The K Junction: montessori toddler

Showing posts with label montessori toddler. Show all posts

Nov 20, 2017

Idli Making - Montessori Inspired Practical Life Activity & Importance For Toddlers (VLOG)

Practical Life Activities are of great importance in Montessori philosophy, specially for young children of 2 - 6 years. We love practical life activities in our home. My toddler is always ready to help me in the kitchen & other household chores. Read on to know what is practical life activity & its importance in early life.

What is Practical Life & Practical Life Activities In A Montessori Environment For Toddlers?

Practical : means basic, useful, purposeful

Life : means the way of living

Practical life exercises are exercises for the child to learn how to do daily routine chores & activities in a purposeful way.

Children, specially toddlers & kindergartners are naturally interested in daily chores. Hence, Dr. Montessori began to use practical life exercises to allow the child to do activities of daily life & therefore adjust himself in his culture & society.

All the materials & supplies of practical life activities should be real, familiar to the child, breakable (if applicable) & functional.

Involving you child in the kitchen is a great practical life activity!

Are you trying to find a way to peacefully cook and also engage your toddler constructively without iPads, TV and screens?

Involve your toddler in the kitchen! It's a great fine motor skill and teaches them life skills. This indirectly also helps in preparing those little fingers for writing, a great pre-writing activity.

We are a great fan of practical life activities and my son loves them.

Watch my 32 month old son making idlis out of the batter.

You might also like

Toddler making Omelette
Baking with toddlers
Doing laundry with toddlers
Toddler cutting potatoes for French Fries

Benefits & Importance Of Practical Life Activities In Montessori

The practical life exercises are a beginning point in the Montessori environment. They help the child in his whole development - physical, mental and moral.

To develop the child's concentration
To develop fine and gross motor skills
To help children towards independence
To establish order
To develop a good self-esteem
To appreciate and understand the limits of his environment
To develop a sense of responsibility
To aid the child in his construction
To appreciate culture

Read more about practical life activities in Montessori HERE.

Do not forget to follow us on Facebook page & closed Facebook group, Twitter and Instagram for day to day updates that might not always find a place on this blog. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to know more about our early learning journey, DIY & Montessori-inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!

Hope to see you around. Happy Parenting!

Preparing Snacks - Montessori Inspired Practical Life Activity & Importance For Toddlers (VLOG)

What is Practical Life & Practical Life Activities In A Montessori Environment For Toddlers?

Practical : means basic, useful, purposeful

Life : means the way of living

Practical life exercises are exercises for the child to learn how to do daily routine chores & activities in a purposeful way.

All the materials & supplies of practical life activities should be real, familiar to the child, breakable (if applicable) & functional.

Preparing snacks for yourself is a great practical life activity!

Are you trying to find a way to peacefully cook and also engage your toddler constructively without iPads, TV and screens?

Involve your toddler in the kitchen! It's a great fine motor skill and teaches them life skills. This indirectly also helps in preparing those little fingers for writing, a great pre-writing activity.

We are a great fan of practical life activities and my son loves them.

These days, it has almost become a ritual that my 28 month old son would help me prepare his evening snacks. I asked him if he wanted to eat paneer pakoda (cottage cheese fritters), he gladly said yes & asked me to show him how to make & insisted he makes it completely, including frying. So finally he made his pakodas & I had to force him not to fry it & be away from the gas stove :D

Watch my son in action in the video below!

You might also like
Toddler making Omelette
Baking with toddlers
Doing laundry with toddlers
Cutting Potatoes With Toddlers

Benefits & Importance Of Practical Life Activities In Montessori

The practical life exercises are a beginning point in the Montessori environment. They help the child in his whole development - physical, mental and moral.

To develop the child's concentration
To develop fine and gross motor skills
To help children towards independence
To establish order
To develop a good self-esteem
To appreciate and understand the limits of his environment
To develop a sense of responsibility
To aid the child in his construction
To appreciate culture

Read more about practical life activities in Montessori HERE.

Hope to see you around. Happy Parenting!

Virtual Tour Of Montessori House Of Children (Preschool/Classroom) (VLOG)

Tour Of Montessori - Free Video Series

See for yourself what an authentic Montessori classroom looks like. We will give you a complete overview & a guided virtual tour of a typical classroom in a Montessori House Of Children (for children of age 2 - 6 years - preschool age). The K Junction & Benmont Montessori (Pune, India) have come together to create this one of a kind FREE 5 part video series that will give you an insight into all the Montessori materials used in different areas of learning like - sensorial, practical life, maths, language and culture. You can treat this as a Montessori 101 course for your toddler's learning supplies needs!

The entire video series is FREE!

Just sign up HERE now & get these exclusive videos right into your mailbox!

Are you a parent contemplating to enroll your toddler in a Montessori School?
Are you a confused parent who is researching an authentic Montessori School but unable to decide which one actually is because there are so many so-called called Montessori School these days?
Are you a parent who is homeschooling or contemplating to homeschool your toddler according to Montessori philosophy and wondering where to start or what to do next or what materials to get and what do those Montessori materials are meant for?
Are you an Early childhood educator or a preschool or daycare owner or a teacher who wants to know more about Montessori and wants to incorporate the philosophy in some sense in your school?
Are you a Montessori trained directress and or looking to set up your own school?

Then you are at the right place!

The K Junction has teamed up with Benmont Montessori, an authentic Montessori House Of Children in Pune (India), to bring to you this awesome super informative & one of a kind series of videos called the tour of a Montessori House of Children.

You can check out the teaser videos of all the areas before signing up if you wish so!

Sign Up HERE right away & watch our 5 FREE comprehensive tour videos!

You can follow BENMONT MONTESSORI on Facebook & Instagram.

Do not forget to follow THE K JUNCTION on Facebook page & closed Facebook group, Twitter and Instagram for day to day updates that might not always find a place on this blog. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to know more about our early learning journey, DIY & Montessori-inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!

Hope to see you around. Happy Parenting!

Montessori Inspired Practical Life Activity & Importance For Toddlers - Cutting (VLOG)

montessori practical life toddler cutting importance benefits preschooler

What is Practical Life & Practical Life Activities In A Montessori Environment For Toddlers?

Practical : means basic, useful, purposeful

Life : means the way of living

Practical life exercises are exercises for the child to learn how to do daily routine chores & activities in a purposeful way.

All the materials & supplies of practical life activities should be real, familiar to the child, breakable (if applicable) & functional.

Cutting is a great practical life activity!

Are you trying to find a way to peacefully cook and also engage your toddler constructively without iPads, TV and screens?

Involve your toddler in the kitchen! It's a great fine motor skill and teaches them life skills. This indirectly also helps in preparing those little fingers for writing, a great pre-writing activity.

We are a great fan of practical life activities and my son loves them.

Watch my 28 month old son cutting real potatoes and making imaginary French fries in his toy kitchen set, while I made real French fries for him!

You might also like
Toddler making Omelette
Baking with toddlers
Doing laundry with toddlers

Benefits & Importance Of Practical Life Activities In Montessori

The practical life exercises are a beginning point in the Montessori environment. They help the child in his whole development - physical, mental and moral.

To develop the child's concentration
To develop fine and gross motor skills
To help children towards independence
To establish order
To develop a good self-esteem
To appreciate and understand the limits of his environment
To develop a sense of responsibility
To aid the child in his construction
To appreciate culture

Read more about practical life activities in Montessori HERE.

Hope to see you around. Happy Parenting!

Toddler Making Omelette - Montessori Inspired Practical Life Activity & Benefits (VLOG)

My 27 month old son helped me prepare an omelette :) Here is a quick video of this Montessori Inspired Practical Life activity !

DISCLAIMER - please take the necessary safety measures while working with kids.

Benefits Of Practical Life Activities

The practical life exercises are a beginning point in the Montessori environment. They help the child in his whole development - physical, mental and moral.

To develop the child's concentration
To develop fine and gross motor skills
To help children towards independence
To establish order
To develop a good self-esteem
To appreciate and understand the limits of his environment
To develop a sense of responsibility
To aid the child in his construction
To appreciate culture

Read more about practical life activities in Montessori HERE.

If you loved this post, you might also want to check out more such posts & videos on my Blog & YouTube channel. Do not forget to subscribe to both of them for regular updates!

If you are a Facebook person then I would love to see you on my Facebook Page and closed Facebook Group where I share my daily mini stories/updates that do not always find a place on the blog & YouTube. You can also follow my updates on Twitter & Instagram (@kuhoogupta)

Hope to see you around :)

Happy Parenting!

montessori practical life toddler baking

What is Practical Life & Practical Life Activities In A Montessori Environment For Toddlers?

Practical : means basic, useful, purposeful

Life : means the way of living

Practical life exercises are exercises for the child to learn how to do daily routine chores & activities in a purposeful way.

All the materials & supplies of practical life activities should be real, familiar to the child, breakable (if applicable) & functional.

My 2.4 year old son baked a brownie for his dad to celebrate Father's day

Why should girls have all the fun in the kitchen! Here is my son baking a brownie! It is such a pleasure to see such young kids working in the kitchen. Watch the video to experience it :)

Benefits & Importance Of Practical Life Activities In Montessori

The practical life exercises are a beginning point in the Montessori environment. They help the child in his whole development - physical, mental and moral.

To develop the child's concentration
To develop fine and gross motor skills
To help children towards independence
To establish order
To develop a good self-esteem
To appreciate and understand the limits of his environment
To develop a sense of responsibility
To aid the child in his construction
To appreciate culture

Read more about practical life activities in Montessori HERE.

If you loved this post, you might also want to check out more such posts & videos on my Blog & YouTube channel. Do not forget to subscribe to both of them for regular updates!

Hope to see you around :)

Happy Parenting!

What's On Our Montessori Inspired Shelf - Hands-On Learning Activities For Toddlers - 26 Months (VLOG)

Sharing some Montessori inspired educational activities that I had set up for my 26 months old son around Easter time. Do checkout my Easter storytelling setup HERE.

Hope you found some ideas for your child from this video.

If you prefer seeing pictures of the activities, then here are the pics!

I invite you to join me on Facebook page & group is you like so! You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel.

Happy Parenting :)

What Is Open-Ended (Process) Art & How To Encourage It In Toddlers At Home (VLOG)

Source - fredbabbart.com

My son is now 2.2 years and art at our home is mostly about open-ended exploration with various mediums like crayons, pencil colors, water colors, tempera paints, sketch pens, ice paints etc.

At the end of an engrossed art session, my toddler calls me to his art desk & tell me, mumma, see I made a sun. Mumma, see this is road & car, this is a house.

Ice painting

tempera paints using paint brush

Mumma, this is golden sun, red sun & green sun!

And the art work never looks like that particular object, of course because he is just 2.2 years right now. But what I am happy about is the way he is continuing to express himself on the paper, with no adult prompts, totally motivated on his own.

There are so many of his art works now that I have no idea how to store them ;)

Last night he did this painting while I was browsing through facebook on my bed.

Mumma, this is Anaconda

Usually, he calls me to show his artwork when he is done, but last night he suddenly got up from his chair & ran away from the room. I asked him what happened? He said with a mischevious smile, mumma, I made an anaconda, he is going to bite me! I laughed out so loud on this :) Then he teasingly said, mumma, this is just a toy anaconda, it will not bite me!

I was so surprised & amused with this episode that I decided to write this entire blog post on open-ended art for toddlers! Hope this is useful for you too.

What Does An Open-Ended Art Activity Mean?

Here is a checklist to know if what you are doing with your child is open-ended or not -

Variety of art supplies are there for the child to choose from & there are no direct instructions to choose one or more
The supplies are kept at a reachable place for the toddler, the furniture is child-sized so that the toddler can help himself when he wants to practice art
The place where the child would practice art is accessible, well maintained & clean
There is no end product or sample to follow, the child is free to express with the art supplies
There are no step-by-step instructions
The emphasis is on the process of making the art & not the final product, there is no right or wrong way to create an art work
The end product may or may not look like some creature or some thing really
The child decides the time & duration when he wants to do the art, there is no arts-time in the time-table

How Does An Open-Ended Art Exercise Help Toddlers?

Fosters independence & responsibility while they freely use the materials & take care of them
Enhances their power of expression while they use their little hands to reflect themselves on to a piece of paper
Enhances intrinsic motivation because there is no one to tell them when & what to paint. Going forward in life, it is very important to have that intrinsic motivation to succeed
Boosts their creativity
The process of making such art relaxes them, it is therapeutic
Kids feel accomplished when they make something they want to make themselves, it boosts their self-esteem
It improves their planning, problem-solving & comprehension skills as they try to create something on paper that they have in mind, they choose the art medium, colors, shapes all by themselves
It enhances their fine motor skills of course!

How To Encourage?

I have set up a small arts corner at my place where he can work on his art projects independently & whenever he wants to. Sometimes the masterpieces are done in the mornings, sometimes evenings & sometimes at midnight too ;) This is so Montessori inspired! The prepared environment for the child :)

Here is a sneak peek into my toddler's art corner. I have used whatever I had at home, no fancy easels or boards. It is super budget friendly. You can take some ideas to set up something similar with what you already have at home.

I would love to hear from you all & see pictures of your child's art spaces!

Happy Parenting :)

Montessori Inspiration At Home - Practical Life Skills for Toddlers - Book Review

I get such questions often in my parenting workshops & as personal messages -

My 2/3 year old is hyper active. He does not sit at one place. What activities can I do with him?
I have very less domestic help. How can I keep my toddler occupied while I finish my daily chores?
How can I start implementing Montessori at home?
How can I increase the concentration of my toddler?
And many more such questions...

The answer is simple but rather difficult to implement. The first thing I answer to such questions is at this age, involve them in daily household chores - which in Montessori terms mean - involve your toddlers in practical life activities.

It can be as simple as pouring water from one container to another to dusting a table to bringing a glass of water to watering the plants, and so on. Many parents wonder how & what to present to the toddlers so that they will be interested. The good news is toddlers love to imitate & they love doing real work as we adults too. We just need to trust them & give them freedom within limits. Montessori practical life activities are a great way to keep them engaged & indirectly these activities help in enhancing so many more skills like fine motor, prewriting, concentration, independence, problem solving etc.

Now some announcement! :)

What do you get when four Montessori moms from different countries come together to compile their first hand Montessori practical life experiences into a book?

I got an opportunity to review this lovely book written by Amruta Ram of Mumma Diaries, Vanessa Theil of Mama’s Happy Hive, Yuliya Fruman Welcome to Mommyhood, and Isabel Arango of Uno Zwei Tutu. The ebook is titled “Montessori Inspiration at Home: Practical Life Skills- Toddler Series” and is available as an instant download in PDF format.

It has some really useful tips to involve your toddlers in real life chores, that you rarely thought they would do, rather they love to do such tasks! The book has a lot of information about how you can implement Montessori principles at home as far as practical life activities are concerned. The design & flow of the book is easy & intuitive to follow. It has real pictures of these mommas' kids' doing those activities, so it is not something only theoretical. Everything in this book is really doable by toddlers. It has step by step instructions how to present a particular activity the Montessori way and equips you with the necessary knowledge. The bonus is a lot of printables that come along with the book that you can use in other related activities. The book also has great collections & pointers to some lovely Montessori blogs, so you can easily bookmark them & start following them for your day to day Montessori needs!

Book Details

Montessori Inspiration At Home - Practical Life Skills - Toddler Series

This Montessori inspired book is a helpful resource for practical life skills for toddlers.
There are 9 chapters that include care of self, care of a pet, care of the home, polishing, cleaning, helping in the kitchen, pouring, spooning, and setting a table.
Also, included with this book is a printable bundle that matches the chapter subjects.
There are over 30 pages of printables and resource information. These printables include matching cards, step-by-step cards, 100 Practical Life Skills Check List, and more!

Extra Resources (Included)

Montessori Method FAQ
Montessori Practical Life FAQ
Printable Practical Life Activities Checklist (100 Practical Life Activities for Toddlers)
Printable Practical Life Materials Checklist
Montessori Books and Resources Checklist
Routine chore chart (visual schedule)

Verdict

For a beginner in Montessori - this ebook is a perfect choice to start implementing Montessori elements at home without getting overwhelmed by pinterest or google results. I assure you will not be lost!

For the parents who have been implementing Montessori at home already - this ebook is a good checklist resource for things they can still implement at home with proper steps & guidance. Of course, not to mention, the printables & other extra resources are fresh from the oven to be used by experienced Montessori parents as well as beginners.

You do not want to miss the special launch offer!!!

Know more about this book in this video

Do share how did you like this book :)

Happy Parenting!

P.S. I am an affiliate for this eBook. I have reviewed the contents as mentioned above and, trust me, a lot of hard work & implementation has gone behind this book. Certainly resourceful for parents who are trying to implement Montessori at home.

What's On Our Montessori Inspired Shelf - Hands-On Learning Activities For Toddlers - 25 Months (VLOG)

Today, I am sharing with you the hands-on learning activities that I set up for my 25 months old son on his Montessori inspired shelf! Hope you like them & get some ideas from the same.

I have listed the sources of the materials & printables used in the activities in the description box of this Youtube video. Do subscribe to this blog & my Youtube channel to get the updates first!

I would love to hear your comments how you found the activities!

If you prefer to look at just the pictures, here they are -

Happy Learning & Happy Parenting :)

Montessori - Practical Life Exercise For Toddlers - Line Drying Clothes - VLOG

I have been following Montessori principles with my son since he was 7-8 months old. And every day I thank my stars that I stumbled upon this philosophy. Here in this video, I share yet another beautiful moment my son gave me. He is 25 months old in this video. Suddenly he wanted to line dry, couple of hand towels & then also put the clothespin over them. I let him do it & only when he asked for help, I helped him.

Practical life skills form a very important part of Montessori principles & curriculum. They help children develop order, concentration, coordination, and independence - skills which help in all learning. This particular activity of line drying clothes is a great life skill to learn. Putting clothespin is an inexpensive fine motor activity. Doing real work gives the child a great sense of satisfaction & confidence.

Montessori Principles That Work For Us - A Montessori Toddler Reader In Action - 25 Months (VLOG)

I have been following Montessori principles with my son since he was 7-8 months old. And every day I thank my stars that I stumbled upon this philosophy. Here in this video, I share yet another beautiful moment my son gave me. He loves to read. Check out the video to see how independent he has become at 25 months :) I have also briefly mentioned in this video what Montessori principles work for us!

You know you have done something right when on his own (while momma is working in the kitchen), this toddler goes to the kitchen, grabs a breakable glass, gets himself some water from the matka, drinks it, goes to the bedroom with the glass in hand, puts it down on the floor carefully, grabs a book from his bookshelf & starts reading to himself. All this with absolutely no adult prompt.

The independence, confidence & life skills that he is gathering melts me every single day ...

I again thank my stars that I stumbled upon the Montessori philosophy & that I am able to implement it more or less at home.

I hope to write a separate post or a Youtube video on elaborating the Montessori principles mentioned in the video above. So please do not forget to subscribe to this blog & my YouTube channel :)

Happy Parenting!

What Makes A Toy A Montessori Material & Skola Toys Recommendation & Review (VLOG)

I am an ardent Montessori follower & by now you must have known that I follow Montessori (combined with other philosophies) with my son at home. We do Montessori inspired activities at home, we have a Montessori shelf where I keep his activities & he absolutely loves his shelf. We do have some Montessori materials at home & I am always on a look out for Montessori inspired toys.

What exactly is meant by Montessori inspired toys? Or What makes a toy a Montessori material?

Made up natural materials like wood, glass, ceramic etc
Simple looking with no flashing lights, buzzers or whistles
Realistic looking, for example, no cartoon characters printed
Have "control of error" - Self-correcting nature of the toys which means that if the child has put anything in a wrong way in a certain toy, he will himself be able to notice that due to the self-correcting nature of the toy.
Fosters independent play
Has a specific purpose for the child, for example, it may work on the child's fine motor skills, dexterity, sensory inputs, language, gross motor skills, life skills, cognitive skills, creativity, science, maths skills etc.

I just want to take this opportunity to share with you a great brand that I recently found, which makes Montessori inspired wooden toys - SKOLA TOYS.

The team at Skola Toys believe that play leads to exploration, exploration leads to discovery and discovery leads to learning. Toys like these stimulate the child's senses by opening up a fascinating world of colours, shapes, numbers, alphabets, science, geography & more! Skola Toys are designed for children between 0 & 8 years, and are self-correcting that enable children to learn independently without adult intervention. They have specific learning objectives that are achieved through a natural process of playing - that constitutes their unique Skola Learning Grid.

Skola Toys are made of wood that have a natural appeal to a child & result in the child being engaged with the toy for long periods of time. The paints used are child-safe too.

I have these two Skola Toys that we love - Stacking Gears & Snowflake Threading Toy. You can watch the detailed review of both of them in the videos below.

Do not forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more such videos on toys & books recommendation & review, Montessori inspired activities & parenting.

You can explore more of these awesome Skola Toys on their website HERE. They also have a Facebook Page that you can follow HERE.

You can also get an exclusive discount of 15% on all Skola Toys (for a limited period only). Just visit my facebook group HERE & the pinned post has the discount code. You need to use that code when you shop from their website HERE directly.

I hope you found this post useful. I will be posting more about Montessori materials in the future. Until then, Happy Parenting :)

Caution - What Books Can Do To Your Toddlers - Book Recommendation

Effects of vigorous book reading sessions as per my son's demands!

My 2 year old son 'A', playing with his local train miniature and telling me -

A : mumma jab delhi jaayenge to local train me baithenge (when we go to delhi, we will go in local train)

Me : mumbai has local train like this you have in your hand, delhi has metro train. We will go in metro train when we go to delhi

A : ok...mumma bangalore me kaunsi train hai? (Which train is there in Bangalore?)

PS - He is a big fan, rather an addict of mumbai book, absolutely adores delhi book and we just started reading bangalore book day before yesterday. This book series from Funokplease publishers is a must have for kids!

Geography has a new meaning in our house ;)

Happy reading aloud & happy parenting :)

What's On Our Montessori Inspired Shelf For Toddlers (2-3 Years) & Toy Recommendations (VLOG)

Here are our Montessori inspired shelf activities for the next couple of days that I set up for my 2 year old son. Watch the video for the details & the sources of materials I used in the description box of the video on YouTube.

Source of the wooden puzzle shown in this video - search for facebook groups named "tiara toys", "ionica toys", "kidstop". All of them have this kind of wooden puzzle in various designs.

Megabloks - http://amzn.to/2kD3L1A

knobbed cylinders from aliexpress.com

Montessori Inspired Budget Friendly Arts Corner At Home For Toddlers & Preschoolers (VLOG)

A budget-friendly, Montessori inspired arts corner for my 2 years old son to foster creativity, love for arts & independence :) And he is loving the experience! So am I :)

Child-sized furniture, prepared environment, inviting & beautiful setup - Thanks to Montessori for all these knowledge & nuggets!

Watch this video for a quick tour of this space that my son absolutely loves!

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Nov 20, 2017

Jul 14, 2017

What is Practical Life & Practical Life Activities In A Montessori Environment For Toddlers?

Preparing snacks for yourself is a great practical life activity!

Benefits & Importance Of Practical Life Activities In Montessori

Jul 6, 2017

Jul 3, 2017

What is Practical Life & Practical Life Activities In A Montessori Environment For Toddlers?

Cutting is a great practical life activity!

Benefits & Importance Of Practical Life Activities In Montessori

Jun 21, 2017

What is Practical Life & Practical Life Activities In A Montessori Environment For Toddlers?

Benefits & Importance Of Practical Life Activities In Montessori

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