Today is our third and final post about Montessori on a Budget for the #30daystoMontessori Challenge and our second Montessori Outdoors post!
This post is written by the inspiring Vanessa over at Mama’s Happy Hive, one of my co-bloggers from Christian Montessori Network.
Day 24: Take Montessori Outside
1. Watering the flowers teaches the child to care for the environment and their world around them. We must teach the next generation to do their part in keeping our earth beautiful and green.
2. My little boy enjoys laying on the grass watching the clouds in the sky dance by. This activity helps the child to learn to be quiet and observe. My child learned to do this activity from watching his mama do the same thing while visiting the park.
3. By encouraging your child to help give the dog a bath, it shows him how to gently care for animals. It teaches the same lesson to the child by washing their favorite toy. It teaches the child to have respect for their belongings.
4. Teach your child to observe small insects and talk to your child about how the small creature is very fragile. This helps the child learn to be gentle and respectful of living creatures, even the very tiny ones.
5. Children learn through their five senses. The sense of touch is one way children can learn about nature.
6. Balancing on uneven surfaces develops the child’s gross motor development and equilibrium.
7. Little feet immersed in a cool stream helps to develop the brain’s sense of cold and wet.
8. Teach your child to listen carefully when outside to the birds singing, wind blowing, and crickets chirping. Also allow your child to safely taste nature. There are many things in nature that are safe to taste, such as: garden vegetables, herbs, dandelions, and grass. (Please also be aware of any potential allergies.)
9. Let your child help harvest the garden to develop their fine motor skills and tactile development. This also teaches your child where their food comes from. It originates from the earth.
10. While standing close by, let your child climb and explore their environment, barefoot if possible. This allows your child to develop their gross motor skills and autonomy.
So, what are you waiting for? Get outside and bring your Montessori mindset with you!
Make sure to check out the rest of the series here:
Blythe says
September 24, 2014 at 7:34 pmThis is a great post! Thanks so much for sharing your ideas, Vanessa! We live in an area where it snows a LOT, and we don’t allow that to keep us inside. Playing in the snow, especially bundled up, is another way to explore balance, as well as experience some major development of the senses.
Jennifer Tammy says
June 13, 2015 at 1:37 pmThank you so much – that’s such a good point, Blythe!