Montessori and Pinterest

It seems like everyone uses Pinterest. For everything. If you need to search for any idea, you go search there. I know that I use it all the time to look for things because I can easily curate a number of pins about a particular topic in a short amount of time, especially if I do not have time to read a bunch of websites at the moment. I can keep all of my pins in separate boards and go back to them without having to scroll through endless bookmarks. The same happened when I stumbled across Montessori. I may have even saw it first on Pinterest.

I can do a simple search on Pinterest for Montessori and get hundreds or thousands of pins about "Montessori activities." Herein lies the problem. These so-called "Montessori activities" may not actually align with Montessori. Since Maria Montessori never patented her method, anyone can claim that anything is "Montessori," even if it isn't. Many of the pins that are on Pinterest ARE authentic sources of true Montessori concepts, but so many more are not. This is where I think people get tripped up. Who really knows about the philosophy, and who is just creating activities which they believe align with the philosophy (but they actually don't)?

We live in this social media world where people put on this facade of perfection. This means that in the Montessori world, you see pictures of amazingly neat shelves and minimalist-type rooms, carefully created activities that children are supposedly doing independently, and parent-led activities on trays that seem to fulfill the idea of a "Montessori activity."

Montessori is so much more than that. The prepared environment is so important for the child, as well as the prepared adult. But looking on Pinterest for "activities" to keep the child busy is not the point of Montessori.

One type of "Montessori activity" that I see a lot on Pinterest are sensory bins. While they may have their place, it is more ideal for a child to get that sensory experience in the real world, especially when they are at home. I do not need to dye spaghetti noodles different colors and put them in the bathtub with my child to work on texture (plus, the mess it will make that I will need to clean up!). I do not need to put rice in a big container and hide things inside for them to find. I do not need to spray shaving cream all over the table for them to play in. All of this just creates a mess with zero purpose. It is not an authentic sensory experience, and the adult is the one who ends up cleaning up thousands of grains of rice from the floor after the child inevitably threw the cup (at least that is what my children would do).

So, how can a child get a real, authentic sensory experience?

Take them outside! Do you want to work on textures? Have them feel rough or smooth surfaces. Collect different rocks and sort them by texture, size, shape, etc. Play in the mud, dirt, sand, or grass. Do not be afraid to get dirty. Let them pour water from cups and the hose, water plants, dump water on themselves, dig for bugs or weeds, etc. Explore the crunchy leaves in the Fall and the cold snow in the Winter.

If you feel the weather is too bad to go outside, sensory experiences can happen inside as well. Cook and bake together, smell the spices (or be like my 3-year-old and actually taste the spices - yes, he asks "can I try it?" for almost every single one), let them wash their hands for a long time if that gives them joy, or take long baths. I am sure you can think of even more real, hands-on sensory experiences that are not part of those "Montessori activity" lists you see on Pinterest.