Materials Spotlight: Montessori Mobiles

Did you know? Montessori education can begin at birth!

In their first weeks of life, babies begin to focus their eyes and track objects. These small acts of visual control provide an important foundation for newborns who are building their neural networks. To set infants up for success, we offer a series of specially designed mobiles to aid this development.

Each Montessori mobile is created with particular characteristics to help babies further develop their sense of sight, depth perception, concentration, hand-eye coordination, and more. Plus, newborns love them!

Essential Characteristics of Montessori Mobiles

Montessori mobiles follow a progression that parallels infant development. The first mobiles have a visual focus and begin with basic shapes. They progress to include more complicated objects and eventually become interactive and tactile.

The first mobiles are simple and light enough to allow them to flow with gentle air currents. In order for infants to have the best visual experience, a mobile should be hung so that it is about 12 inches in front of them rather than directly above. When babies are lying on their back, there should be a visual line at about a 45-degree angle from their eyes to the mobile. This particular placement allows infants to see the whole mobile moving.

Each mobile has visual components designed to help infants track the objects and sharpen their vision. Then after these opportunities to follow objects visually, infants begin to have more arm and hand control and might begin to reach and grasp objects nearby. To support this new ability to reach and grasp, the mobiles take a slightly different form and thus need to be easy to grasp, colorful, and safe for children to mouth.

Progression of Mobiles: Visual

The first four mobiles–the Munari, Octahedron, the Gobbi, and the Dancers–provide babies with meaningful visual experiences when they are just recognizing shapes and then later identifying colors.

The Munari

Newborns can only see black and white, so the first mobile we offer does not have any colors and is composed of black and white shapes with contrasting borders and a hanging glass sphere. The hanging glass sphere reflects light and captures infants’ attention. Named after Bruno Munari (1907-1998), an Italian architect who created a series of mobile sculptures that created patterns of light and shadow, the Munari provides newborns the possibility to begin to focus on one object and experience the difference between light and shade.

The Octahedron Mobile

Children start seeing color around two months of age and this mobile introduces primary colors, as well as three-dimensional objects. The traditional mobile has three octahedrons–one red, one yellow, and one blue–made of glossy, reflective paper. Light reflects off the shiny paper and attracts the infants’ attention. Although other simple geometric shapes can be used, it’s best if they have straight lines. When the shapes move, their movements simulate a circle. Although typically introduced around two months of age, the mobile can be used as early as one month of age, because some babies may already be seeing colors and those who aren't may be encouraged to see the new colors.

The Gobbi

We introduce this mobile around one or two months of age, but after the Munari and Octahedron. The Gobbi is made of five spheres hanging from a horizontal rod. The spheres are covered with embroidery floss and have graduation of one color from light to dark and hang in a progression on a 45-degree angle so that the darkest sphere is lowest and the lightest sphere is highest.

The Gobbi was designed by Gianna Gobbi (1920-2002), Dr. Maria Montessori's assistant in the early 1950s. Created specifically for a Montessori environment, the Gobbi helps babies begin to see a gradation of colors and sharpen their visual abilities.

The Dancers

This mobile is made with light, metallic paper of two different colors. The paper is cut into shapes and hung in a way that resembles four dancers. The parts move with the slightest current of air and light plays off the mobile as the dancers spin around.

This mobile moves faster, has parts with two colors, and has shapes that aren’t as definite due to each part within the dancer moving separately. These new visual components help babies with depth perception and focus as they track the different movements of the shapes.

Progression of Mobiles: Tactile

The next four mobiles–Stylized Wooden Figures, Three Colored Spheres, Bell on a Ribbon, and Ring on a Ribbon– represent a shift toward objects that babies can not only track visually, but also reach for, potentially grasp, and also even pull. For that reason, these mobiles need to be attached very securely!

Stylized Wooden Figures

The first of these visual and tactile mobiles is made of light wooden shapes that are ideally realistic figures that could actually fly and move, such as birds, butterflies, or airplanes. If they are painted, the paint should be non-toxic.

In addition to being at an angle for the child to see, this mobile and the subsequent mobiles also need to be hung at a distance where the child can stretch and be able to grasp the items.  

Three Colored Spheres

Made from interlocking circles that form an impression of a sphere when they spin, this mobile is a more tactile version of the Octahedron mobile. Each of the three spheres is a primary color (painted with non-toxic paint, of course), which makes the spheres very contrasting. Because they are made from interlocking wooden disks, the hanging objects also provide babies with four sides that are relatively easy to grasp.

Bell on a Ribbon

The Bell on a Ribbon is a wonderful mobile to use when babies begin to spend more time on their stomachs, or even when they start to be able to sit. Because of this change in the children’s positioning, the mobile height may need to be adjusted.

In the beginning, babies will hit the bell by accident, then they will gradually begin to try reaching for the bell to make the sound again. When babies make contact, the bell moves and they must work harder to grasp it. The bell can also be enclosed inside a crocheted covering.

The ribbon should be attractive enough to see, but not so colorful as to distract attention away from the bell. Although attached securely, the bell should still be large enough to not be a choking hazard.

Finally, for added interest, babies can also be positioned so the bell is at their feet so when they kick it will jingle!

Ring on a Ribbon

This is the last of the mobiles in the Montessori progression and helps babies use more precise movements in order to be able to grasp the moving ring. This simple wooden ring hanging from a ribbon or elastic offers so much benefit as babies reach, grasp, release, and try again. After babies are able to grasp a thick ring, the ring can be switched out for a slightly thinner version. Older babies may also use this material to pull themselves up.

Setting the Scene

In setting up an environment for newborns, one of the key areas is a place for movement. The movement area includes a mat and a hook on the ceiling for hanging the mobiles. It’s ideal for the movement area to have a mirror next to the mat, especially because babies are developing the ability to hold and control their heads. As such, they can look at the mobile in the mirror if they need to have their heads to the side.

Montessori mobiles are meant to be used in a movement area, rather than above a changing area or sleeping area. Interacting with the mobiles is important work for babies and they need prepared space for that work. The area should have natural light and enough airflow to move the mobile, while also being warm enough to be comfortable.

To make it easier to exchange the mobiles, an elastic band or ribbon is attached to the ceiling or off the wall (perhaps with a hanging plant bracket or something comparable). To make it easy to switch out the mobiles, the end of the ribbon or elastic band has a securely attached key ring. The ribbon attached to each mobile also has a ring, so the two rings can be slid together when it’s time to hang the mobile.

Because babies are really engaged when they are focusing on and reaching for mobiles, we want to be sure to allow them to concentrate. Before making a change or interrupting in any way, we take time to observe and wait for when focus shifts and babies show signs of being finished. We start by offering the mobile for short periods of time and then take a break if babies seem to be overstimulated. The best time to use the movement area and the mobiles is when babies are fed and well-rested.

Montessori mobiles offer so many benefits for our babies. During their time with mobiles, infants practice visual tracking, develop their fine and gross motor skills, strengthen their intentional and coordinated movements, and learn how to execute a planned action. Although seemingly simple, these materials for infants are incredibly profound!

From Independence to Interdependence

In Montessori, we talk a lot about independence. However, one of the lesser known or understood aspects of Montessori is that independence isn’t the end goal.

As humans, we are each wonderful, unique individuals. But we don’t exist in isolation. We live amongst other wonderful, unique individuals! In order to effectively live in community with other people, though, we need to be able to function independently. Said another way, before we can offer help to others or make ourselves useful, we need to be able to meet our own needs.

How can we be independent and interdependent at the same time?

We all want to make choices for ourselves, exercise our liberty, and be responsible for our own lives. At the same time, we also want to be part of something. We are designed to be both independent and be in community. These two needs are not mutually exclusive, but in fact, operate in relationship to each other. We have an innate desire to be autonomous and to belong.

When we develop the ability to act for ourselves, make choices, control ourselves, and accept responsibility, we are able to be functioning, contributing members of society. We can see what needs doing and do it because we have the skills to do so. We can work with others to create solutions or produce goods and services. We can be part of a community by acting and taking responsibility for our actions, each able to contribute because we all have the skills to do so.

What does this have to do with children and Montessori education?

From a very young age, children are trying to exert control over their lives. Children are trying to gain functional independence from birth to about age three. In Montessori classrooms, we offer all sorts of opportunities for young children to develop skills that help them take care of their basic needs. But we don’t stop there! We also provide so many ways children can care for others and for their surroundings.

Once children have mastered pouring from one pitcher to another, they are able to pour water into a vase and arrange flowers to beautify the classroom. After they learn how to sweep, they are quick to notice a spill and rush to get the dustpan and dust brush so they can help. When someone is struggling to zip their jacket, they take pride in sharing their newfound skill in service to someone else’s need.

As children move into the elementary years, this service to others often takes on a slightly different form, in part because elementary-age children are developing their intellectual independence. Thus, their contribution often involves applying these newfound intellectual skills. They might notice a classmate struggling to figure out the steps in a math problem and offer support. Or when friends are in conflict, they might provide some mediation to help each party listen to the others’ perspective.

In adolescence, young adults are ready to work toward being socially and economically independent. They want to figure out their place in society, grapple with real problems, and contribute in a useful way. Thus, Montessori adolescent programs offer teens the chance to develop and feel secure in their own abilities while also collaborating in real and meaningful social endeavors. In the process of running a small business, for example, adolescents are applying their intellectual skills from marketing to mathematics, while also navigating how to communicate with customers and collaborate with classmates.

Why is this important?

As humans, we want to achieve independence and belonging. Being independent is about learning the skills to be able to contribute in a meaningful way. All the little conquests of independence–throughout each age and stage of development–matter! When our infant reaches to grasp an object, our two-year-old demands to put their shirt on themselves, our eight-year-old argues about just and fair rules of a game, or our adolescent insists they can solve a problem with their peers, we can remember that these acts of independence are laying a foundation for our children to become part of an interdependent, harmonious society.

Independence is just a step. Interdependence is the ultimate goal.

The Legacy of Dr. Maria Montessori

To honor Dr. Maria Montessori’s birthday on August 31, we want to reflect back on her life and her profound influence on how we see and honor children’s potential. 

Many educational systems start with adults having an idea of what is best for children. The Montessori approach, however, began with Dr. Montessori being intensely curious and observing children’s growth and development. 

It’s worth remembering that Dr. Montessori was first and foremost a scientist. In fact, Dr. Montessori was one of the first female physicians in Italy in the late 19th century. Specializing in pediatrics and psychiatry, she had regular contact with working-class and poor children through free clinics at the University of Rome’s medical school. Through these initial experiences, Dr. Montessori theorized that children are born with incredible learning potential and an intrinsic desire to explore, discover, and learn about their world.  

In 1900, she was appointed director of a University of Rome program for developmentally delayed children considered uneducable. After observing the drab conditions of the institution and the children’s attempts to find anything of sensory interest, Dr. Montessori began studying the importance of sensory experiences in cognitive development.

She then spent two years teaching the children and directing the work of teachers in the institute. Eventually, Dr. Montessori’s developmentally delayed students were able to pass the standard tests of Italian schools. Her response? She stated that if children with developmental challenges could pass the tests, the traditional schools of the time should be able to get dramatically better results with typically developing children!

This experience caused Dr. Montessori to want to examine how education could support, rather than stifle or repress, children’s development.

In 1907, Dr. Montessori had her opportunity. She was invited to coordinate daycare in the slums of San Lorenzo for working-class children too young for public school. Dr. Montessori began by teaching the older children how to help with everyday tasks. She also introduced practical skills of everyday living, including hygiene and self-care. Gradually, Dr. Montessori incorporated manipulative puzzles and activities to assist children with learning different skills and concepts. The children were drawn to the materials and reveled in the process of beautifying themselves and their surroundings. Each day the children’s behavior improved, and they eventually begged her to show them more, including how to read and write.

As she prepared the space and the adults supporting these previously unkempt, unruly, and uneducated children, Dr. Montessori saw an incredible and seemingly spontaneous kind of learning and work happen. The children became calm and peaceful. They took care of themselves and their surroundings. And they developed concentration and a love of learning.

Dr. Montessori was fascinated. Building upon her previous work, she continued to experiment and design unique learning materials that nurtured children’s natural desire to learn. News of this success in San Lorenzo soon spread through Italy and eventually dignitaries from other countries began visiting to see this miracle firsthand. 

Around age 40, Dr. Montessori left a doctor’s career and a professorship at the University of Rome to continue her work for children. Throughout the rest of her life, she offered courses and lectures, wrote books, and trained educators, all the while insisting that the focus be on children, rather than on her. 

Through scientific investigation, the study of available research, trial and error, and observation, Dr. Montessori saw that children across cultures and countries flourish in a setting that provides just the right support at critical times of development. 

Because Montessori education is focused on the science of human development, the approach has withstood the test of time and culture. Today the Montessori approach has been implemented in approximately 20,000 Montessori schools around the world, with more than 3,000 in the U.S. alone. With over 100 years of practice, Montessori has worldwide recognition as an educational approach that helps children achieve their fullest potential.

We invite you to come to see this legacy in action!

What is Practical Life?

When you visit a Montessori school, you’ll likely hear the phrase “practical life.” We thought it might be helpful to provide a little more context so we can share why practical life is so important to what we do.

First, let’s break apart the phrase. “Practical” can mean the actual doing or use of something. The term “life" can be described as living things and their activity. So, when we combine the two terms, we can think of “practical life” as activity that is focused on doing something useful. 

In Montessori, we offer young children useful activities that serve a real purpose. Children have beautiful child-sized materials that allow them to wash tables, dust shelves, polish silver, prepare food, and so much more. Although most traditional early childhood programs have a play area that includes cleaning items or kitchen toys, these items are for pretend, imitation, and play rather than for actually cleaning or cooking.

But why does a toddler need to polish their shoes or do laundry with a scrub board? Are the tasks drudgery? Isn’t childhood an age for play? To answer these questions, we need to look at what is happening during childhood, which is what Dr. Maria Montessori did over 100 years ago. 

Origins of Practical Life Exercises

The exercises of practical life began in order to serve a very practical need. Dr. Montessori had responsibility for children who were being destructive in a building in the slums of Rome. The proprietors needed to take care of the building, yet the children were rather wild and unkempt. As a physician, Dr. Montessori knew the importance of hygiene in preventing illness. Thus, one of the first things she did was to offer basins of water and cakes of soap. Then Dr. Montessori showed the children how to wash their hands and faces.

What happened was unexpected. Once the children washed their hands and faces, they didn’t stop. They kept washing. They did it again and again. Dr. Montessori said the children repeated the activity as if driven by some kind of imperceptible force. Instead of stopping them, like adults are apt to do, Dr. Montessori watched. She wanted to see what would happen. With curiosity, patience, and powers of scientific observation, she observed a need that went way beyond washing hands. From these practical beginnings, came a very significant discovery for Dr. Montessori. 

Montessori’s Discovery about Children and Work

Dr. Montessori discovered the fundamental difference between work as adults experience it and work as children experience it. Often, as adults, we think of work as bringing on fatigue. However, Dr. Montessori observed how work for children is energizing.

Young children have an intense urge to do things! Think about the crawling infant who is completely compelled to try to get up the stairs, so matter how many times we bring them back down or try to block the steps. 

Typically we, as adults, stop children from doing certain activities because we think the action is too tiring, too difficult, too dangerous, too messy, or because it will be more efficient and faster for us to do it ourselves.

Yet young children have a compulsion to engage in activities with a huge amount of effort. In fact, young children will become quite distressed when their activity is interrupted.

Understanding Children’s Motivation 

Young children’s goals for doing activities are not practical ones. They aren’t motivated by having clean hands or a polished candlestick. Dr. Montessori discovered that young children’s motivation to work and gain independence is part of their process of constructing themselves. They are motivated to interact with their surroundings in order to create who they are as humans. Children are working to coordinate and refine movements, gain independence, master sequences of activity, and essentially create their future personalities. It’s easy to tell when children are in this stage because they will do an activity repeatedly, even in one day or in one sitting. This is what Dr. Montessori observed when she offered basins of water and cakes of soap to the children in San Lorenzo.

Gradually, around the ages of four and five, children become fueled by a love and appreciation of their surroundings and their community. They want to put their skills to use! While the youngest children will wash a clean table ten times, slightly older children will wash a table once because it is dirty. Often older children will notice a something that needs attending to, like a lot of dirty cloths in the laundry basket and want to wash the items to make sure everything is clean for the next day. 

Making Activities Accessible

In Montessori settings, we make sure that the processes of everyday living are accessible to children. Items are sized for the children because it’s hard to sweep when the broom is larger than one’s body! Children also get to see and participate in steps that are often not visible to them, like what happens in the dishwasher. Thus, when we offer children the steps of washing dishes, we are gifting them with the awareness of each step involved: how we go from dirty dishes to clean dishes includes wetting the dishes, scrubbing them with soap, rinsing the dishes, and finally drying them. 

We also slow down the movements involved so that children can see, absorb, and practice each necessary skill. When children can practice each step slowly and intentionally, they learn how to do things like unbuttoning or buttoning their sweater or tying their shoes. Having time and space to practice the activities allows children to be active participants in taking care of themselves and their community.

Some Outcomes of Practical Life Activities

How can getting oneself dressed or scrubbing a table help with children’s development? Practical life activities help children develop critical skills like intelligence and memory, concentration and focus, awareness and self-confidence, self-control and self-discipline, and the ability to problem-solve and think rationally.

When even the youngest children are following a complex series of steps in order to accomplish something like washing a cloth, they are developing their memory and intelligence. They see how to set up the basins of water, wet the cloth, get the soap, scrub, rinse, hang the cloth the dry, repeat, and then clean everything up when finished. Then they hold that sequence in their minds in order to do the activity themselves. In the process, they are also developing their capacity for logical ordered thinking. 

In addition, when working on practical life activities, children strengthen their ability to reason. They have to consider things like whether they need to apply more polish or if the table is completely dry. As such, children begin to develop an awareness of their impact which also creates self-confidence. When they see that the table is dirty after pitting cherries and get the table scrubbing activity out, they have taken a step along the path of becoming logical problem-solvers. 

Through the exercises of practical life, children also increase their self-control and self-discipline. Some of this self-control comes from the ability to put the needs of the community ahead of their own needs. A toddler who scoops avocado to make guacamole to share at snack may want to eat the avocado right away. However, they delay gratification in order to serve friends during snack time. Children also learn to put things away when they are finished using them, which helps establish a life-long habit of self-discipline.

We also offer challenges that help children develop skills that will lead to more concentration and focus. We might pose these suggestions as questions: Do you think you could wash this table without spilling a drop of water anywhere? How many times can you spoon the beans back and forth without spilling any? Offering these little points of consciousness provides children with a challenge that helps them strengthen their ability to concentrate and persevere, while also helping them refine their fine and gross motor skills.

From their very humble beginnings, the exercises of practical life provide children with so many benefits! In addition to developing the foundation for executive functioning skills (like task initiation, self-control, organization, planning and prioritizing, and holding information in working memory) practical life activities help children develop a deep love and appreciation for their surroundings and for those who live in their community.

Practical life activities are the cornerstone of Montessori classrooms. We invite you to come to see this remarkable work in action! 

Movement Matters!

In Montessori, we honor children’s movement, even from birth! One reason why we focus so much on movement for young children is that healthy movement development in the first two years of life can provide our children with considerable benefits in the years to come. 

So, let’s take a quick look at the science to better understand how to support our infants and toddlers during this critical time. 

Movement & Myelination

At birth, movements are spontaneous and reflexive, like sucking and swallowing which are essential for survival. These early reflexive movements originate from the spinal cord and brain stem, but soon movement matures from the head down. 

Our brains depend upon our sensory nervous system to share information about the surrounding world. This information actually shapes our brains’ connections and neural pathways.

For infants, these neural connections are just forming. As electrical signals move from one area of the brain to another, as well as down through the spinal cord to the rest of the body, they need smooth passage along what are called axons. Axons basically act like electrical wires conducting electrical signals. 

Those signals need to be transmitted quickly and efficiently. Just like electrical wires need insulation so the electricity isn’t dissipated, axons need insulation, too! For more rapid passage of these electrical messages, axons become insulated by a layer of lipids and proteins, a process called myelination.

Babies are born without much myelin, which explains why their reaction times are so slow and movements so effortful. But with each experience and repetition, the myelin sheaths around axons get thicker. Myelin essentially greases the wires and allows signals to travel along the axons faster and more effectively.

More myelination in infants’ motor systems allows them to lift their heads, reach out, roll over, crawl, and eventually walk and run.

Mobiles for Movement

Within the first weeks of life after birth, babies begin to learn to control their eyes which means some of the first myelination happens with infants’ eye muscles. 

To support this development, we provide carefully designed and placed mobiles, which help babies develop their visual capacities for focus and tracking. Changed as developmentally appropriate, mobiles offer newborns the opportunity to focus on an object, track it, perceive sensory details, and eventually attempt to reach for it.  

When infants begin to reach for the mobile, we begin to offer something slightly different, like a bell hanging from a ribbon. Babies will try and try again, with great concentration and focus, to move their arms so as to make contact with the object and cause it to move or make a sound. They thus discover the relationship between sight and touch. 

At first, physical contact with a hanging bell or ball may appear haphazard. Yet infants are seeing the item and making a muscular effort to connect with what they see. With repeated practice, infants are actually developing the myelin coating that will make their future efforts to reach and eventually grasp more efficient and successful.

Safe Space for Movement

For similar reasons, infants need space for movement. Often, we’re more apt to hold our infants or keep them in carriers. However, babies benefit from having space to move, and almost slither, their bodies on the floor. When you create the time and space for these slow whole-body movements, you’ll see that infants will often slither their bodies around in a clockwise direction!

When infants attempt to slither and move, they are very focused. This concentration allows them to start connecting how the mind and body work together. In Your Child’s Growing Mind: Brain Development and Learning from Birth to Adolescence, Dr. Jane Healy offers an important reminder: “After birth, physical activities are one of the child’s main means of advancing physical, intellectual, and emotional growth, so you should encourage many forms of body movement.”

Clothing also matters. In order to safely move their bodies, babies need clothing that doesn’t restrict their movements. Comfortable fabrics with forgiving elastics are best. Light clothing around the arms and legs offers more opportunities for movement and exploration. It’s also best to allow babies to have bare feet so they can have more sensory input and more traction as they begin to move.

Hands Send Information to the Brain

In addition to gross motor development, which will eventually progress from slithering to crawling to walking, infants are taking in information about the world through their hands. 

In this process, babies develop an awareness of the connection between what they observe and what they touch. Sensory experiences begin to be linked to their mental development. Although little mitts are adorable and seem useful to keep infants from scratching themselves, it’s much more beneficial for babies’ development to have their hands uncovered. 

Eventually, children begin to use their hands to not only take in information about the world but also to begin manipulating things in their surroundings. To help this development of hand movements, our little ones need purposeful activities that allow for exploration and the development of different types of hand grasps.

Children’s development of their hands is directly connected to the development of their brains. The brain sends a signal to the hand, and the hand moves and sends a sensory message back to the brain. With this new information, the brain can guide the hand in new ways, thus allowing the hand to discover more information by performing the new direction. And the feedback loop continues!

Gross Motor Skills Start with Tummy Time

While infants are developing these fine motor skills through coordination of their hands, they are also developing gross motor abilities. Early on babies need sufficient opportunities to develop large muscles, in particular their truck and neck. Thus, time lying on their belly is important, as this provides the opportunity for infants to push up with their arms and develop a stronger torso and neck. 

Tummy time “push-ups” with the arms while in the stomach position are key in forming needed coordination and strength for all of their subsequent large-muscle development. Then, as infants develop enough torso and neck control to push themselves into a seated position, they free their hands for further exploration and development.  

A similar process occurs when toddlers are able to move from cruising while holding on to objects for support, to walking without assistance. Suddenly they are able to move through their environment and use their hands for purposeful endeavors. 

From “tummy-time” to rolling, to sitting up, to scooting, to crawling, and eventually, to cruising and walking, our young children are beginning to explore their world and develop their sense of self. 

Developing Purposeful Movements

Dr. Maria Montessori explains that, as children gain strength through these activities, they begin to look toward those around them to imitate our actions and learn how to be a member of society. Children are interested in what we do and how we do it. They want to use their bodies in new and purposeful ways. 

From the first days after birth, when a newborn can only control their eyes to see a mobile to when they move their hand and make contact with a bell hanging on a ribbon, these experiences help children recognize that they can control their movements. The sensory feedback helps strengthen an impulse within children to look or to try to move. Every experience involves movement. The more infants move, the more myelin they form, and the stronger their ability to act according to their own volition.

Movement Matters!

Sensorial experiences are vital for the development of movement and children use their movements to extend their understanding of the world. They see, hear, touch, and taste. The more they use parts of their body to explore their world, the more their movements become refined and the more they are able to make sense of their surroundings.  

Children need the opportunity to explore, practice, and repeat movements through simulating and purposeful activity in a safe and supportive setting. Through these repeated experiences, our infants and toddlers develop their muscles, perfect their movements, and ultimately perfect themselves.

Although every child follows a typical timetable in terms of developing motor skills, their surroundings can either hinder or promote the acquisition and mastery of these abilities. Providing appropriate opportunities offers our children the chance for repeated practice and thus speeds the myelination process. Ultimately, as children develop their motor abilities, they come to recognize themselves as competent, capable, and unique individuals.

Want to see some competent, capable, and unique children moving through well-designed learning environments? Contact us today to schedule a visit! 

End-of-Summer Bucket (and Book!) List

In Montessori, we believe that learning isn’t just something that happens at school. Children are naturally curious and want to discover, explore, and learn. By the end of the summer, they are often eager for opportunities to expand their awareness and engage in something meaningful. So why not use these last weeks of summer as an occasion to soak in experiences that will feed your child’s sense of wonder!

To inspire some end-of-summer adventures, this week we are combining the idea of a summer bucket list with our curated book list! 

If your child is older, you can share or post this list and offer a challenge to see how many items they can accomplish before school begins. For younger children, you can use the list as a source of inspiration to enjoy some special time together. 

We’ve included some of our favorite titles under each bucket list item. Heading to the library to gather books on the topic can inspire further exploration or even spark some interest. Although most of the books included are picture books, wordless books, or early readers, even older children can be inspired by a book left out on the kitchen table! Be sure to click on the book title to access the Goodreads description. 

Happy adventuring!

Climb a hill or a mountain. Explore a new hiking trail.

Hike by Pete Oswald

The Hike by Alison Farrell

Walk, bike, or skate along a bike path.

Along a Long Road by Frank Viva 

Canoe or raft on a local river.

River by Elisha Cooper

The Raft by Jim LaMarche

Explore a nature area near your house.

I Took a Walk by Henry Cole

Nature Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of the Natural World by Julia Rothman 

A Walk in the Woods by Christin Couture

Climb a tree.

Just Like Me, Climbing a Tree: Exploring Trees Around the World by Durga Yael Bernhard 

The Magic and Mystery of Trees by Jen Green, illustrated by Claire McElfatrick 

Learn how to use a compass and map to find your way.

How to use a compass for kids (and adults too!): Your Little Guide to Becoming an Expert Navigator With a Trusty Compass by Henry D Bridges 

My Heart Is a Compass by Deborah Marcero 

Learn how to pitch a tent, make a fire, and cook breakfast outdoors.

S Is for S’mores: A Camping Alphabet by Helen Foster James, illustrated by Lita Judge 

The Kids Campfire Book: Official Book of Campfire Fun by Jane Drake and Mordicai Gerstein, illustrated by Heather Collins

Toasting Marshmallows: Camping Poems by Kristine O’Connell George, illustrated by Kate Kiesler

Make sandcastles on the beach.

A Day for Sandcastles by Jonarno Lawson, illustrated by Qin Leng

Make mud pies.

Mud Book: How to Make Pies and Cakes by John Cage & Lois Long

Mud by Mary Lyn Ray

Search for invertebrates in seaside rock pools or woodland streams.

What's in the Tide Pool? by Anne Hunter

A River by Marc Martin

Build a fort or lean-to in the woods.

Fort-Building Time by Megan Wagner Lloyd, illustrated by Abigail Halpin

A Kids' Guide to Building Forts by Tom Birdseye

Spend some hours making dams and bridges on little streams.

Streams and Ponds: My Nature Sticker Activity Book by Olivia Cosneau 

All the Water in the World by George Ella Lyon, illustrated by Katherine Tillotson  

Build, Beaver, Build!: Life at the Longest Beaver Dam by Sandra Markle, illustrated by Deborah Hocking 

We're Going to Build a Dam by Gillian McClure 

Try catching frogs.

ribbit by Jorey Hurley

a boy, a dog, and a frog by Mercer Mayer

Try catching fireflies in a jar.

Fireflies by Julie Brinckloe  

Fly, Firefly by Shana Keller, illustrated by Ramona Kaulitzki 

Learn how to identify a few constellations and how to find the North Star.

Wishing on a Star: Constellation Stories and Stargazing Activities for Kids by Fran Lee  

Glow-in-the-Dark Constellations by C. E. Thompson  

Zoo in the Sky: A Book of Animal Constellations by Jacqueline Mitton

Once Upon a Starry Night: A Book of Constellations by Jacqueline Mitton

Learn where north, south, east, and west are in relation to your home.

The Compass Rose and Cardinal Directions by Caitlin McAneney

Maps and Globes: A New True Book by Ray Broekel

Maps and Globes by Jack Knowlton, illustrated by Harriet Barton

Watch the Perseid meteor shower (which peaks August 11-12).

Meteor Showers (True Book: Space) by Jane Kelley 

Exploring Meteor Showers (Discover the Night Sky) by Brigid Gallagher

Build a birdhouse (here are some good reasons why!).

Bird House by Blanca Gómez 

Building Birdhouses (How-to Library) by Dana Meachen Rau, illustrated by Kathleen Petelinsek 

The House I'll Build for the Wrens by Shirley Neitzel, illustrated by Nancy Winslow Parker 

Ask your parent or grandparent to teach you how to whittle a piece of wood.

Forest Craft: A Child's Guide to Whittling in the Woodland by Richard Irvine

Whittling Projects for Adventurous Kids by Floris Books 

Be able to name the local birds in your neighborhood (use binoculars, learn to recognize bird songs, etc.).

Backpack Explorer: Bird Watch: What Will You Find? by Editors of Storey Publishing, illustrated by Oana Befort 

Bird Watch by Christie Matheson

My Awesome Field Guide to North American Birds: Find and Identify Your Feathered Friends by Mike Graf 

Have You Heard The Nesting Bird? by Rita Gray, illustrated by Kenard Pak 

Learn the names of the trees on your property or in your area.

Backpack Explorer: Discovering Trees: What Will You Find? by Editors of Storey Publishing 

Trees (Field Guides for Kids) by Andrea Debbink  

Collect something and make a little museum at home (shells, rocks, feathers, postcards of natural wonders, etc.).

What’s in Your Pocket? Collecting Nature’s Treasures by Heather L. Montgomery, illustrated by Maribel Lechuga

The Amazing Collection of Joey Cornell: Based on the Childhood of a Great American Artist by Candace Fleming, illustrated by Gérard DuBois

Rocks in His Head by Carol Otis Hurst, illustrated by James Stevenson

Keep a Nature Journal.

The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon by Jacqueline Davies, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

A Seed Is Sleepy by Dianna Aston, illustrated by Sylvia Long

Dig for worms.

An Earthworm's Life by John Himmelman

Yucky Worms by Vivian French, illustrated by Jessica Ahlberg

Go fishing.

Over and Under the Pond by Kate Messner

H Is for Hook: A Fishing Alphabet by Judy Young

Go for a night hike with a flashlight.

Flashlight by Lizi Boyd 

Night Walk by Sara O'Leary, illustrated by Ellie Arscott

Pick fresh berries and bake a pie.

Wild Berries by Julie Flett, translated by Earl N. Cook 

Pie for Breakfast: Simple Baking Recipes for Kids by Cynthia Cliff

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey