I have always loved learning new things whether it is sewing, riding a motorcycle, painting a picture, playing an instrument or decorating a cake! Children are the same as we are; they enjoy learning through “doing” rather than sitting in a desk or at a table listening to a long lecture. It is the process of engaging in something meaningful and new that children find contentment and a joy of learning.
“Education is not something which a teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being. It is not acquired by listening to words, but in a virtue of experiences in which the child acts on his environment.”
The Absorbent Mind, Maria Montessori
My observation has been that many adults that are around children are involved in their “screen time,” rather than being totally present with the children in their life. Just glance around the next time you are eating in a restaurant. You will find entire families on some type of screen device each in their own world rather than conversing with each other. Don’t get me wrong, I love my devices, my apple watch, phone, i-pad, laptop and desktop computer. I don’t know how I could work without them and I struggle to turn them off! Children don’t need screen time, they need “face time” with us. Participate together in experiences that can make memories or learning events.
As a Montessori grandparent and educator, I have attempted to make life interesting, fun and always forward moving when learning new concepts and skills with children. Make yourself a check list of activities to do with your children or classroom. A few of my past “experiences” with children have included:
1) Making Homemade Ice Cream 11) Washing Teacher’s Cars
2) Making Lemonade 12) Collecting Bugs
3) Baking a Cake 13) Visiting a Children’s Museum
4) Making Individual Pizzas 14) Sewing
5) Painting 15) Baking Cookies
6) Putting up a Tent and Reading inside 16) Water Sprinkler Play
7) Making a Smore 17) Fishing
8) Flying a Kite 18) Splashing in Water Puddles
9) Planting Tomatoes 19) Decorating Easter Eggs
10) Building a Sand Castle 20) Having an Outdoor Picnic….and the list is endless!
“Let the children be free; encourage them; let them run outside when it is raining; let them remove their shoes when they find a puddle of water; and, when the grass of the meadows is damp with dew, let them run on it and trample it with their bare feet; let them rest peacefully when a tree invites them to sleep beneath its shade; let them shout and laugh when the sun wakes them in the morning as it wakes every living creature that divides its day between waking and sleeping. “ Marie Montessori
I hope that I have encouraged you to put down your electronic devices and to create your own list of “To Do Experiences,” and to get started on that list right away. Remember the saying, “The bad news is that time flies. The good news is you are the pilot!” You decide what you are doing today with the children in your life.