Montessori Magic!

I guess we are all guilty of the fact that we have yelled or shouted at our children at some point in our lives or it may even be a routine for some of us. We resort to yelling or nagging when our simple techniques fail. This seems to be the only possible solution and with a sure shot success rate. However, a " Command and Control"  attitude may work in the moment but will never be the long term solution of the child's behavior as yelling doesn't really help them focus on what you want them to do. More often than not children misbehave if they do not get age-appropriate attention in positive ways. Measures to avoid yelling; Set limits or boundaries  (Example: You can play till 7 pm). If a limit really upsets them we can try to negotiate a bit but not too much (in the example above: Play time can be extended to 7:15 but not beyond) Try talking to your child about his/her feelings  regarding a particular issue and validating them if possible (Example: ...

Geometric Solids: An introduction to 3D shapes at the Kindergarten level. These are a set of 10 shapes which are sure to attract the attention of any child. Ranging from the basic ones like the Sphere and Cylinder which the children can relate with easily to the more complex like the Prisms and the Ellipsoid. The young ones are usually in awe of seeing the Triangle Based and the Square Based Pyramids. In a Montessori Environment the children are encouraged to feel each shape and explore its movement. The movements vary for almost each shape. It is a Roll for the Cylinder, Circular one for the Cone, Off-Balance for the Ovoid and the Lumbar Movement of the Cube, Rectangular and the Triangular Prisms. The Facilitators can make this material more interesting by asking the children to create their own little booklets of similar shapes that they see in the Real world which may include an� ice-cream cone for Cone, a ball for Sphere and so on. Geometric Solids is the first step in lear...

The Pink Cubes are a set of 10 wooden cubes of varying sizes painted in pink. These are great in helping children understand the concepts of size and dimension. The children grade the cubes from the biggest to the smallest. They create a beautiful Pink Tower! However, the impact of this material is much more than just gradation. Children are encouraged to pick each cube one at a time to their work area which helps in building their focus and control of body movement. These are a preparation for Math Skills and give children the base of 1 to 10. Very beautifully, these cubes teach children the Degrees of Comparison and add on to their Language Skills as children classify cubes as big, bigger, biggest and vice-versa. It is interesting to note that the cubes are a self-correcting material which implies that children can recognize their mistake by their Visual Sense without being checked by an adult which helps them in developing their self confidence, independence and fosters a sen...

Red Rods: The Red Rods used in a Montessori Classroom are a set of 10 prismatic wooden rods. These vary in size from the shortest (1 st ) to the longest (10 th ). By working on Red Rods children learn Visual Discrimination as well as Gradation from the longest to shortest or vice-versa. In a beautiful way it helps children develop skills of Alignment, Order and Focus. It also enhances their vocabulary with Degrees of Comparison like long, longer, short, shorter. The interesting thing here is that the learning is not confined to just this level but rather forms a base for learning the advanced and the most significant concept of Math Numbers from 1 to 10. The possibilities with the Red Rods are endless as children can do Equivalence (using two short rods to equal up to a longer rod), make different Patterns like the Sun, Mazes and others which may reflect the children's creativity :) Learn More