Authentic Montessori daycare is a different type of educational system. It combines play-based learning with crucial emotional, physical, and developmental activities intended to help children expand and reach their individual potential. Because behavior is a critical aspect of development, successful strategies are inseparable from other class curricula.
The Value of Grace and Courtesy
Grace and courtesy are a cornerstone of the Montessori Method, and a regular part of an authentic Montessori daycare. Learning to say please and thank you teaches children important lessons about social interaction and helps them build strong habits the will benefit them throughout their lives. Since daycare children are only beginning to explore their individual worlds, learning how to use grace and courtesy benefits their search for more knowledge and understanding.
Applying the Golden Rule
The concept of doing unto others as you would want others to treat you is a valuable lesson for our modern world, and one that is central to Montessori daycare education. Grasping that other feel the same way about certain behaviors as they do themselves gives children a valuable insight into human behavior and works toward building a strong sense of empathy.
Classroom Cleanup Routines
Cleaning up after activities is more than busy work. Working together to put the classroom back into its proper order teaches children critical thinking skills, helps develop social interactions, and instills a sense of responsibility and self-esteem. As often happens in Montessori education, the activity itself is not the end goal, but it is a tool to help children develop in multiple ways, including learning valuable practical experience that can be applied to various aspects of the rest of their lives.
Taking Turns and Sharing
Toward the end of their daycare years, children begin to develop an understanding of how it feels to share and be shared with. Prior to do so, children are unable to see how their actions affect someone else, or identify the connection between specific behaviors and the results they elicit. Learning the value of sharing and taking turns in daycare gives children a head start on other developmental goals as they go through preschool and into kindergarten.
The Montessori is focused on developing children into responsible, respectable members of the community. To do that, it uses successful behavior strategies as a matter of course. Children do not learn about sharing for the sake of sharing, for example, but as a way to interact in a peaceful and diplomatic way while pursuing other educational goals.
