Practical Life at 15 months

Harry has now mastered most of the toddler materials for his age group, including:
- Discs on vertical dowel
- Box with Bins
- Object permanence box
- Coin box
- Matchstick posting

To be honest, I wasn't sure what was next for him so I turned to the book 'Montessori from the Start/ by Paula Polk Lillard (One of my favourite Montessori teachers). Turns out, Practical Life was next!
Whilst Harry has been using his little cups and cutlery for awhile, I could tell he wasn't ready for anything else as he was still not a confident walker. But the last few weeks, he has really mastered walking and is now walking everywhere confidently, so I introduced a kitchen space for him in our dining area.

He has his cups, a jug for pouring, cloth for spills, snacks, basket of cutlery, placemats, bowls, plates, chopping boards and tea cups for when we have chamomile tea,

Pouring - Harry wasn't interested in pouring before but has been trying hard and is getting the hang of it. The mat is to prevent him slipping on the water he spills.
It was suggested to me to only have 1 item of each out at one time, but I just don't have the time to replace each used item with another (real life here!) so I keep them all out at the same time.

At 15 months, it is only the very beginning of this kind of work so I am just modelling how to do this all at this stage. I have no expectations of Harry yet and he is just enjoying having his own little space.

Shelves at 14 months

Harry's bedroom is where his shelves of toys mainly are. He does have some shelves out in our lounge room, and since the family daycare is in our main living room, he has lots of shelves out there, but these ones are just for him.

Having low shelves is important so that the children can easily see where there items are and it also easier for them to learn to put them away. Harry doesn't know how to pack away his things just yet, so I model packing them away and he will soon learn to do it himself. Harry cosleeps with us so he doesn't have a bed in his room so we were able to put in his little wooden slide. This slide has been the best purchase I have made! He is ALL about climbing and gross motor so he spends a lot of time climbing up and going down the slide. He also loves pushing his toys down it and it's great for teaching him things that roll and things that don't. He loves pushing balls and cars down the slide! 

Harry has great hand/eye coordination so he loves the discs on vertical dowel and the box with bins. He likes to put the discs in the little bins and transfer them around. 

On his rug I have his ball tracker and basket of musical instruments with his favourite little drum. He loves his music and this is one of his favourite activities. 

Top shelf, left to right: Discs on vertical dowel, stacking rainbow, object permanence box, bow with bins, coin box.

Bottom shelf, left to right: Bead maze, large knobbed puzzle, car tracker, basket of wooden cars and pull along toys, shape sorter. 

Welcome...Meet Harry!

Welcome :)
This blog is about my journey of raising my amazing son Harry using the Montessori way of life.
I am so passionate about Montessori as I truly believe it has helped me become the mother I always wanted to be and has allowed me to wake up each and every morning so excited to be with Harry all day. Harry is a calm and peaceful little boy and I honestly think it has to do with how calm and peaceful his prepared environment is.

So....Meet Harry!! Harry is 14 months old :)