Toddler Montessori Station

 

I've been inspired by many awesome pins on Pinterest to try some Montessori activities and ideas. I've also been frustrated with an almost eight year old who still sometimes needs help with his jacket. That is my own fault; I chose the fasted way to get them dressed and out of the house over teaching them to do things for themselves. So I purchased Teach Me to Do It Myself: Montessori Activities for You and Your Child to give me some better ideas to teach them. It didn't actually give me any ideas for the boys, but plenty for making sure I don't make the same mistakes with Lady Bug.

I really love the idea of a self-learning station for Lady Bug to play/learn with while I'm homeschooling the boys. Until we move, I'm not going to set up something permanent, but I did come up with an idea for now. First I attached Lady Bug's baby floor mirror to a dining  chair. The baby safe mirror we have it's actually perfect for this because it has straps on the back to attack and it could be angled down so that Lady Bug could actually see herself. After almost a year of baby wear since it was given to us, the mirror is a bit warped in places. But it's fine enough for our purposes.

I started with just the mirror and her baby brush. Lady Bug has "brushed" her hair with it before, and I've brushed her hair in front of a mirror before, so this seemed natural to her and she enjoyed it for a while. She loves waving and playing with her reflection, so she had a lot of fun with it for a while. After we had done that for a while, I put some head bands, a hair bow, and a hat on the seat of the chair. Most of these she picked up and tossed on the floor. But for several days now I've been putting different things on the flat surface for her to explore and try to put on her head as well as brushing her hair.

I think, if Lady Bug had been my first baby, I would not have done this with her. I would have been worried that I was teaching her to focus on her appearance, or would make her turn out vain. Now, after having an child who's an early learner fail the independent work survey part of a kindergarten readiness test (I took him to screen for any possible problems that I might have missed) I just want to make sure she learns to take care of herself in an age appropriate, and fun, way.

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