Developed by Maria Montessori an Italian Physician and Educator the Montessori method of teaching which is estimated to be practiced in 20,000 schools around the world. In theory Montessori education is applicable to anyone from birth to 18 years old but more often than not in the UK Montessori pupils will likely be between 2 – 6 years old.
When teaching via the Montessori method you have to have the correct equipment otherwise you cannot execute the method effectively. The market is quite good for Montessori learning aids however recently some poorer quality learning aids are now being manufactured and distributed.
Montessori Learning Aids are aimed towards children’s development skills and life skills. There are a number different areas of learning which children need to progress through and the Montessori learning aids help children achieve this. Montessori learning aids are often very fun for children to play with, making it easier to teach and for children to learn without ‘getting bored’ too easily.
The different types of Montessori learning aids are shown below: –
- Botany – Includes learning aids such as, puzzles (animals, trees, flowers etc). There is a wide selection of Botany learning aids available.
- Geography – Includes globes of the earth, land and water, flag stands, large colourful maps, puzzle maps (UK, Africa, USA and Australia etc), information sheets and so on.
- Life Skills / Practical Life – Includes button frames, Velcro frames, and zipping frame etc for practical life skill lessons.
- Language – Helps to aid children with their English language skills, both reading and writing. There are movable alphabets, large letter cards (made from sand paper) and inset paper.
- Sensorial – includes Geometric solids, towers/tower blocks, mystery shapes, sand trays, bell sets and sound boxes.
- Mathematics – includes addition boards, bead bars, wooden cubes, snake games, bead chains, binomial cubes & laminated large number cards.
- Miscellaneous – There are some learning aids which don’t quite fit in with a particular subject but are still really valuable in the education process such as, fraction circles, matching board shapes, large and small pegs boards.
There are several key areas when it comes to children and their learning skills with many facilities and learning aids available.
If you operate a Montessori School then ensuring your pupils have only the best possible learning aids to work with will without doubt be a huge priority for you so as mentioned before be sure assess the quality of potential products as some poorer items are now on the market.