Storage, Organisation And

Other Battlegrounds

www.fridayschildmontessori.com

OK, anyone who says that getting

children to tidy up after themselves is

easy is being somewhat

economical with

the truth.

Yes, one of the things that your

children will learn by attending a

Montessori early childhood centre is

that equipment should be put away

properly and it should

be put away as soon

as you’ve finished

dealing with it.

However, a Montessori centre, like

other kindergartens and early childhood

centres, is set up to make this easy for

children.

They’re child-centred and so they

should be. Family homes, however, are

different. We all know that children

grow up very quickly and homes can’t

be exclusively designed around them –

what suits them t

oday won’t suit them

in four years time.

So what’s a parent to do?

One thing you should certainly do is to

insist that the Montessori principle of

putting it away straight away and

putting it away properly is continued at

home –

it’ll make things easier for you and it will

be easier for all of us here at the

Montessori centre.

And it would also make sense to have

systems in place

to help your children

be organised.

This may or may not mean having

child-sized equipment, depending on

your budget.

One trap that many parents fall into is

having too many toys for their children.

Not only does this have a

tendency to degenerate into

muddle but it also means that

your children become blasé

about everything they own more

quickly.

One way of cutting the clutter and

ensuring that your children don’t get

bored with what they have is to rotate

toys and sets.

Basics that are played with

frequently, craft activities and

special cuddly toys should stay

out all the time – but put away

in place! But other things can

be used to create a DIY toy

library.

For example, this month, you

have the doll’s tea sets out for

use, while the dressing-up

clothes, the Lego, the paddling

pool and the pavement chalk

are tucked away in the

garage/attic/cupboard under

the stairs.

Next month, the tea set goes

away and your child picks out

a new set to use.

And don’t think that all your

storage items for children have

to be bought new. You don’t

even have to use second hand

ones.

Ice cream containers, cardboard

boxes of all sizes (cardboard

wineboxes with the top cut off

on a slant is one solution used

by many schools and early

childhood centres and they’re as

tough as they come), yoghurt

containers, bottles and

margarine tubs are all excellent

storage solutions.

www.fridayschildmontessori.com