MONTESSORI AT HOME: Open Ended Play (+ Our Top 10 Favorite Materials!)

hi my name is ashley and i'm a mom of two little girls i have a three and a half year old name's kylie and i also have a 23 month old named mia so if you are a new montessori parent and you're just getting everything set up in your home you might be wondering where exactly all of your child's non-montessori toys and activities fit in so from one busy parent to another today i would like to share with you all about the differences between more traditional montessori style activities versus more open-ended play materials and give you a couple of ideas of what those materials might look like in your montessori home so let's start off by talking a little bit about some of the more traditional montessori shelf work activities that you may already be familiar with montessori style activities do have a very specific purpose and a particular outcome so for example a child might be completing a puzzle or they might be transferring dried beans or rice from one pitcher to another they might be sorting blocks by size and arranging them from biggest to smallest or they might be sorting a set of objects by color or they might be matching a set of figurines to cards that look identical in any of these activities there's going to be an end result that the child is supposed to be working toward and to that extent you might consider montessori style activities to be a little bit more closed-ended however these kinds of tasks do serve a very important role in your child's learning it is ultimately these kinds of closed-ended activities that are going to help develop your child's sense of concentration and focus as they're working because they have a goal to be working toward closed-ended activities also enable children to engage in that all-important repetition so that they can actually master the task that they're working on which was a phenomena that dr montessori noted in all of the children that she worked with these kinds of tasks can also be set up to make sure that you're offering just the right amount of challenge at your child's unique level of development and in addition because the child has a specific goal that they are working toward when they finally get there when they finally master that task they feel a deep sense of accomplishment and finally offering closed-ended activities really helps you to hone in on your child's developmental learning because they typically only target one skill at a time so for example with the very classic montessori pink tower they are learning how to place all of the blocks that are part of the pink tower in order from largest to smallest and the only thing that is different about each of those cubes is the size other than that they are the same exact shade of pink they are made of the same exact material so that they have the same density everything is the same except for the size so that is the one skill that the child is really focusing on so it's these kinds of closed-ended activities that you're going to find lining the shelves in any typical montessori classroom but what i would like to emphasize to you as a parent is that your home is not a classroom unless you're homeschooling it's not a classroom so there is no need to replicate exactly what you see in a montessori classroom there should also be options in your home for high quality open-ended play materials in addition to all of those closed-ended activities that you might also be preparing so what exactly defines an open-ended material then it is basically anything that a child can use in any way that they like and it can often become other things to the child than what it actually is open-ended materials typically provide a child with a greater sense of freedom because there are no rules as to how the materials are supposed to be used and they don't have to think about the possibility of making a mistake not only does open-ended play really encourage your child's creativity and imagination it also actually helps them to process events from their daily lives and to engage in those events through their own role play it's very common to see some of the things that your child engages in on a regular daily basis like cooking with you in the kitchen that might actually come out in their play as well it's almost like they're practicing the things that they're already doing and they're just doing it in their own way to solidify that learning another area where open-ended play tends to be really beneficial is for your child's social emotional skills you will actually see them playing out some of these scenarios that they've experienced themselves through role play and using a lot of these open-ended materials to do so for example learning how to get along with a sibling or what to do when they get in a fight with a friend if they're learning how to help take care of a new baby in the home or how to manage their own anxiety and emotions about things like going to the doctor or to the dentist all of these things come out in our child's open-ended play now one common concern that new montessori parents often have is is it okay if my child is using some of these more traditional montessori materials in their open-ended play and the short answer to that is yes there is nothing wrong with your child using their pink tower blocks for example as part of the little city that they're building with all of their other blocks there's nothing wrong with that as long as your child is not breaking anything and they're not using the materials in a dangerous way either to themselves or to another person then i would say just to let it be it's really not respectful or our place even to go in and stop our child from playing simply because that's not how the materials are supposed to be used okay there's nothing wrong with it the only caveat i would have in that situation is if you are having a very strong feeling that your child is using the materials in a more open-ended way only because they don't really understand the purpose of the activity maybe you demonstrated it to them once in the past and they didn't really pick up on it and you left it out on the shelf and now they're using it in this other way that could be something where you might reconsider possibly packing up the activity for the time being and then reintroducing it at a later time when your child is more ready for it and then you might actually see your child begin to use the materials in an appropriate way in the way that they're intended to be used but if you are very clear that your child knows what to do with the activity you've seen them working on it and in this one moment they're choosing to use those materials in their open-ended play there's nothing wrong with that alright so now that we are clear on the differences between closed-ended montessori shelf work and open-ended play let's go ahead and dive into my top 10 favorite open-ended materials to have in a montessori home so the first one is a nice high quality set of wooden blocks so the beauty of blocks is because they are just a set of three-dimensional shapes they aren't anything special in and of themselves they can become anything to our child in their imagination so yes they can build towers with them but they can also build homes and doctors offices and caves and highways and bridges or your child might decide that they want to sort them by color if that is something that they're interested in learning about on their own or you might see your child sorting them by shape there are so many different things that can be done with blocks and i think it says something that wooden blocks have been a classic children's toy for what feels like forever they have stood the test of time for a very good reason and so this is definitely a high quality open-ended material to make sure to invest in in your home next up is a set of magnetic tiles now magnetic tiles are much like blocks in the sense that they aren't anything they're just a bunch of shapes really when it comes down to it but children just seem to love them something about the magnets and the way that they click together and how quickly they can build different structures that won't necessarily fall down as easily as a set of wooden blocks this keeps children engaged for very long periods of time and they can get very creative with the different kinds of things that they're able to build another favorite open-ended material for many children is duplo or lego blocks again there is just something about these blocks that children are drawn to they just love building things with them and they can stay engaged in building and creating with lego blocks for a very long period of time and if you are looking to invest in a set of blocks make sure that you consider first the size of the blocks because duplo blocks are actually better for much younger children they're a little bit larger than classic lego blocks and they're much easier for young children who don't quite have the manual dexterity yet it's easier for them to put them together and then the other thing to consider is not going all out and buying a huge set of lego blocks for your child right from the beginning it is much better to start out by looking for a small starter set because young children just don't need a whole lot of pieces for their creativity to get flowing and it also makes cleanup a lot easier when they are done playing if there aren't quite so many pieces i would also suggest to specifically look for the starter sets that don't have your child building something very specific it's just a baseline set of blocks that your child can use to build anything that they want next on the list is a set of play silks i remember as a new parent not being entirely sure what a child was supposed to do with a play silk but let me tell you these are one of my girls favorite open-ended materials in our home they are lightweight heavenly soft they come in a variety of different colors and patterns they can be tied around almost anything they can be thrown into the air they can be used to make forts or to cover things up they can be stuffed inside other things there are almost a limitless number of things that can be done with a play silk and my children just adore them next up is another tried and true favorite animal figurines not only have they been a big part of our montessori language work and matching activities but they're also just used in normal everyday play the girls from the time that they were babies liked to pick them up and just look at them and examine all their features bang them together bang them on the floor and other surfaces and then as they became more mobile and started walking they liked to transport them around the house in a number of different containers and wagons they were also really fantastic when my girls were going through transporting and positioning schemas as they would spend lots of time just lining up all of the animals next to each other and now that the girls are a little bit older the animal figurines are also involved in their imaginative play every single day and the animal figurines that you're seeing in today's video are from the brands schleich and safari ltd which i've linked below for you because they are the most realistic that you can find on the market right now and that's important in a montessori environment because we really want to ground our children in reality as much as possible especially before the age of six years old another fabulous open-ended material to have on hand in your home are a variety of vehicles this might include a set of realistic looking cars and trucks and roadways as well as trains and connecting train tracks for children who are very interested in vehicles this kind of open-ended play can provide them with hours upon hours of entertainment but even for children who may be interested but perhaps to a lesser degree these can still be a great open-ended material to have on hand because inevitably children go through connecting schemas where they like to put things together which is what they can do with the roadways and the train tracks as well as the trajectory schema where your child is interested in movement and motion and moving their bodies and other objects through space and so having a set of vehicles is a great way to explore that next on the list are dolls and this applies to a child of any gender now it is totally fine to give your child a very simple plush doll that doesn't really have a whole lot of detail to it because this would certainly fall in line with the montessori ideal of less actually being more as far as our child's creativity is concerned but you also want to look for dolls that have realistic features you really want to avoid anything that looks super cartoony or just doesn't have the right proportions it doesn't look like a real baby so if you can find something that does have very human features to it that is in the proper proportions and maybe is even anatomically correct then that would be ideal for play in a montessori environment the one aspect of realism that might be taking it just a step too far are the dolls that children can actually feed and then they will pee and poop on a small toy potty that isn't really all that necessary as long as the doll actually looks correct and can be used in a way that reflects real life then this would be ideal for your montessori home next up are sensory building materials like kinetic sand and play-doh from about the age of 18 months when a child is much less likely to place things into their mouths then under your supervision you can most certainly start introducing your child to some of these materials if you haven't already there is a whole area of montessori learning specifically dedicated to helping your child further develop their senses and so any kind of material like this that is going to help build their sense of touch and their sense of smell and their sense of sight these are all things that are ultimately going to help in the end even though they're being used in a much more open-ended way another essential open-ended material to have on hand at all times are basic arts and crafts supplies things like crayons colored pencils paint markers stencils glue scissors construction paper all of these kind of raw materials really enable your child to just go all out and be as creative as they could possibly want to be and this creativity does start out very unassuming in the beginning as your child is basically just scribbling or at least that's what it looks like to us but as they get closer to the preschool years and beyond you're really going to see their drawings and other creations begin to take on a new form something that is actually recognizable to others outside of your child's own imagination most children actually really enjoy sitting down to focus on an arts and crafts project that they have chosen for themselves and they can definitely engage in very long periods of focus and concentration and for some children drawing can actually even be an outlet for them to help process emotions and events from their daily lives and finally one last open-ended material that you will see in a lot of montessori homes are sensory bins now a sensory bin isn't anything fancy it is literally just a container into which you've placed some kind of a material that engages your child's senses naturally like dry beans or rice maybe just plain water or sand or you can get a little fancier and put things like pom-poms or snow and ice or make some oobleck or bubble foam or maybe even some water beads like you're seeing here you can even take it a step further and give your child little objects and figurines inside the filler material for them to find or just to play with but that is not a requirement and guys i couldn't just stop at 10 ideas because there are just so many different open-ended materials out there so three little bonus ideas that you might consider if you don't already have them in your home is a set of differently sized and shapes and textures of different balls as well as a small bin containing different items of clothing and accessories for dress up and maybe even a set of the notorious wooden rainbow stacker blocks that we all see all over the internet and one really big thing that i'd like to add here is that typically children do not engage with these different open-ended materials in isolation of the others it is much more common to see them grabbing a bunch of these different materials and playing with them together so you'll see them building houses for their little animal figurines or they will use play silks as blankets and carriers for their baby dolls or as you see my girls doing here they'll open up a kinetic sand pizza shop and have all of their animal figurines lined up out the door because the recipe is just that good and finally one last thing that i'd like to put out there is that you do not have to have all of these materials out at once for your child to play with especially if you are limited on space there is nothing wrong with choosing just one or two of the things from one category of play and putting the rest in storage and rotating through them on a regular basis just as you would with any of your child's other shelf activities so if you are limited to just one basket for a set of something to build with then maybe at first you decide to put out the magnetic tiles and then once you see that your child's interest is starting to wane and they're not really touching them very often maybe you switch it out for a set of their wooden blocks and then again you let it stay there for a little while until it looks like they're losing interest and then maybe you put the blocks away and you take out the duplo blocks and you just kind of do it that way there's no need to inundate your space with everything all at once because that is just going to contribute to overwhelm not only for you but also for your child all right guys so that's all i have for you today on the topic of open-ended play but if you have any ideas of your own that i did not mention in this video today then please share those with us in the comments down below and if you're interested in learning more about doing montessori at home or positive disciplined parenting i have a couple of e-courses that walk you through it step-by-step so i'll be sure to put a link to that in the description box down below in case you are interested in learning more about it and just in case you are new to my channel i also wanted to let you know that this video is part of a much larger series on this youtube channel called montessori at home which is aimed at providing practical tips and advice for busy parents like you and i for implementing montessori at home with our children so if that sounds like something that you're interested in watching more of then you might consider subscribing to my channel this way you don't miss a new video because i do upload a new one just like this one every single week thank you so much for watching today and i'll see you next time bye [Music] you

Channel: Hapa Family

Views: 106,940

Keywords: open ended play for babies, open ended play, montessori open ended play, montessori at home, montessori parenting, montessori for toddlers, montessori for preschoolers, montessori for babies, montessori baby, montessori toddler, montessori activities, montessori activities for babies, montessori activities for toddlers, montessori playroom, montessori activities for preschoolers, montessori play ideas, montessori play ideas for toddlers, open ended play ideas for toddlers

Id: 8ix8hzzJ5Yo

Length: 18min 18sec (1098 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 25 2021