The Montessori parent fosters a love of learning by encouraging baby's uninterrupted exploration of the environment. Providing a safe, 'child-proof' room or area of the house can help mom & dad feel comfortable allowing the tiny explorer to crawl around for hours at a time. (In the Montessori classroom, children are encouraged to do a three hour work cycle so allowing baby to play or "work" uninterrupted on the weekends is great.)
Of course, providing a variety of sensorial materials is helpful too! At my house, we have an adjoining formal living & dining room as well as a den which are all connected by the entry hall. I've set up a gate which separates the upstairs from this area and another gate which separates the rest of the downstairs (kitchen, casual living room, breakfast room, laundry).
In the morning, after her first diaper and change of clothes, I put my 8 month old on the floor and she's off! Crawling to the 'work shelf', she's immediately excited to go about her day - pulling whichever box of sensorial materials she's interested in playing with - or as the Montessorian would say, "she's choosing her work". This morning, it was the basket of fake foods. (Each day, we have sensorial exercises with REAL foods so she can smell, taste, touch and even help prepare the real food. But for some reason, I find that children really enjoy this little basket of fake foods so I've allowed them onto the workshelf for now...)
I sat with her for a few minutes, smiling as she picked up that white egg and started mouthing it.. We took a little picture and sent it to daddy who is working at the office. Then, after a few minutes, I got up and went about my daily chores.... (returning every couple minutes to glance in of course!)... switching over the laundry, loading the dishwasher, emptying the hampers and starting her breakfast. After a bout 25/30 minutes, her babbling turned to an 'eh, ehh' so I went in, received a big smile as I picked her up and we headed to the breakfast table! I love how she can communicate even at this young age with the littlest sounds - I try to pay special attention to changes in her babbling so that I can respond right away to her needs before she becomes upset.
We repeat this cycle of work time, exploration, meal time, exploration, nap, etc., all day long. It's a cycle of picking up toys, cleaning up messes, re-setting the environment, and starting all over again... It is a lot of work, but truly, I just love being a stay at home mom with a tiny explorer....
