Early Discovery: Infants
Montessori for babies? Absolutely! For the youngest members of the MMIA family, we design a calm environment. This connects to your child’s perceptions of touch, sight, sound, and smell. Soothing music, natural materials, and touches of nature are quality sensory experiences.
Our teachers show respect for our students throughout the day. During this stage, your child is learning language — from coming to responses from adults.
We encourage your child to explore the world around him and become self-sufficient. We provide natural materials that his small hands can grasp.
Our MMIA family understands journey of learning your child is embarking upon. We’re excited to offer the programs designed for the unique needs of newborns and toddlers.
EL NIDO: 3 to 18 MONTHS
El Nido provides a smooth transition between your home and the school. As part of basic routines, our caregivers treat your child as an individual. We speak to each child with respect, ensuring that we gain their trust.
We also understand that children learn and develop in their own way and at their own pace. An infant’s natural work is playing and exploring the world around him or her. MMIA’s environment for infants is orderly and safe for the development level of your child. This calm, quiet setting features natural lighting, natural materials and soothing music.
The Absorbent Mind
Dr. Maria Montessori, drawing upon earlier philosophies, recognized that the period from birth to early childhood as the period of the Absorbent Mind, developed through Sensitive Periods. She divided them into four areas that your child experiences as part of their development.
The following is a summary of those four areas.
MOVEMENT
Babies are moving, stretching and exploring with their limbs, even before birth. Instructors of Montessori understand the importance of providing children the ability to continue that exploratory movement, using their fingers, hands, legs, and feet to connect with the intriguing objects surrounding them. We encourage an environment that provides infants with free, safe movement so that they can further develop eye-hand coordination. It’s important that a child is not constrained in their ability to move at the early stages of their development.
LANGUAGE
Communication is key to a child’s development. As you speak to your infant, you may see them intent on watching your lips and expressions. This is evidence of a baby’s interest in language and the connections made through conversations and other sounds. In Montessori, the development of language is reinforced through a teacher talking and singing to an infant, practices that parents naturally engage in at home. Through imitation, children will start moving their own mouths and making sounds to develop their ability to communicate with those around them.
SENSORY PERCEPTION
Touch, taste, sound, smell, and hearing are all new and important perceptions in the life of an infant. As such, the Montessori philosophy is centered on ensuring those sensorial perceptions are engaging without being overwhelming. We choose soothing music, natural materials and elements of nature to accommodate a child’s need for a welcoming sensorial experience of their world. We keep those elements simple, whether it is a classical tune played at a low volume or a chunky round wooden toy.
ORDER
To help infants and toddlers make sense of their world, it’s important to develop an orderly environment that promotes familiarity and calmness. At Maria Montessori International Academy, we understand the need for children to be in an environment that is calm and welcoming. Throughout our schools, we facilitate familiar surroundings by keeping items simply furnished and organized. As children develop, they learn the concept of putting objects back into their dedicated places.
“The education of even a small child, therefore,
does not aim at preparing him for school, but for life.”
— Dr. Maria Montessori