This week we are going to break down whether or not Montessori and Disney can simultaneously coexist in a young child’s world.
(I have been so excited about this topic! Eeek!)
Let’s start by breaking down both Montessori and Disney, and furthermore discussing why they (typically) aren’t correlated.
Even before that though, I have to be completely honest and share my bias with you…
Here it is…
I love Montessori. But I also love Disney. Living in Southern California and having been raised on Disney movies, Disney has always been such a positive light in my world.
As a child, my parents would take my siblings and me to Disney once every year or so and it was always such a special experience for our family. My siblings and I would jump up at the crack of dawn, pack our PB&J sandwiches, throw on our Disney gear, and run out the door to the magic that awaited us in Anaheim. (You know that 90’s Disneyland commercial where the kids wake the parents up to go to Disney…. that was basically us. Lol!)
And until recently, I had felt like my worlds of Montessori and my love of Disney couldn’t peacefully coexist.
And then something big happened. I had the fortune of having an amazing professor (in my Montessori Masters Program) who offered an entire lecture Montessori and Disney! Our assigned reading was How to Be Like Walt, by Pat Williams. (I definitely recommend reading this if you haven’t yet. It is gold!)
So here’s what I got from that lecture + my continued reflections of this topic.
Quick Montessori Overview
Montessori is an educational approach that supports the natural progression of human development. We typically would not see Mickey Mouse replicas or Disney ears on teachers in a Montessori preschool.
And Why is That You Ask?
Well since Montessori is an approach that optimally supports child development, we must take into consideration what is going on in our child’s foundational years of development.
Children in their developmental years (0-6) are concrete learners. This means that they are learning about their world to what it concretely is and who they are to it. The ability to be an abstract thinker comes in the second plane of development… childhood (6-12 years).
So since Montessori honors the child’s development with where they are actually at, you probably won’t see Disney themed items at your local Montessori school since it is typically fantasy based, whereas Montessori teaches concrete ideas in the first plane of development.
But here’s the silver lining for all my Disney loving peeps out there….
As a Montessorian, of course your objective is to support and provide that optimized foundation for your child.
In all of my studies of Maria Montessori, what I decipher is that the reason she doesn’t encourage introducing fantasy in the first plane is because it can definitely confuse some children between what is reality and what is not, especially since they are not quite yet abstract thinkers. Dr. Montessori aimed to offer our children concrete opportunities while they are are concrete thinkers, and a cosmic education when they are abstract thinkers!
So now we know… you really wouldn’t see Disney items in a Montessori classroom. That said, if you step foot outside to the playground during lunch you definitely will hear Toddlers and Primary age children singing Let It Go on the playground and fiercely removing their jacket like Elsa does in Frozen. (I say this from experience… can you tell?!)
And why is that? Well kids at this age innately pretend play. It’s a natural part of their development. (I say this coming from my Child Development background.) They begin to mimic, act out, describe, and pretend to be what they know, learn, and see. But what we want to do (so as not to confuse their concrete minds) is offer concrete learning experiences to help them navigate that experience.
That said, if you want to lead a Montessori lifestyle and also have that Disney magic in your child’s world, it would be highly beneficial to explain that the fantasy, like when you are pretending to be Elsa and Anna, it is just that… pretend.
When explaining that pretending is make believe from day one, it can help eliminate those situations where children are confused and begin to believe that they actually are that thing that they have been acting …
(For example, like a young child refusing to be called by anything other than Princess Ana and must always wear her dress since she IS Princess Ana. That kind of thing. 🙂 )
So again, why do we want to explain?! We explain to offer a concrete experience to their inevitable pretend play experience. Which is, by the way, very Montessori of you!
Here’s what we know about kids of today…
Disney is an active part of our children’s reality (especially here in Southern California). They watch Disney movies, play with disney princess figurines, and even sometimes to go the Happiest Place on Earth… Disneyland (or Disney world whichever you are closest to 😉 )
The thing that stuck out most to me in my lecture of Montessori and Disney was that Maria Montessori and Walt Disney had similar goals… to bring joy to children though education and experiences. They both wanted to create a better world of tomorrow by offering positive experiences to the children of today.
So if you choose to bring that Disney magic into your home, that’s okay! And it is also perfectly okay if you decide not to introduce Disney into your home. I’m a huge proponent of informed decision making… so whatever you feel is best for you and your family, do that! 🙂
And all of that said, if Disney brings your family together for a Disney themed game night, Disney movie pizza night, or even (on that special occasion) a family day at Disneyland, it will always be a positive way to connect with family and share in that magic that it brings. I know that it has been that for my family. And if that Disney experience can offer that to you and yours, than it is more than fine by me.