Montessori-friendly Curriculum

I get asked a lot about creating a Montessori-friendly curriculum... What should you be looking for? Here's my answer in a nutshell!

It can be an overwhelming process, choosing between so many activities to buy and or make!

First, shy away from all the matching sets of cards out there, you have to laminate them, and then the children never choose them, they are boring! Trust me, you will see a lot of them and it will be tempting to buy, as they are less expensive.

Books and puzzles with matching subjects are a good bet. For example, in our outside classroom we had an insect puzzle that taught the parts of an ant, we then traced the puzzle pieces to make a ditto they could color; older children could write the names of the parts of an ant, or cut it out; you can also get an ant farm. Then get a book on ants!

For study of the body those mannequins are great: a body that is a three dimensional puzzle, with parts. You can then make labels for it, get books and puzzles on the human body...

Math
The Golden Beads can be substituted with ones made of wood, and now they make them in blue plastic.

Color beads (from 1-9) are great to have, too, for teaching teens, addition snake game, and subtraction snake game. You can make your own math boards, if you have time (teens, tens, and memorization boards that is, addition and subtraction strip boards might be harder to make).

Science
Go with making your own science experiments, but if you find some pre made, that is great, like a volcano that erupts, for example. Stay away from the matching cards, again! Boring. Get science picture books, instead! And do those experiments!

Order earthworms (or dig up your own), a butterfly garden (where you get the caterpillars that make cocoons); tadpoles; bean seeds are fun to plant in cotton and watch the roots grow.

Language
Language games are fun, watch out for upper case (you want words written in lower case)! If your child is reading, the best bets are easy reader books like Bob Books, and phonic work books like Primary Phonics, and lined paper for writing.

That's should be enough to get any "Montessori mom" started!

But above all, bring your own passions to the table! Your love of art, or language, or science, or nature, or music, or crafts. Your child will find their own passions, but if you start with your own interests, it will motivate you to create Montessori activities at home, and have fun with it!