The age between 12 months and 3 years is undoubtedly a magical time in what María Montessori called the sensitive periods. We are in that maturational interval where our children are going to be above all "great explorers"They want to touch everything, the world already opens before them with a thousand stimuli that they want to make their own and that they will reach by reaching out their hands: walking and talking at last.
We are already in that phase in which communication begins its development and where we, We will be those architects who day by day we have to favor their maturation, their expansion, their understanding of everything that surrounds them.. It is an incredible moment in the life of your child and in «Mothers Today» we want to give you adequate guidelines based on the strategies that Montessori he left us. They are sure to be of help to you.
Montessori strategies: learning by playing
We are already at that time when children are no longer sleeping for so long. Their eyes are opened to that close world that surrounds them and every day they surprise you with a new word, with a phrase that makes you surprise and with a step beyond those limits where suddenly, everything is already at your fingertips.
Your son is becoming a great explorer and you, you must put the world before him taking care of his safety, but favoring his learning as far as possible. And in what way can we achieve it? Through play.
Now, it is not at all about leaving him in that play park in his room with colored cubes and dolls. In this way, what we do is "limit" many of those stimuli that we can offer at home.
- María Montessori attached great importance to play as a learning strategy. To do this, he devised suitable materials and furnishings to achieve this.
- We pampering at home can also do it. The idea is to provide the maximum possible sensory stimulation.
- Play is exploration. Through it we promote what is called the "pruning of the synapse"In other words, we proceed to specialize the brain, in turn enhancing basic cognitive processes.
- Through play, children must experiment with their environment in a safe way, in order to learn new behaviors, solve problems and adapt to new situations.
- Lhe Montessori game strategies are based above all on creating situations that are as close to the real world as possible. In this way, we unite the child with the world, and promote their security, friendship and trust.
- We have to be participants in the game, and in turn, and as the child grows, it is necessary to socialize the child allowing him to play with other friends, even if they are of different ages.
Discover the world through real situations
We must not limit our children only in the environment of their room. We know that that age between 12 months and 3 years old, they still seem like "babies" to us, but it is a time when their maturation leap is almost prodigious. Hence, the need for stimulation, to bring them closer to new situations, to act as daily guides in each of their steps, and in each of their words.
We know that it is not always easy to get hold of suitable materials for the home, but there are a kind of small wooden "parks" where we can take the child anywhere in the house calmly. In them you can stand or sit. Within the Montessori strategies, the purpose would be the following:
- Make him a participant in household chores. When we are in the kitchen, for example, we can allow it to play with vegetables, with bread, with a silicone mold where we make desserts. It is possible to make a simple recipe with them, allowing them to get dirty with the flour, to smell the smells.
- We can do the same with domestic responsibilities. It favors that they go little by little, putting away their toys, making their beds, knowing where their clothes go.
- We also recommend having a small space for nature. Plants to take care of, seeds to see germinate like the classic lentils, chickpeas ... All of these are fantastic stimuli.
- The toys must be manual, favoring symbolic play, hand-eye coordination.
We promote your language calmly, without pressure
We know that they are at that age where what most worries us is that they begin to speak and manage to settle the language quickly, efficiently and optimally. Now dWe must relax and take into account that each child has his own maturing rhythm, and that anxiety, or our personal pressure is not a good companion in these cases.
- Language is undoubtedly the most characteristic attribute of the human being, and we will be its daily point of reference. We its architects.
- Talk to your child at every moment calmly, give him confidence, safety. The child will become aware day by day of these sounds, of their meanings of their expressiveness ... And that is something that will happen according to their maturation moment. You don't have to worry.
- EIt is ideal that you introduce it in everyday situations. Talk to him while you go shopping, when you watch television, in the kitchen, while you plant those seeds in the pots. Everyday situations cause visual stimuli to be related to emotions and words.
Psychomotor development while discovering the world
Our house can be a wonderful space to discover things, and at the same time, to grow and develop their psychomotor skills in an optimal way. ¿In what way can we promote their psychomotor maturation, while promoting their independence and autonomy?
María Montessori proposed the following to us:
A stimulating and controlled environment
We want to promote their motor skills, and for this it is very important enhance the coordination of your hands (the digital clamp), and their ability to be surprised, to be curious. So don't hesitate to create new stimuli every day:
- If we are in the kitchen give him some peas to take and put them in a cup.
- Let him be the one to plant the seeds in a pot
- Put things in the house that are at their height and that they can handle: books on low shelves, their things on low tables and always maintaining order.
- It favors that it has contact with surfaces of different shapes and textures: wood, earth, sand, stones, fabrics, plastic, food ... All of these are great stimuli that we can put at your fingertips with proper supervision.
Once again we have to bear in mind that each child has a rhythm, and it is our duty as parents to respect it. Do not worry if they reach 16 months and they still are not. According to the Montessori method, it will always be better to respect the child's own time and let him grow freely.
In other words, we don't have to buy them a playpen or the classic "tacataca". Let it move freely and safely, let him explore, stand up whenever he wants, crawl, crawl… Children between 12 months and 3 years old are natural explorers, and these daily adventures in freedom and under your supervision will allow them to grow in optimal harmony.
Later will come other responsibilities, between 3 and 6 years these sensitive periods continue and from here, we also encourage you to get to know them from a Montessori perspective.