Forest Montessori

Montessori From Birth

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Montessori at 3 months

Montessori Shelf at 15 weeks old

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Montessori shelf at 15 weeks old

Here is our shelf at 15 weeks. We mainly hope to work on- grasping and teething in the fine motor skills area in the next month. Here is a brief description of the material:

Rattle tray

Top left tray- has a wooden rattle, crochet rattle and bell roller cylinder. We have continued this from last month. Please note, I have put away the bell rattle and silver rattle because currently everything goes in the mouth and they have sharp edges.

Tray to practice grasping and for some teething relief. Our favorite here is Sophie, the giraffe.

Top right tray– other rattles + cuddlies + teethers. They are being currently used for grasping and teething. Most of the items on the tray have been gift’s except Sophie, the giraffe which is a teething favorite.

Basket with balls to practice holding with both hands

Bottom shelf left tray– Anika loves bringing her hands together and she does it all the time! I put together a basket with balls etc to provide her an additional challenge. She loves trying to hold them during tummy time and it also encourages her to move. These have been collected over the years from $2 shops and random markets. The grey and white puzzle ball is a part of our Lovevery playgym.

Skwish toy– A favorite Montessori rattle + teether. I cannot recommend it enough.

Basket with baby paper and play silks for grasping and teething.

Bottom shelf right tray- Basket with playsilks and baby paper. I knot the play silk on the edge and it makes an amazing teething material that is easy to grasp! We also love playing peekaboo with playsilk.

A note on materials– Most of the materials I have collected are “open-ended” like the play silk, various play balls, sensorial rattles (later used in heuristic basket etc) so we use them again and again for different purposes. Even though we love exploring all these materials, the most important “material/ thing” a baby loves is YOU (the adult in the environment). These are just some extra’s…

Teething at 3 Months- Beginner friendly teethers

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The day Anika turned 13 weeks, I observed the following very unsual (for her) symptoms in the evening:

  • She began drooling so much so that her clothes had to be changed.
  • She started chewing voraciously at her fist.
  • She had trouble going to sleep at night. It took us 2 hours (usually 10 minutes).
  • She was unusually upset.
  • She started sucking on her lower lip constantly.
  • She was pulling her ears and rubbing her chins and cheeks.

I couldn’t figure out what was happening! We just finished the evening gas woes not too long ago. I googled the symptoms and turns out babies can start teething as early as 3 months! When we visited our GP the next day for vaccinations, he said it could be teething or a developmental leap. Either ways, since then every evening (sometimes day as well) she desperately wants to gnaw at something constantly. Everyday her grasp is developing but it is still not refined enough to hold those small wooden or rubber teethers for over 2 minutes. First evening, hubby and I tried holding those teethers for her but she seemed frustrated. Giving her as much independence as possible, the Montessori way; here are her current teethers (or rather her chewing favorites) that she enjoys using:

Silk scarf- Our favorite open-ended material can be knotted and used as a teether, easiest to grasp for little fingers
  • Silk scarf- Its incredible how open ended the silk scarf really is. In 3 short months, we have already used it for grasping, playing peek-a-boo, as a mobile and now as a teether! Due to the large surface area, she can grasp it easily and loves chewing on it. I usually knot one end so its more chunky to chew on.
Skwish toy- the perfect Montessori rattle + teether
  • Skwish toy- I had my doubts if she would be able to hold this yet. But much to my surprise this has been a great rattle + teether for her. It is light, so even her little hands can lift it. It has a tall structure, so she can pick it up from her side. I love the design, so many places to grasp, thus works at even 3.5 months. It is eco-friendly and her gums love to chew on it.
Waldorf doll- Cuddly + teether
  • Waldorf doll- Gifted by Anika’s beautiful cousin sister Lea, this was originally suppose to be her cuddly/ grasping toy but she currently loves to gnaw on it. Essentially the large surface area makes it easy to hold this doll.
Sophie the Giraffe, the quintessential teether!
  • Sophie, the Giraffe- The quintessential teether as been great especially during tummy time. During back time, Anika still needs help holding it for more than 2 minutes.

I have made several wooden teethers for her, which she will hold and gnaw on in few weeks time. But for now, these have been incredible for us. Any more ideas? Anyone else has babies who started teething earlier than 6 months and what teethers did you use?

Forest School for Babies

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Dr. Montessori said that children from birth to 6 years were sensorial learners. If so, nothing comes close to the explosion of senses one experiences in nature. I have loved outdoors and I hope that my daughter feels the joy in nature too.

It can be a bit tricky to get out with infants because there is sleep to consider and a few (million) things to pack! But here are some reasons its still worth venturing out, even in the first few months:

  • Nature tells the baby about the ‘real’ world they live in.
  • Nature stimulates baby’s brain cells, while movement outdoors feeds oxygen, water and glucose to the brain optimizing its performance.
  • Nature is naturally calming and soothing for a baby.
  • Nature as the backdrop minus distractions of chores is a good way to connect and bond.
  • Fresh air and sun light is great for a child’s overall development.
  • Anika sleeps the longest after our ‘outdoor adventure’.
  • Exposure to all weather, since the beginning of life helps to develop their immunity and strength. We make sure that clothing is appropriate.
  • Great activity/ exercise for a new mum 🙂
  • Forest School at 1 Month- Anika could not open her eyes in the bright day light till she was 4-5 weeks old. This being a very fragile/ sensitive period anyways we would only spend a few minutes walking on the deck in the mornings. Mostly cuddled up with me, she could hear the birds and smell the fresh air. We occasionally went for walks down the road in my carrier (mostly) or a stroller.
  • Bonding in nature
  • Hearing the waves
Trees make the best mobile!
First walk down the road at 4 weeks old
Watching the clouds and hearing the birds at 5 weeks old
  • Forest School at 2 Months– After week 5, we ensured to spend an awake session (usually mornings) outdoors on the deck or under a tree. The days it was raining, I set up a mat near the deck so she could hear and smell the beautiful experience. We would also go for walks in my sling some evenings.
Trees make the best mobile
  • Forest School at 3 Months- With our daily rhythms well established and the little one settled, we made it a point to go our everyday. The days it was raining, I would wear her in my carrier (wear my trekking shoes with strong grip to be safe) and we would go out with an umbrella. Otherwise, every morning as soon as she woke up we would walk to our nearby reserve. Our ‘routine’ consists of dressing up, walk to the reserve, find a tree, tummy time, back time, time on mama’s leg while she practiced grasping leaves, grass, mud, bark. I would wipe her hands with a wet cloth immediately. Then we would stop at several trees on the way back and oh the joyous cooes!
We stop to see the beautiful flowers on the way
Choose a tree at the reserve and do tummy time!
Back time under a tree
Time on mama’s leg to practice grasping the grass/ leaves/ mud/ bark

We are tremendously lucky to live in New Zealand, where we are surrounded by nature and we plan to make the most of it. I mainly wrote this post as a reminder to myself to stay motivated to go out even as it gets colder each day in Auckland. Hope you found this post helpful. Love to hear how you like to venture out with our little ones?

Montessori mobile sequence

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Introduce the Munari mobile at week. 3


Montessori mobiles are elegant in its simplicity and don’t have music or brightly colored cartoon images. The purpose of each is clear and developmentally appropriate to a child’s growing visual sense. I am a big fan of Montessori’s scientific approach from birth. Below is the suggested timeline we followed to introduce Montessori mobiles.

First few weeks- child lies on floor mat to observe the environment. While this continues over the next few months, we introduce mobiles as an aid to developing their concentration. Here is the sequence we followed:

Week 3– Anika seemed comfortable in the new environment, so we introduced the Munari mobile. She spent a lot of her wake time concentrating on it.

Week. 5 introduced the Octahedron mobile- introduction to primary colors in 3 dimensions

Week 5– Octahedron mobile replaced the Munari. Octahedron introduces the primary colours in 3 dimensions.

Week 6- set up the rainbow mobile, introduction to secondary colours

Week 6- We set up another mobile station near the kitchen in the living room. Anika wanted to be able to see me, esp in the evenings. We introduced the Rainbow mobile, which is the introduction of secondary colours. She thoroughly loved this mobile for many a weeks.

Week 7- We introduced the Gobbi mobile at week 7, which refines the visual sense through the gradation of colors from the lightest to the darkest.

Week 9– We introduced the Dancer’s mobile at week 11. This is the last in the series of visual mobiles and introduces realistic shapes and represents movement, flexibility, bodily expression and potency and human interactions.

Important notes:

  • We changed approximately every 2 weeks or she got bored.
  • After week 11 when she was bored of the dancers mobile and not yet ready for grasping mobiles, we rotated and went back to Munari mobile and started the sequence all over again. She loved them all once again. I also introduced a series of my own batting mobiles.
  • We didn’t want to drill and used the Fealkira Adhesive hooks as our ceiling hooks and they were perfect!
  • These mobiles are followed by batting and grasping mobiles.

Products that we have used

Munari mobile

Double sided mirror

Fealkira Adhesive

Our favorite everyday home items for grasping

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“The first step in movement is grasping…and soon as the hands grasp something, consciousness is called to the hand….”- Maria Montessori, Education for a New World.

Work of intentional grasping started around week 10 for Anika. Check the signs of readiness on this post. Apart from some of her favorite rattles, I observed she loved grasping my clothes, her clothes, my jewelry and my hair 😀 I would classify the below items as beginning grasping tools as most are easier to grasp than a rattle too. So, here are some common everyday items she enjoys refining her grasping skills with….

Her clothes during tummy time
My necklace 🙂 PS-supervision is essential
My wooden bangle has been her absolute favorite during tummy time. She is fascinated when it gets in her arms and she is wearing it 🙂
Silk scarf has been another favorite since its easy to grasp due to more surface area. We use it for back and tummy time. She loves to chew on it as well.
Highly recommend this baby paper from amazon. She loves the crinkly noise, it promotes freedom (place it on tummy and she uses it when she is ready) and promotes independence (wider surface area makes it easier to grasp even if fallen to the side)
We also love grasping grass/bark/leaves while outdoors

So today at week 13 here are all the items we have been working on to refine her grasp. She loves them and everyday I see her grasping is becoming more refined. I did introduce ‘ring on ribbon’ mobile as well but she batted it more than grasp it. I put it away, perhaps she will be ready for it in few more weeks. We are currently rotating our old mobiles, which she now loves to bat 🙂

Materials that we have used:

Rattles

Silk scarf

Baby paper

Montessori inspired Batting mobiles

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If you are new around here, I highly recommend you first read about the Montessori mobiles in the visual series. From week 9 onward, Anika was batting all her visual mobiles. At week 11, I set up the bell on ribbon mobile but she batted it and was not ready for grasping yet. So along with rotating the visual mobiles once again, we also used experimented with my DIY bell batting mobile from the ceiling hook. Alas, it oscillated too far and after a while Anika got frustrated tracking it. So then we placed all her batting mobiles on her Lovevery Play gym, which has Velcro hooks to replace mobiles.

We prefer batting at the play gym because the mobiles don’t oscillate as much, which sustains concentration and interest. I think any sphere shaped ball is ideal as a batting mobile. We used some open- ended sphere items that we already had at home…

  • Bunch of bells- bought at spotlight during Christmas. I love open-ended objects like these! Mobile today, part of heuristic basket in few months, part of Christmas decoration again in few months and just so much more year after year.
  • Felt ball sphere- bought by my mum from Nepal. Another open-ended item, I just happened to have and works perfectly for batting. It can be used as sensory ball, to study shapes in a few years, as a cards and counters extension and on and on! 
  • We also used the black and white ball, which is a part of Lovevery gym.

In this transition phase, where we are still working on our grasping skills and not yet ready for bell on ribbon or ring on ribbon; these batting mobiles have been heaps of fun! 

I reckon any sphere shaped (safe surface)  item works well or maybe even a soft toy? Would love to hear more ideas….