Peeler
Wood-Handled Spreader Set

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *