Since a very young age, I have been trying to instill in both of my children the sense of care, respect, and affection for their materials. I would teach them how to use the materials so gently, explain how special these materials are, how to carry them very carefully with great attention, and how to use them respectfully. By explaining that these are their materials … their learning space, I am hoping to instill in my children the sense of dignity and respect for their environment, the desire to keep the materials beautifully.
“The child should live in an environment of beauty" Dr. Maria Montessori.
And this beauty should be expressed in everything: in their materials, classroom, behavior… I try to make the presentations aesthetically pleasing, inviting, beautiful - ones that the child would want to engage in, tinker with, master, explore …
When your mind is at peace and you see beauty (similarly to being outside and enjoying a beautiful natural scenery or walking in a pristine forest), you can take it in, you can breath, you can be in the "now" by enjoying the spontaneous flow of energy that exists in each moment, you can think, you can absorb… And that is what Maria Montessori was hoping for …
Most of our organizational materials (e.g. trays, numerous baskets, mats, etc) as well as practical life activities (e.g. apple slicing, carrot peeling, window washing, nut cracking and many more), are from Montessori Services ~ I would have been so overwhelmed trying to piece it all together myself. How you present the activity and arrange it on the tray, however, is totally up to you and can make all the difference. I try to keep the "color theme" for many practical life activities: for example red for cherry pitting, orange for orange juicing, green for leaf cleaning and so on. Also, adding crochet dollies, and colorful aprons/mitts, can make the activity more inviting for a child. (You can see the shelves arrangement of our Learning Space here.)
Please, also note that since the goal of Montessori education is to foster curiosity and the love of learning, it is advisable to end the presentation once the child's attention span begins to wane and before the child becomes bored, tired, overstimulated or disinterested. As educators, we need to observe, anticipate, follow the child and keep their "love for learning" alive for as long as we can.
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