What a Wooden Table Brings to the Table: The Benefits of Natural Materials in the Classroom

“The senses, being explorers of the world, open the way to knowledge.” -Dr. Maria Montessori

Upon entering an authentic Montessori environment, one of the first things you will notice is the materials. It is unlikely that you will encounter any cartoonish alphabet posters, any star charts, any brightly colored plastic cubbies or any plastic tables. What you will find is a variety of wooden, glass, and metal materials, sturdy child-sized furniture, house plants, and walls decorated with prints of classical artwork from cultures around the world. Maria Montessori insisted that an environment as closely rooted in nature and reality as possible was the most beneficial to the individual child. Here are some of the reasons why!

1. Naturally Sourced Materials Promote Sensorial Exploration

Dr. Montessori emphasized the use of real materials in the classroom. Materials such as brass, wood, wicker, cotton, metal, and glass provide important information to the child. Some warm to the touch and cool with the air. Others are rough and dense. Some are heavy and some are light. Some are durable and some are fragile. These provide a multi-sensorial experience for the child.

2. The Natural World Is Important for Development

By utilizing materials that come from nature in your child’s belongings, it puts them closer in touch to the real world around them. By doing this, you are encouraging a connection to the earth and the environment. 

3. Natural Materials Last

Plastics fade in color, and their quality is not normally the best. Natural toys made from wood or metal pass the test of time. They are durable, classic, and enduring. Many materials go years in the classroom before needing to be replaced. The child can work with the material with no fear of damage. 

4. Natural is Better for the Environment

Taking care of the environment is at the core of Montessori philosophy. It’s a positive that our materials don’t sit in landfills for years on end. Instead they can be recycled, re-purposed, or they will biodegrade. 

5. Natural Materials Are Beautiful

The prepared environment is an important concept of Montessori learning. Natural materials are beautiful and real, thus making them more attractive and appealing to the child. 

6. They Inspire

Simple and natural materials create opportunities for open-ended work. This allows children to make their own discoveries, test hypotheses, and develop new skills, particularly when the child plays independently.

Overall, what parents want for their children is for them to feel comfortable, safe and happy, whether they are at home or at school. A Montessori environment is meant to mimic and be an extension of the home. Every detail is designed to ensure that it is a place where the child can feel truly at home and at ease. Our children deserve the best that we can give them, and the best that we can give them is reality and beauty.

Math and the Toddler Child

By Claire Nguyen, Toddler Directress

Some parents might be wondering, “what does Math look like in a Montessori Infant-Toddler community?” Like other concepts, it is presented in developmentally appropriate ways, although they may not always look "math-y." For example, we know that young children learn through movement and exploration in these communities. It's critical, then, that the physical environment provide realistic, predictable feedback as young children move through it, reinforcing their spatial awareness. Objects with which the children interact need to respond the same way to each interaction, reinforcing the lessons that children learn as they explore. If you notice, Montessori Infant-Toddler classrooms do not have (or rarely have) battery-driven toys available. Because we want children to build their capacity for prediction and their ability to sort and classify real information. There aren't responses (like noises or movements) that aren't driven by the child's own actions. By interacting in a predictable environment and building their understanding of cause and effect, children's mathematical minds develop. You won't see bouncy chairs with internal motors or flashing lights on battery-powered buttons. Instead, you'll see children exploring how different shapes and objects fit together, how they roll or land or weigh, how materials fill space, how liquids fill differently than solids, and the like.

The language rich nature of the classrooms also supports children's developing mathematical ability, as the prepared adult uses accurate vocabulary to narrate children's experiences. You may hear, “you have a smaller cylinder and a larger cylinder" or "let's collect the cubes together." Children build the vocabulary to describe dimension, for comparison and for the basis of geometric shapes. You'll hear comparative language like, "more," "less," "bigger," "smaller," "heavier," "lighter," etc. as children move through their spaces and engage in language-based games with the directress. Finally, you'll notice children beginning to understand sequences, including the signals for those sequences, like how an adult setting a placemat on the table suggests that it's time to make one's way to a chair for a snack, or how to dispose of their crumbs/uneaten food in the trash before placing their place settings in the dishwashing racks/bins.

These may seem like small successes, but for the growing mind, they are foundational to later development. There are endless mathematically informed qualities you have already adopted but probably think about rarely, like for example, how much weight to place on a step as you're walking up and down a staircase. But just like you know how it feels to step up on a stair that's not there, or to expect one more step down when you slam your foot into the landing, understanding them helps you to navigate through your environment with ease. It's in these infant and toddler experiences that those core understandings are constructed, in preparation for the application in traditional mathematics activities children will master in later years.

5 Ways Montessori Appeals to the Senses

“The senses, being explorers of the world, open the way to knowledge. Our apparatus for educating the senses offers the child a key to guide his explorations of the world…” The Absorbent Mind p. 167

Learning with all our senses involved allows us to have a fuller, richer experience.  Montessori classrooms strive to provide multi-layered sensory opportunities for children.  The result? Children who have a strong ability to distinguish the variances in the environments around them.

1. Montessori digs deeper than the classic five senses.

Growing up, you undoubtedly learned about sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell.  Of course, these are the five basic senses we tend to think about, but Montessori education has a more extensively defined list all its own: 

• Visual - our ability to differentiate objects by form, color, and size

• Tactile - just another name for the sense of touch, or how something feels on our body

• Baric - differentiation based on weight and/or pressure

• Thermic - the ability to sense various temperatures

• Auditory - another name to describe the sense of sound

• Olfactory - our sense of smell

• Gustatory - the sense of taste

• Stereognostic - a muscular sense, or the ability to distinguish an object without seeing it, hearing it, or smelling it, but relying of touch and muscle memory alone

2. Montessori developed materials to help children refine their senses.

Using what she knew about the above senses, Dr. Montessori developed a series of sensorial materials to be used in the classrooms of young children.  These materials were designed to isolate one skill and to be self-correcting. This allows the child to concentrate their efforts and to be independent in their learning.   Just a small selection of the more famous sensorial materials include: 

• Knobbed Cylinders - small wooden cylinders with knobs that are to be inserted into holes of the corresponding size

• Pink Tower - a series of pink wooden cubes ranging in size from 10 cm cubed to 1 cm cubed are meant to be stacked in decreasing succession

• Brown Stair - ten brown, wooden rectangular prisms in a range of sizes are meant to be arranged in order

• Color Tablets - a material that allows children to differentiate not just by color, but by shades of colors

• Mystery Bag - children are meant to reach their hand inside the bag without looking to determine the contents

• Geometric Solids - a physical representation of an often abstractly-taught concept, these solids allow children to identify their attributes

3. Food is prepared and celebrated regularly in Montessori classrooms.

Beginning when they are just toddlers, Montessori children are directly involved in the preparation and purposeful enjoyment of food.  Toddler classrooms have regular tastings, in which they try new and interesting foods. Guides will offer a wide variety of textures, colors, smells, and tastes for the children to explore.  These little ones help set the table and learn grace and courtesy through table manners.

During the primary grades (ages 3-5), children participate in food preparation.  They are given lessons and chances to practice slicing, spreading, mixing, blending, and multi-step food preparation.  Sometimes they enjoy their work as a snack for themselves; other times they prepare food to serve to others.

Guides in older levels find ways to continue this important work.  Food preparation may be connected to a cultural study, birthday celebration, or school lunch program.  As they get older, children are able to complete more complex and interesting recipes. 

4. The classroom environment keeps a focus on the natural world.

Montessori guides are taught to make nature an integral part of the classroom environment, and this often means lots of beautiful indoor plants.  Studies have shown that proximity to plants benefits us a variety of ways. They are visually beautiful, but did you know that scientists believe that houseplants can improve our attention?  They may also be helpful in reducing sick days and keeping us more productive overall. *See links at the end for more information. 

Aside from having live plants in our classrooms, Montessori schools favor natural materials over synthetic.  This means that whenever possible, we choose wood, glass, and natural baskets over plastic. We believe that the color and texture of natural materials is more appealing and calming to our senses.  While many conventional classrooms favor bright colors, we opt for more muted, natural ones. This allows children to feel calm, safe, and able to focus on their work.

Whenever possible, Montessori schools believe in the importance of taking children into nature on a regular basis.  Whether to a local pond, for a walk in the woods, or even a nearby city park, being in green spaces is an important part of learning and growing. 

5. Montessori honors children’s developing vestibular and proprioceptive systems.

A couple quick definitions- 

The vestibular system is responsible for balance and is closely connected to the inner ear. 

The proprioceptive system is important when having awareness of where one’s body parts are in relation to the rest of one’s body and the space/objects around it.

These systems typically develop early in childhood.  It’s our job as adults to make sure children have opportunities to refine them.  It is especially important that we provide opportunities to children with sensory related disorders.

Although many schools around the country are decreasing or doing away with recess altogether, Montessori schools hold that time in high regard.  All the climbing, swinging, spinning, and other types of play are natural ways for children to develop their vestibular and proprioceptive systems.

There are activities built into Montessori classrooms that assist this work as well.  Carrying heavier materials, painting, and using playdough are connected to the proprioceptive system.  The traditional ‘walking the line’ in Montessori primary classrooms provides excellent vestibular input; children must slowly walk while staying on a taped or painted line.  Extensions include walking with a bell in hand and trying not to ring it or balancing something on top of their head.

Interested in seeing the sensory classroom in action?  Whether you are a current or prospective parent, we encourage you to give us a call and set up a time to observe.  

Sources:

Benefits of Indoor Plants…

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494410001027?via%3Dihub

Psychological Benefits of Indoor Plants…

http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/42/3/581.full