As the children are forced to stay at home due to Covid-19 outbreak, we at Savi Montessori have put together a list of activities that the parents/caregivers can follow at home. This will help your child get some learning and utilise their time using the Montessori Approach. The goal of this article is not to replicate what happens in the Montessori classroom at home but to provide activities to parents that would match the developmental needs of their child.
This guide is meant for children of our Toddler (16 months to 2.5yrs) and Primary (2.5 to 6 yrs) classrooms.
Establish a Routine
Children of this age group thrive on routines and predictability. It is very important to establish and maintain a daily routine at home.
| Time | Example of a Routine during these holidays |
| 8:00 AM | Get Up and Brush Teeth, Toileting, getting ready for day |
| 9:00 AM | Breakfast |
| 10:00 AM | Open play in sunshine and fresh air |
| 11:00 AM | Quick Bath and Snack |
| 12:00 PM | Practical Life Activity or Writing for older children |
| 1:00 PM | Lunch |
| 2:00 PM | Nap Time |
| 3:00 PM | Nap Time |
| 4:00 PM | Art and Craft |
| 5:00 PM | Preparing snack for home and snack time |
| 6:00 PM | Open play in park and fresh air |
| 7:00 PM | Open play in park and fresh air |
| 8:00 PM | Quick Wash and Dinner |
| 9:00 PM | Reading books and getting ready for sleep |
Opportunities to be Active
Take the children outside daily to less crowded parks to get opportunity for large motor movement, sunshine and some fresh air. We highlight the importance of outdoor play in this article. Its extremely important children are active during their stay at home periods. http://savimontessori.com/5-benefits-of-outdoor-play/. For older children, when possible you can include them in planning and organizing their routines and activities.
Give Choices and forget about results
Giving choices to play or choosing the clothes they wear, makes the children feel in control and they are more willing to cooperate. Observe and give opportunity for continued periods of concentration. Do not interrupt to praise or correct them. For children, the learning happens while doing and they are least interested in the end product. So let go of your expectations and enjoy this journey with them.
Practical Life – Things to do inside
Involve children in daily chores going on around the house. Children feel an immense sense of self-esteem and pride as they contribute in these purposeful activities. It would also give you an opportunity to connect with your child as you both work side-by-side instead of rushing to get all the things done during their nap time. A few examples of practical life activities
- Helping with the laundry – Children can help to sort the clothes, put them in the washing machine and even hang them up to dry if the drying line is at their height level.
- We have presented the Primary class children with folding napkins and shirts. You can refer to this video of a 3-yr folding a shirt –https://www.instagram.com/p/B7wevqVjI0_/?igshid=1mspk8a55ctfq
- In the KITCHEN
- Food Preparation – Children from our Toddler class always have a shelf with food preparation activities available to them. Some of their favourites have been shelling peas, peeling pomegranate & orange, peeling boiled potatoes, chopping strawberries & cucumbers. Pounding has been a favourite activity in both the classrooms
- Sorting – Children can help with sorting fruits and vegetables after grocery shopping or can help to sort and put back the washed utensils and cutlery.
- Pouring or transferring activities can also be easily setup using grains
Language
Read, read and read
- Lots of books in various languages. Keep a few always available for the child to browse on their own. We regularly read books to the children in both the classrooms. List of books for Primary is available in Transparent Classrooms.
- Go to Progress>Language>Reading Books> you need to scroll down to find or CTRL+F> search for reading books. check out the Gif above
Songs
- Children love to sing songs along with our guides. You can also play these at home and sing along with them. Some of their favourites songs are – Hindi – Dhobi aaya, Machali jal ki Rani English – Doe a deer, Coconut Song
- The list with the links for videos of the songs for the Primary classroom can be found at
- Go to Progress>Language>Songs> you need to scroll down to find or CTRL+F> search for songs. For Toddler parents, refer to the playlist shared with you.
I Spy Game/ Sound Game
- We play this game with Primary children to help them to identify and isolate the different sounds in words. It can be played with any objects found around the house. Here is a great video from Voila Montessori demonstrating how to play the game – https://youtu.be/a-urzz3ybtQ
- Remember – You need to say the sounds in the words as we speak and not go as per the spellings.
- Refer to Ants on the Apple song (https://youtu.be/pgOIWIfUaSI) for the sounds of each alphabet.
Literacy
Literacy – For children who have just started to read, you can write simple words having consonant-vowel-consonant(CVC) sounds. For eg- bat, pin, hop, etc.
Improvise Metal Insets- Child can trace any object with a simple shape and then fill in with lines using colour pencils.
Numeracy
Numeracy- Let children count items around the house for example- spoons, buttons,etc and they can match written numbers with them.
Children who are able to write, can practice writing numbers as high as they can go.
Art and Craft
Provide access to different art mediums like crayons, water colours, colour pencils, playdough, etc. The key is to limit the number of items to what is easily manageable by your child. For example, setup only 3 watercolours in a palette along with a thick paint brush, little water in a small cup and a drying cloth. Sharing a simple art activity which we had done with the children last week.
We hope this guide has been helpful to you. Please do get in touch with us if you have any queries or would like any more activities specific to your child.