Overview: Learning Programme from Birth to Age Six

From birth to three years of age the physical development of infants is remarkable, inspiring the attention and care of both family and community. In tandem with their physical development, infants are developing psychologically, socially, intellectually and spiritually.

During this time, they acquire the culture and language of the community into which they are born. This multi-faceted development is accommodated in the Montessori environments prepared for children of this age. Specifically, Montessori learning environments for this age group are designed to foster independence, psycho-sensory-motor development and language development. 

Between the ages of three to six years, children continue the process of self-construction, consolidating, refining and adding to the skills and knowledge they accumulated before the age of three. From the age of three children become conscious of what they are learning through their own freely chosen activity, especially activity with their hands.

Montessori environments prepared for this age group provide children with motives for activity through which they refine their perception, movement and language, and become independent in everyday life. The extensive repertoire of meticulously designed Montessori materials and exercises offered to the children represent a learning programme organised as an incremental progression of activities. Within this framework, children are free to choose their own work, once they have been shown how to use the materials and how to do the exercises. 

Children’s learning in Montessori early childhood settings falls within the following definition of play-based learning found in the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (DEEWR 2009: 6): 

… learning through which children organise and make sense of their social worlds, as they engage actively with people, objects and representations. 

In addition, the advantage of the distinctive features of Montessori early childhood settings are supported by evidence emerging in the research literature. For example, children at age seven show improved language development and cognitive outcomes if they have participated in early childhood settings where activities are child-initiated and selected from a wide variety of available equipment and materials, and where free choice predominates over whole group activities (Montie, Xiang and Schweinhart 2006). Furthermore, the incremental repertoire of Montessori materials and activities addresses some of the concerns raised by researchers in early childhood education in relation to the difficulties teachers can experience in implementing a play-based curriculum (Bennett, Wood and Rogers 1997; Wood and Bennett 2000). 

The first plane of development spans the period from birth to approximately age six. During this stage children become functionally independent; they learn to control their movement, to communicate and to work with their hands. Children during this period are also sensory explorers. They use their senses to absorb every aspect of the environment, their language and culture, in the process constructing their own intellects. 

Development during this plane is shaped by the special capacity children of this age have for learning and absorbing vast amounts of information, a capacity described by Montessori educators as the absorbent mind. The way young children learn is unique to this stage of life. During this plane of development, without being conscious they are learning, children ‘absorb’ impressions from the environment, impressions that construct their mind and intellect and enable them to adapt to their time and place in history. 

Throughout this plane of development children experience periods during which they display heightened sensitivity to, or interest in, particular aspects of the environment. These periods, named sensitive periods by Montessori educators, represent windows of opportunity during which children’s intense interest, and the spontaneous activity this interest generates, enable children to learn the corresponding knowledge and skill with ease and enjoyment. Montessori educators observe children closely for signs of sensitive periods. They use these observations as a guide to help them choose the optimum time for offering children lessons and activities in, for example, social skills, the refinement of movement and sensory perception, language and mathematics. 

The first plane of development is a time of enormous physical development. By the age of six, children have gained a functional independence; they can talk and communicate their needs; they can walk, climb, run and jump by themselves, feed and dress themselves and manage their own toileting. They move with balance and coordination and are refining the precision and dexterity with which they use their hands. Children’s hands, Dr Montessori (1982/1949: 23) argued, are the ‘instruments’ of their intelligence. In other words, as children refine control of their hand, they are also refining the development of their minds. The importance of having activities in the environment that interest children and that involve the use of their hands is described by Dr Montessori in the following way:  

The ability of a thing to attract the interest of the child does not depend so much upon the quality of the thing itself as upon the opportunity it affords the child for action … it is not enough that a thing should be interesting in itself but that it must lend itself to the motor activity of the child if it is to be interesting to him.

There must be, for example, small objects that can be moved from their places. It is then that a child begins to move his hand rather than the objects. A child is delighted to make and unmake something, to place and replace things many times over and continue the process for a long time.

A very beautiful toy, an attractive picture, a wonderful story, can, without doubt, rouse a child’s interest, but if he may simply look at or listen to, or touch an object but dares not move it, his interest will be superficial and pass from object to object. That is why the environment is so arranged that it lends itself to a child’s desire to be active

— (1967/1948: 104). 

Aligned with physical development is social and emotional development, development that is enhanced by nurturing, secure environments at home and in early childhood settings. Learning how to be social emerges naturally and spontaneously in the multi-age, mini-communities found in Montessori environments. In these communities older children have the opportunity to be sensitive to the needs of others, while younger children feel able to seek help at any time. In addition, lessons in grace and courtesy provide opportunities for young children to practice appropriate social behaviour in a fun and instructive way without public reprimand. 

Children from birth to the age of six learn through their senses. Using their senses, they gain first impressions and understandings of the world, impressions and understandings that become woven into the fabric of their minds. This principle, first proposed by Aristotle, is traditionally summarised in the following way: ‘There is nothing in the mind that is not first in the senses.’ 

The first six years of life is a time of rapidly expanding mental development. In recent times neuroscientists have begun to describe the development of neurological networks in young children (OECD CERI 2007) and to emphasise the importance of favourable social and physical environments to support this development. Montessori prepared environments provide children with an environment that enhances the construction of the mind and the intellect, for example, by providing concrete materials through which children begin to classify the world around them while learning language for talking about these early classification systems. This work becomes the foundation for learning during the primary school years when ordered systems of abstract knowledge and the imagination become the tools children use for thinking. 

Babies are born with a strong urge to communicate and to express themselves. By age six, children have acquired language, not only spoken language, but also the fundamental skills of writing and reading. At the same time children are using a mathematical mind as evidenced by their need for order and sequence and the drive for precision and accuracy. During the first six years of life children construct a foundation for later studies in arithmetic and geometry. 

In summary, during the first six years of life young children learn to function independently, to move with control, to communicate and to concentrate. At no other time in children’s lives will they be able to develop in so many significant ways so easily and well. By the age of six children have become socially adapted to their time and place in human history and culture. 

Beautiful, orderly, child-sized environments and sensory play are part of Montessori’s legacy… Montessori thought that early childhood teachers should: provide real tools that work; keep materials and equipment accessible to the children so they can find and put away what they need; and create beauty and order in the classroom (Mooney 2000: 25).

The Nido and Infants Community: Environments Prepared for Infants and Toddlers under Three

Montessori environments for infants and toddlers are prepared to be as homelike as possible, and to involve small children in a round of daily activities including quiet times and rest periods. The characteristics of these environments include:

• continuity of care

• an ordered physical environment

• consistency of activity and expectation.

In environments with these characteristics infants build a sense of security, a sense of order and a sense of time.

Continuity of care lays the foundation for emotional and social wellbeing. If infants interact with the same people day after day, they feel secure, and they have the opportunity to build lasting relationships and social bonds they can depend on.

An ordered physical environment lays the foundation of an ordered mind. If infants find things in the same place day after day, they learn to recognise those things and where they belong. In such an environment, children grow confident in their ability to know and memorise things, in other words, they become confident in their own intellectual capacity.

Similarly, consistency of activity contributes to children’s security and intellectual confidence. A daily routine develops in infants an understanding of the passing of time. If, day after day, infants follow the same routines at the same time and the same places, they have further opportunity to discover that they know something when they recognise familiar things and events. If infants take part in the same activities, in the same order day after day, they further consolidate their sense of security, order and time.

There are two prepared environments for infants and toddlers under the age of three years:

• The Nido, or nest, is a nurturing home-like environment for infants from 2 to 3 months until they are walking independently (around 15/18 months).

• The Infant Community is an educational environment prepared for toddlers from the time they are walking independently until they are approximately three years of age. It is a nurturing environment where very young children experience their first structured contact with other children. The focus of the environment is to offer children activity that supports the development of voluntary, controlled movement, spoken language and independence in daily life.

Both these environments are organized and directed by a Montessori trained adult called an Assistant to Infancy. Nidos and Infant Communities can be prepared so children can attend on their own (for example, in sessional or long day care) or so parents can accompany the children. When parents accompany children to the Nido, the group is often called a ‘parent-infant group’. When parents accompany children to the Infant Community, the group is often called a ‘parent-toddler group’. The accompanying parents gain information about ways to interact with children based on the modelling of this behaviour provided by the staff. In addition, in this environment parent and child experience a protected time in which their relationship to each other can deepen and grow.

Activities in Montessori environments for children under the age of three are related to real life. They provide children with opportunities to develop voluntary, controlled movement, independence in daily life and spoken language.

Order is a feature of all Montessori early childhood environments. The ability of the child to create order from the stimuli of the environment is an essential factor in normal development from birth to three years.

In addition, parent information sessions and literature also provide an essential component of Montessori early childhood environments prepared for infants and toddlers.

The Children’s House: An Environment Prepared for Children Aged from Three to Six Years

The Montessori environment prepared for preschool children from three to six years of age is called the Children’s House. The Children’s House is prepared to be homelike, welcoming, aesthetically pleasing and orderly so children come to think of the setting as a ‘mini-community’ where they learn skills they can apply at home and in the wider community. Cooperation, rather than competition, is encouraged.

The ordered Children’s House environment provides children with structure and predictability, and helps them orient themselves both to the physical environment of the Children’s House and to the multi-age ‘mini-community’ within the environment. There is a strong emphasis on children developing the independence, cooperation and skills for daily living that enable each one to become a valued and independent member of the Children’s House community. The resources and activities in the Children’s House are designed to:

• develop coordination of movement

• develop independence

• develop the ability to make informed decisions

• lengthen the amount of time a child can engage in deep concentration

• refine the use of the senses

• encourage exploration

• build social skills

• develop oral communication skills

• develop written communication and the foundations of joyful reading

• develop an understanding of mathematical concepts

The materials in the Children’s House are displayed on open shelves, always accessible to the children. The children work with these materials during work sessions that are ideally a minimum of three hours in duration with no fixed breaks. In this way children are able to develop and follow their own natural rhythm of activity and rest without unnecessary interruptions.

The prepared environment of the Children’s House incorporates indoor and outdoor spaces. Both spaces complement each other and are available to the children at all times. The majority of Montessori educational materials are commonly displayed in the indoor environment, but their use is not restricted to the indoor environment. Practical life activities are part of both the indoor and outdoor environments. Children may also choose to work with materials in the sensorial, mathematics or language areas in the outside environment as long as they are using the materials for the educational purpose for which they have been designed. In addition, the outdoor environment includes gardens (both wild and planted), which children care for, and in which they develop a growing awareness of the importance of the natural environment to the well-being of all living things. Activities in the outdoor environment of the Children’s House develop in children an appreciation of the natural world and an awareness of its importance to the wellbeing of all living things including themselves, as well as a beginning understanding of the important role of human beings in caring for the natural environment.

For this age group lessons are usually given to individual children. Once children have been given a lesson, the activity is added to their repertoire of possible activities and they are free to choose that activity whenever they wish. Small group activities include games used to extend earlier lessons, and language games. Children are invited to join group activities but are not required to participate. In a mixed age group, older children can validate their learning by becoming the ‘experts’ in the room. Peer teaching occurs when the older children share their knowledge and skills, take on the role of the caretakers of the classroom and provide role models for younger children. Younger children find a group of willing people ready to help them when help is required. They are also further inspired and motivated to learn as they see older children working on the next step in the progression of lessons.

Freedom of choice is a central feature of the Children’s House environment. Children learn that free choice carries with it both responsibilities and consequences, understandings that become increasingly important as they move through the later school years towards adult life.

There is a strong emphasis in the Children’s House on the development of independence, cooperation and the skills for daily life that will enable each individual to become a valued and autonomous member of his or her community. For example, in the practical life area of the Children’s House, children can choose from activities such as preparing snacks for themselves and others, laying and clearing the table, and cleaning up. They learn, under strict adult supervision, to use child-sized tools, including knives and glassware, safely and effectively. In the sensorial area children fine-tune perception, discrimination and judgement. In the language and mathematics areas children are introduced to literacy and numeracy skills. As they work through the language activities, children extend emergent and beginning literacy skills leading to fluency in both writing and reading. Mathematics activities lead children from early counting and matching experiences towards increasing understanding of number patterns, the four operations, number facts and two- and three-dimensional shapes. In general teacher/child ratios are carefully planned in the Children’s House so there is just enough support for the children, but not too much interference from adults in the children’s activity. Children are encouraged to be self-reliant, or to solve problems with their peers with as little adult intervention as possible. In this way children develop self-assurance and self-esteem.

As an individual-centred and constructivist practice, Montessori educational philosophy and practice recognises that students may achieve at points that differ from their peers. Montessori classrooms /learning environments, with their 3-year-age range known as cycles that correspond to developmental stages, provide students with the experiences detailed within the Montessori curriculum. Whilst these experiences are not based on the expectation that all students will achieve at the same time or by a specified end point, teachers use their knowledge of the child and the curriculum and the suggested achievement bands within their state or country to inform their support and monitoring of student progress. 

Incorporated into the four areas of the Children’s House curriculum are materials, activities and exercises that introduce children to visual arts, music, physical education, science, geography and history. Montessori educators sometimes say that the Children’s House is designed to bring the world to the child. For example, in the Children’s House children listen to stories and learn songs and dances from their own country and around the world, while participating in related visual arts activities. They also work with globes, maps, land and water forms, and collections of pictures of life in different cultures. Cultural studies of this type are interspersed within the four main areas of the Children’s House, particularly within the sensorial and language areas.