Compiling this blog post shocked me. We did a lot more shelf work between 2.5 and 3 than I thought we had! Shelf work has never been the center of our Montessori home (that would be cooking!) but it has always been one of the learning tools that we use in our home. This blog post shares some of our favorite Montessori shelf-work activities for 2.5 to 3-year-olds. Of course, every child varies in interest and abilities.

If you have a 3-year-old at home rest assured, you do not need a curriculum. A few months ago I would have been rolling my eyes hearing I was sharing curriculum picks for my 3-year-old. Heck, I have a blog post draft on here (that I’m glad I never posted!) talking about our plan not to use a formal curriculum. I don’t really even think of 3 as Pre-K considering there is in fact a whole other year PRE-Kindergarten. But it turns out that around 3, my son became very interested in a bit more formal academics. Go figure. We’re not talking sit down and do worksheets academics (though, not going to lie, as much as I don’t, he does enjoy worksheets sometimes) but we are talking about some academics that give us some structure to our day and teach some of those foundational concepts.

My daughter just turned 18 months and has entered into the stage of one of my absolute favorite Montessori activities: matching. I give her small animals for her to match with a photo of the animal. My son loved object to picture matching like this from about 18 months to 2.5. At 3 we still use them to teach new language as part of unit studies.

I am so excited for the Montessori-aligned first birthday gifts we ended up choosing for our baby. I think they’re a great mix of things that will grow with her and she will enjoy with her big brother. So here’s the list of our favorite Montessori-inspired first birthday gifts. Some of them are even so good we bought them for my son and are buying again for our daughter.

Are you interested in designing a Montessori bedroom for your toddler? This post gives a tour of my son’s Montessori toddler bedroom and offers a guide on what to consider when creating a safe and developmentally appropriate Montessori bedroom for your child!

I have put a lot of effort into creating a kitchen space that is accessible for my toddler and serves the needs of our whole family. This looked different when we lived in our small apartment, but most of the factors were still present there as well. Here is a look at our kitchen and ways we make it accessible for our toddler (and baby!). My toddler is 2 years 9 months and my baby is 11 months.

Have you wondered why Montessori is so obsessed with independence? Why are toddlers cooking and cleaning from such a young age? This blog post answers that question with another question, is Montessori actually so obsessed with independence at all? I argue that Montessori is far less about independence than we think.

This post has been a long time coming since I did my cooking with toddler series several months ago. Knives are an exciting tool for toddlers to use if introduced safely. Of course with all the tools I will discuss you should supervise your child closely. These tools are toddler-safe only when supervised. This post goes through how we introduced knives from 14 months through the knives he uses now at 2.5. It also discusses some of the progression of skills with the knives we introduced to our toddler.

This post gives a tour of our playroom. We have the sunroom off the living room as a dedicated Montessori playroom and homeschool room. It is a small room but filled with light and just perfect for our needs. We also have open-ended toys in the living room (which I will share later), but this room holds mostly our Montessori close-ended materials in addition to some books, art supplies, and musical instruments.

I love Montessori in the newborn stage because it is a real reminder of what Montessori is actually about. It’s not about the toys, but about following the child and showing them respect. So much of the newborn stage is responding to their needs, getting to know them as a unique person, holding them when they ask, narrating our actions before we move their bodies. The most important “toy” to a newborn is you. Looking in their eyes and talking is one of the most enriching activities.

If you’ve been here before you might know for a while I was doing these monthly. I realized it wasn’t sustainable but also I can share way more about the progression to share on a three-month basis. There was so much learning between 21 and 24 months and I look forward to jumping in and talking about it! He was really into shelf work this month including some activities such as shape sorters and puzzles he hadn’t particularly loved in the past. Instead of simply going through our shelf since we had a few rotations during this time, I am going to discuss several categories: puzzles, matching, color matching, and fine motor work.

I can hardly believe my son is turning 2! With limited space in our small apartment and so many of the basics already covered I definitely struggled a bit to decide what to get him this year. I ended up finding a set of gifts I think he will really enjoy though. In this guide, I share Montessori-inspired gifts for two-year-olds along with the gifts we are getting my son at the end of the post.

My number one recommendation to purchase for cooking with toddlers is a learning tower or sous chef tower. These are a classic in the Montessori world because they allow toddlers to become more active participants in cooking. This item is, without question, our most loved baby item behind possibly the baby wrap.

Where do you start? This is quite possibly my most asked question when it comes to cooking with toddlers or even our Montessori home more generally. It is also a question I struggle a bit with because I don’t have a straightforward answer. But, I will do my best to share our experience along with some of my tips here. This will be the first in a series I will share about introducing different aspects of cooking.

A look at our Montessori shelf at 18-months-old, I share what my son has been playing with this past month and some developmental toy recommendations for around this age.

Montessori is not about the “stuff” but since many of us are looking for gifts for our little ones this holiday season I am sharing what we love and what we are getting our son for Chanukah.

Somewhere around the second year of their child’s life the words “potty training” start to enter the thoughts of parents, often with a sense of imminent dread. The Montessori approach to toilet learning, however, is quite different than traditional potty training. It is not a process you do in a weekend or even a week.

This month there has been intense interest in the shelf and in mastering some materials that have been out for a while. The multi-piece puzzle, for example, has been mastered this month and while still interesting to him will likely be rotated out for a more challenging one soon. I find there is still interest in toys that have been on the shelf for a while.

How do you get him to clean up after playing with things? How do you keep him from just taking out everything? I get asked this all the time so I thought I’d share a few of my tips. This is a question I see asked about Montessori environments a lot in general. In Montessori classrooms children generally return their materials to a shelf after using with them. We do the same at home, though of course it is far more flexible at home.

Our Montessori shelf and activities at 15 months old. We have been loving shelfwork this month and have seen a huge increase in fine motor skills. Come check out what we have been playing with this month!