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The Absorbent Mind and the Sensitive Periods

by Vesna Gornik, Early Childhood Head Teacher
(edited by Tori Inkley)

“Just as a physical embryo needs its mother’s womb in which to grow, so the spiritual embryo needs to be protected by an external environment that is warm with love and rich in nourishment, where everything is disposed to welcome, and nothing to harm it.”
(The Secret of Childhood, p. 35)

Dr. Maria Montessori, in The Absorbent Mind, describes the human being as having a “double embryonic life” – one prenatal and the other postnatal. This dual life sets humans apart from animals who rely on instincts, while humans are born with an inner, unseen personality that requires a special environment to flourish. The term “Absorbent Mind” refers to a child’s remarkable ability to absorb effortlessly everything around her, from culture to customs, ideas, ideals, sentiments, feelings, emotions, and religion, especially during the first six years of life.

The first stage of a child’s life is one of adaptation. Unlike adults, who can never fully adapt to a new environment, children are highly adaptable to their surroundings. While adults of various cultural backgrounds will most always prefer to eat food from their native countries… even after relocating to a different country… children will generally embrace the food that is put in front of them. As adults, whether you choose to use plates or bowls, forks or chopsticks, etc., usually depends on your childhood experience. And children don’t just adapt to time and place; they also absorb the local mentality. Dr. Montessori believed that, regardless of the country in which a child is born, he is endowed with an “absorbent mind”.

According to Montessori, a child develops in stages. The first stage, from zero to six years, is a period of transformation and is subdivided into two phases. From birth to three years, the child has an unconscious absorbent mind, where she constantly absorbs impressions from the environment without awareness or will. From three to six years, the child’s absorbent mind becomes conscious, and the child becomes intentional in her actions and begins to exercise her will. During this critical period, intelligence and personality are formed as the child begins consciously interacting with the world around her.

A child absorbs knowledge from the environment effortlessly. He is like a sponge and has a capacity to learn by himself through observation. One of the most impressive demonstrations of this is in children learning foreign languages. You might not be able to tell whether someone speaks with a native accent or not, as children exposed to foreign languages early on tend to speak without an accent. If children have the chance to be exposed to multiple languages, they can easily master them. As an adult, I cannot distinguish tones in Chinese, no matter how hard I try; likewise, I have never spoken English without an accent even after years of practice. Similarly to language, a child also absorbs behavior. For instance, I once read about a young child who was raised in a home for the elderly. By the age of 15, he moved and walked as slowly as the seniors who resided there and had adopted their posture. After enough exposure, children have also been known to replicate how the adults around them interact with each other.

Through her work, Maria Montessori observed that children pass through various “Sensitive Periods” during which they are more receptive to learning certain skills effortlessly, such as walking and talking, and even more refined skills like reading, writing, and good manners. During those periods, children want to do particular activities (practice skills) themselves; they often cannot get enough of an activity and want to repeat it over and over again. These periods are transient, and if not capitalized on, opportunities to perfect specific skills may be lost for good.

The Sensitive Period for Language begins much earlier than most realize. By 10 to 12 months, monolingual babies have already lost the ability to distinguish certain sounds from a second language that is not spoken at home. Children absorb sounds, words, and grammar from their environment. In language acquisition, the social environment plays a crucial role. Infants need to interact with people to learn language; they cannot do it simply by listening to a radio or TV. The best advice for new parents would be not to underestimate a baby. Parents should talk to a baby as much as possible, describing every action they take (e.g., “I’m going to bathe you now”, “It’s time to change your diaper”, “Do you want to wear the blue pajamas tonight?”, etc.).

Introducing books early and using fabric books so the child can engage with them using different senses (sight, touch, and even taste), is a wonderful early step toward language and vocabulary development. Later, parents can provide hardcover books that children cannot destroy. Parents should read to the child, point to the pictures, and patiently repeat words so long as the child is interested. Parents, grandparents, and even older siblings can ask young children to point to objects in a book as the adult or sibling names them. One should also remember that children absorb not just vocabulary, but actual language, tone, and phraseology, and will use those later on as well. Therefore, it’s important to be mindful of what you say. I was surprised when, at two and a half years old, my own daughter ended her first phone conversation with me by saying, “Have a good time.” – a phrase I often use with others.

Dr. Montessori believed that scientific words should be taught to children between the ages of three and six years, and that writing can only be learned with joy and enthusiasm before this period ends. I observed the process of repetition firsthand when my own daughter insisted that I repeat the names of objects in a book countless times, pointing at them with her finger. Once she mastered those words, she lost interest and moved on to her next task. The case of Victor, the “Wild Boy from Aveyron”, who never learned to speak, is an example of a missed sensitive period for language acquisition. Victor was discovered in the wild in 1800, when he was about ten or eleven years old. Developmental disability was ruled out, and his case provided evidence that there is a critical period during which spoken language must be learned.

The Sensitive Period for Order occurs in a child’s first year and continues through the second. Everything in the child’s environment should be kept in its proper place, and the actions of the day should follow a regular routine. This sense of order extends to both time and space. This can be clearly observed in young children, who need regular meals and sleep times to avoid becoming fussy. An ordered environment leads to order in the mind. To help children the most, we should maintain order and routine, stability and a general rhythm in their environment and their lives.

Among other things, Maria Montessori noticed a young child’s fascination with small objects, particularly beginning in the child’s second year. E. M. Standing wrote that this period is somewhat connected to the Sensitive Period for Order. “Children are drawn by a peculiar fascination to tiny objects in their environment – objects so small that adults often overlook them.” In today’s world, this interest is often overlooked because small objects are generally removed from environments where children under the age of three are present.

Some sensitive periods are not necessarily easy for the adult to determine, other than a general age range. Some periods, however, are very easy for adults to recognize, such as the Sensitive Period for Walking. There is also a Sensitive Period for Toilet Training, and when introduced at the right time, some say children can become trained in a week.

The Sensitive Period for the Refinement of the Senses lasts from 2 ½ to 6 years. This period coincides with the Sensitive Period for Learning Good Manners. Dr. Montessori used the Sensitive Period for the Refinement of Movement to introduce children to Practical Life exercises. “If,” said Montessori, “this perfecting of movement is introduced at the creative moment (2 ½ – 4 years), it not only tends to the normal development of the mind but also affects the whole personality, bringing contentment, concentration, and inner nourishment.” Skiing is a good example of a skill that is easily learned in childhood but becomes difficult to learn as an adult. Even if an adult does learn, his movements would not be as graceful or natural as those of someone who learned at a younger age. Similarly, we observe that athletes in gymnastics or ice skating can truly excel only if they begin practicing before a certain age.

In summary, the concepts of the “Absorbent Mind” and “Sensitive Periods” underscore the importance of creating a nurturing environment for children. During the early years, children have an incredible ability to adapt to whatever environment they were born into. To succeed in this task, a child absorbs everything in her environment. Because of the child’s absorbent mind, it’s crucial that adults be mindful of our behavior and actions. A child becomes a mirror of the adults in his life, absorbing not only positive behaviors but also negative ones. The Absorbent Mind and Sensitive Periods are closely connected. Dr. Montessori used the knowledge of Sensitive Periods to help children learn easily at the right time. By understanding these periods, she was able to support children in refining their senses, movements, and manners with ease, and the results were permanent. Montessori used individualized lessons, knowing that children experience different sensitive periods at different times. We must be observant when a child is going through a sensitive period and offer the right support.

Montessori’s recognition of Sensitive Periods gives us a framework for understanding how children learn best. We need to offer them the right opportunities to develop, to allow them to follow certain interests, to not interrupt them, to prepare the environment (making materials accessible so that when the time comes, the child will notice them and start using them independently), and to provide only the necessary help, as any unnecessary help is an obstacle to the child’s development.

As it would be unrealistic to expect an adult to change, Maria Montessori believed in the power of a child to achieve peace: “By taking the child into consideration, we touch something common to all humanity. We cannot achieve world harmony simply by attempting to unite all these adult people who are so different; but we can achieve it if we begin with the child, who is not born with national and racial prejudices.” (Her Life and Work, p. 157)

Works Referenced
“Hearing Bilingual: How Babies Sort Out Language”. New York Times, 11 October 2011.
Lillard, Paula Polk. Montessori: A Modern Approach. Schocken Books, 1972.
Montessori, Maria. The Absorbent Mind. Henry Holt, 1995.
Montessori, Maria. The Secret of Childhood. Ballantine Books,1966.
Standing, E.M. Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work. Plume, 1998.

The Montessori Movement Comes to America: A Brief History

by Camilla Nichols, Senior Director of Montessori Development
and Tori Inkley, Executive Director

The very first official Montessori training course was held in Rome, Italy in 1913. While the course attracted international attendees, the majority were from America. Maria Montessori taught the theory lessons in Italian at her home and the practical lessons/demonstrations took place at Casa dei Bambini (or The Children’s House), the first Montessori School, which she had established in 1907 in Rome.

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During this time, Dr. Montessori experienced significant changes in her personal life. Her mother, Renilde Stoppani, passed away in 1912, and Montessori was reunited with her son, Mario, who had been raised by a foster family since infancy. Maria Montessori had never married, and due to societal expectations and her professional ambitions, she had arranged for Mario to be raised by others. He later became an integral part of her work, continuing her legacy.

Interest in the Montessori educational approach was particularly strong in the United States, where prominent figures such as Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Helen Keller, and Margaret Woodrow Wilson (President Wilson’s daughter) supported her work. The American journalist Samuel McClure convinced Montessori to travel to the U.S. for a three-week lecture tour in 1913, which he described as a journey “for the conquest of the world”. Dr. Montessori boarded the SS Cincinnati in Naples for a 12-day voyage to America, where she delivered lectures, including two at Carnegie Hall in New York. It has been reported that President Woodrow Wilson and his daughter were so impressed by the Montessori Method that a Montessori classroom was installed in the White House. During her travels, Montessori kept personal and inspirational notes that have since been translated into English and published in Maria Montessori Sails to America: A Private Diary, 1913, by Carolina Montessori, Dr. Montessori’s great-granddaughter.

Dr. Maria Montessori and
Journalist Samuel McClure, 1913

The Evening Star newspaper published an article in 1913 highlighting Dr. Alexander Graham Bell and his wife Mabel’s advocacy for making Washington, D.C., America’s headquarters for Montessori education. Anne George, the first American graduate of Dr. Montessori’s training program in Rome, helped introduce the Montessori Method to the U.S. She was the Director of an early Montessori school in Washington, D.C., with the support of the Bell family. Montessori’s ideas ignited a debate in America about traditional education versus the Montessori approach, which emphasized children’s independence and self-directed learning rather than a rigid, teacher-driven curriculum. Her visit to the U.S. made such a profound impact that she was urged to return as soon as possible to lead more lectures and training programs, as unauthorized training centers were emerging. If Maria Montessori was unable to come herself, it was requested that she send someone who was qualified to train teachers in her method.

In 1915, Maria Montessori returned to the United States, this time accompanied by her son, Mario. She addressed thousands of educators in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego and participated in the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (“World’s Fair”) in San Francisco. One of the most famous moments of this visit was the “Glass Classroom”, a demonstration where 30 children worked independently in a transparent, glass-walled environment, allowing spectators to witness the Montessori Method in action. During this visit, Montessori wrote letters that have since been preserved and published in Maria Montessori Writes to Her Father: Letters from California, 1915, also translated by Carolina Montessori. Dr. Montessori’s California lectures have been archived, with English translations by Robert G. Buckenmeyer, who also compiled articles she published in various newspapers.

After Maria Montessori’s passing in 1952, her son Mario continued to spread her educational philosophy. In 1960, he appointed Nancy McCormick Rambusch to establish the American Montessori Society (AMS), which played a crucial role in expanding Montessori education in the United States. Rambusch founded Whitby Montessori School in Greenwich, Connecticut in 1958, and today, there are more than 15,750 Montessori schools worldwide.

Maria and her son, Mario Montessori, India, 1939

At The Montessori Children’s Academy (MCA), we continue to honor Maria Montessori’s legacy by celebrating “Montessori Education Week” alongside schools around the world. During this special week in February of each year, MCA students demonstrate Montessori Practical Life exercises for parents and visitors, sing Montessori songs, study Italy, review the timeline of Dr. Montessori’s life and work, and practice the “Silence Game”, a mindfulness exercise inspired by Montessori’s teachings on peace. For Montessori Education Week 2025, parents were also invited to observe their children’s classroom activities, and the celebrations concluded with a pizza party at Nonna’s Pizza and Italian Restaurant in Florham Park.

Independence in the Early Childhood Montessori Classroom

by Camilla Nichols, Senior Director of Montessori Development

“How does he achieve this independence? He does it by means of a continuous activity.
How does he become free? By means of constant effort…
Independence is not a static condition; it is a continuous conquest,
and in order to reach not only freedom, but also strength,
and the perfecting of one’s powers, it is necessary to follow this path of unremitting toil.”
~ Dr. Maria Montessori (The Absorbent Mind)

Maria Montessori recognized early on that there was a need for a form of education that looks at the whole child, at what drives them and what their true needs are. She observed the need for independence in children and began experimenting with different ways to guide children to become more involved in their own education, which was in opposition to the typical thought on Early Childhood Education in the 1900s. Montessori also recognized the importance of having children feel that they belong to a group, that they matter, and that other people care about them.

Young children on the road to independence want to be given the opportunity to do things on their own. On average, a child falls 17 times an hour while learning to walk, but the child doesn’t give up on this task until he has succeeded by repetition, thus learning by trial and error. Mistakes are a vital part of learning because they help children to adjust and motivate them to try again. When a child is learning a new task through direct experience, each small achievement creates a new connection in the brain, and before you know it, this new task has become automatic.

Maria Montessori allowed children to become actively involved in their own education. She discovered that when children were able to freely choose an activity and follow what she called “the child’s inner guide”, they were able to engage for a longer time and were more deeply connected to their activity. Their concentration also deepened, compared to the more traditional practice of the teacher assigning the activity or work.

This discovery was made in Italy back in 1907 at the first Montessori School, Casa dei Bambini, during an interesting observation. A teacher had accidently overslept, and as she rushed into the school, she stepped into the Prepared Environment and was astonished by what she found. All of the children had already chosen work on their own, without her being present. At first she was upset, but then Dr. Montessori urged her to observe the phenomenon before her. This is how one of the Core Principles of the Montessori Method, “Follow the Child”, was born. It was very clear that the children seemed more engaged, content, and happy, and were able to socialize, share, and help each other based on their own choices. Many core principles of the Montessori Method are based on Maria Montessori’s early observations. She observed that children make choices that are influenced by developmental needs and that the children will continue to repeat an activity over and over until their needs have been met.

“We must, therefore, quit our roles as jailers and instead
take care to prepare an environment in which we do as little as possible
to exhaust the child with our surveillance and instruction.”
~ Maria Montessori (The Child in the Family)

In a Montessori Prepared Environment, we always encourage and allow repetition as the children are born with a natural instinct to repeat. Young children are very capable of following through with an activity on their own. The role of the adult is to demonstrate how to do it and then take a step back and observe the child as she independently finishes the task. The Prepared Environment also allows children to make their own choices in a beautiful and inviting setting. Children of mixed ages work together as a community where everyone matters and everyone is able to follow their own inner guide, independently choosing meaningful and purposeful activities that foster a lifelong love of learning.

“Help me to do it by myself” ~ Maria Montessori

Handwriting Without Tears in the Montessori Early Childhood Classroom

by Krissy Huetz, Early Childhood Head Teacher

Handwriting Without Tears (HWT) was developed by Occupational Therapist Jan Olsen and is a multi-sensory approach to teaching handwriting skills. This approach is designed to make the process of learning how to write less intimidating and more accessible for students of all ages and abilities. It emphasizes simple strategies and techniques to make handwriting a more enjoyable and successful experience for students. By breaking down the process of handwriting into straightforward steps, and using a variety of hands-on activities and tools, students are able to develop their handwriting skills in a way that is engaging and effective.

By teaching children how to form letters and words in a systematic way, the program helps build foundational skills that are essential for academic success. These skills include letter formation, spacing, sizing, and alignment. By mastering these skills, students are able to produce written work that is neat, organized, and easy to read. This not only benefits students in the classroom but also helps build their confidence and self-esteem.

Typically, when an educator speaks of the “Science of Reading”, the conversation is based on a collection of research that focuses on theories about how children best learn how to read. HWT aligns with this research, as it helps students develop phonemic awareness, build an understanding of phonics, and strengthen word recognition skills. It also facilitates fine and gross motor skills in order to build handwriting fluency. “Research shows that handwriting improves academic performance in all subjects, from science to math, reading, and social studies,” said Dr. Cheryl Lundy Swift, Professional Learning Director at Learning Without Tears.

The Early Childhood Montessori curriculum engages multiple senses in developing phonemic awareness and pre-handwriting skills. The Montessori approach recognizes and respects that students have different learning styles and preferences, and that engaging multiple senses can enhance both learning and retention. HWT incorporates a range of hands-on activities, such as utilizing wooden pieces and chalkboards, to help students develop their handwriting skills in a way that is fun and engaging. By incorporating movement, touch, music, and visual cues into the learning process, students are able to more effectively internalize the skills they are learning. The combination of the Montessori Method with HWT has proven to be very successful in supporting a student’s handwriting practice.

Overall, Handwriting Without Tears is a highly effective program for teaching handwriting skills to students of varying ages and abilities. By using this multi-sensory approach, focusing on foundational skills, and incorporating a unique style of handwriting practice, HWT helps students to develop efficient and legible handwriting that will serve them well throughout their academic and professional careers. The program’s emphasis on building confidence and self-esteem, as well as its commitment to making learning fun and engaging, makes it a valuable resource for Montessori educators and students alike.

Making Sense of the Sensorial Area in the Prepared Environment

by Imelda McShane, Early Childhood Head Teacher
and Doreen Adamo, Early Childhood Head Teacher

“There is the obvious value of the training and the refinement of the senses which,
by widening the field of perception, furnish an ever more solid and richer basis to the development of the intelligence. It is through contact with and exploration of the environment that the intelligence builds up its store of operational ideas.”
~ Dr. Maria Montessori

The Montessori Methodology emphasizes that Sensorial education is a fundamental part of a child’s development. By engaging with Sensorial materials, children are provided with experiences that help them understand and internalize the world around them in a concrete way. The essence of Sensorial education lies in its ability to refine the senses, leading to heightened perceptual skills and cognitive development.

Children live in a world of senses where they need to classify and express the impressions they have already received. Sensorial education in the Montessori classroom aims to develop and refine the five senses – tactile, visual, auditory, olfactory, and gustatory. Montessori Sensorial materials help children make judgements and comparisons based on isolated individual characteristics, such as size, shape, weight, texture, color, sound, and temperature. By providing a Prepared Environment where children can explore and manipulate these materials, The Montessori Children’s Academy allows its students to clarify, classify, and develop a keen awareness of their surroundings to better comprehend their world. The materials help children relate new information to what they already know. They find a sense of order in these materials. With order comes knowledge. This is crucial as it lays the foundation for complex thought processes and problem-solving skills.

Along with enabling children to clarify and internalize such concepts as size, shape, weight, texture, color, sound, and temperature, the Sensorial materials also provide a basis for the development of other skills, such as Music, Culture (awareness of classification), and Language (sound discrimination, visual perception, and eye-hand coordination). When children trace the Sandpaper Globe, they are taking in knowledge that will later be used when tracing the Sandpaper Letters. Later, the muscles of their hands will remember the tracing motion as they write their letters. Also, when children are given the opportunity to manipulate and internalize the Sensorial materials, they are then able to reach a level of abstraction needed for the study of mathematics.

Dr. Maria Montessori emphasized that “the training of the senses makes people observers”. The tactile and hands-on nature of the Sensorial materials make them accessible to children with varying abilities. This inclusivity ensures that all children, regardless of their development, can benefit from Sensorial education. Montessori Sensorial materials are designed to be self-correcting, allowing children to independently discover and learn from their experiences, fostering a sense of autonomy and confidence.

The child’s first exercise with color is Color Box 1, which contains six tablets – two red, two blue and two yellow. The child pairs the tablets and learns the corresponding color names. Gradually, in Color Box 2, more pairs of colors are added. Ultimately, the child will be able to name and match eleven different pairs.

During the next step, Color Box 3, the child will grade the colors by using seven different shades of nine different colors. The shades of each color are graded from very light to very dark. To carry out this work, the child must differentiate the intensity of the shades and place the tablets in order from the lightest to the darkest shade of each color. [See photo above.] Teaching children to be aware of the fine differences in color aids them in future work involving visual discrimination, such as reading, art, scientific research, and so on.

The Binomial Cube helps develop the child’s perception of differences in proportion in three dimensions. This cube represent, in a concrete way, the binomial equation (a + b)³. The child removes the blocks in layers and once all of the blocks are removed, the cube can then be rebuilt, one layer at a time.

The Geometric Cabinet is a wooden cabinet of six drawers, each containing cutout geometric shapes. The child works with one drawer at a time, removing the shapes from the drawer. Once the pieces are removed, the child is shown how to trace the shape of the empty space and find the correct match by tracing the outside of the removed pieces. In the next step, the child will use the drawers to match cards with corresponding shapes.

Sound Cylinders, as well as bells, are used for refining a child’s auditory sense. Sound Matching, such as identifying bells by sound, enables the child’s auditory sense to become heightened and more able to discern differences in sound when learning letter sounds, number names, vocabulary, etc.

The Geometric Solids are made of wood and painted blue. The solids are explored through both sight and touch. Work with this material helps develop the child’s awareness of the shapes and where these shapes occur in the environment.

The Knobbed Cylinders consist of four wooden blocks containing ten cylinders each. The dimensions of the cylinders can vary in both diameter and height. After receiving a lesson with each block separately, the child may then work with blocks in combination, using two, three, or four blocks together. The child removes the cylinders from the block or blocks, placing them in random order, and then returns the cylinders to their correct places and the correct block(s).

The Stereognostic materials allow the child to recognize shapes through the movement of the muscles of the hand. By using two hands, the child is shown how to feel the objects, then separate and match them according to shape.

In summary, Sensorial education invokes the essence of being alive. The aim, purpose, and value of Montessori Sensorial education are intertwined with the goal of supporting the holistic development of young children. By refining their senses, children develop essential cognitive skills that serve as the foundation for lifelong learning.

“It is exactly in the repetition of the exercises that the education of the senses exists;
not that the child shall know colors, forms or qualities,
but that he refines his senses through an exercise of attention, comparison and judgement.
~ Maria Montessori