This week I’ll be giving you 5 Tips to Transforming a Montessori Baby Room to promote and optimize our baby’s natural development.
So to start, here is one of my favorite quotes from Maria Montessori.
“Education is a natural process not carried out by listening to words but by experiences in the environment.” – Montessori
I started with this because in my experience working with babies and toddlers, I can not tell you how amazingly true this quote holds. The environment, Montessori Classroom, and Montessori Baby Room & Home Environment play such a huge role in how our babies learn.
The environment and the interactions our children have within their trusted spaces can play such a huge role in how our babies develop and their perceptions of who they are not only in their space, but in the world.
So I am here to offer you 5 Pro Tips to Transforming your Baby’s Room to Optimize Development.
So here it goes..
Pro Tip #1 : Observe to Transform their Environment
Unbiased observation is key to understanding what babies need! The initial Nursery or Nido setup may work perfectly for a 3 month non-mobile baby, but an 8 month crawler’s needs are totally different!
Pro Tip #2: Think Ahead
Use what you observed within your observations to consider what their needs may be. Then try your best to set up and transform their Montessori Bedroom to support that development.
Then think ahead to where they will be next in their development. And try to set up the space with that in mind.
Pro Tip #3: Less is More
Simple materials and lessons, simple furniture, and simple wall art + decor, make the development of concentration much easier on babies, who are already so interested in learning about their world.
Pro Tip #4: Keep Things Fresh
I definitely suggest keeping materials away in storage and rotate them into their activity area every week or two. This will make the newly rotated materials “the shiny new toy” and will help with interest.
In my experience, those first few days of rotating the materials into the space are amazing. My students would always crowd around the working area to explore the fresh materials.
I encourage you to try that type of rotation too!
Pro Tip #5: Embrace the Change
I am definitely one who loves changing and evolving my spaces. I love doing that with my Montessori Classrooms as much as I love doing it to my own home.
Considering just how quickly children develop and considering how quickly they reveal new aspects to their personality, I would say it’s nothing short of normal that babies love ever evolving environments.
I encourage you to try out some of these Pro Tips! Let me know what works best for you and your Montessori Baby Space in the comments below.