It’s fun to put on a ‘Montessori hat’ and observe families at the shore. Vacation sometimes brings out a different dynamic for family members, but it’s inspirational to see those who seem to embrace a Montessori-style approach as a way of life whether at home or at the beach.

Recently, a family of six made their way down the hot sand looking for their socially distant and safe place to set up for the day. The children immediately dropped their beach bags and toys and ran for the ocean’s edge. The parents paused just a moment, almost as if they were preparing to shout for the children to come back and help set up ‘camp’. Instead, they, too, set down their day’s supplies, and followed their children to the water. Letting their toes get tickled by a few waves that rolled to shore, they clearly were delighted by the sand and surf. After a few minutes they all turned around and walked back up to their beach area. There was not one murmur of dissent spoken by any of the children. All four skipped back to their belongings and helped organize their beach spot by spreading out their blankets, putting their flip flops in a pile under one chair, and placing their toys beside another. In this small moment, these parents followed their children’s lead in a lovely way. The joy the children exhibited for being at the beach was obvious, and their excitement to just get a feel of the water right away was met with understanding. Once that urge was satisfied, the children seemed happy to comply with the direction to help set up and organize their beach area before continuing with their fun.

Throughout the day, the family displayed many examples of a Montessori-type of approach to their entire beach experience. While they enjoyed activities together like swimming and playing paddle ball, they also had time where they each ‘did their own thing’. At one point, both parents and an older child were reading, one child napped under the umbrella, one was drawing with a stick on the sand, and one played a solo card game. All were completely content. No one’s ‘solitary work’ was interrupted by another. And when a couple of children were hungry, they simply went to the family’s cooler and helped themselves, remembering on their own to throw away their trash in the can at the top of the beach when they were done. The children seemed secure in knowing that they would have time when their parents played with them and gave them their full attention as well as time to make personal choices in what they could do alone or with one another. And the things they needed, like snacks and drinks or certain toys and supplies, were available to them to access on their own. It was like a modified Montessori classroom moved to the beach in all its simplicity and flexible ‘freedom within limits’ structure on the sand.

In the afternoon, when the children wanted to build a sandcastle, the parents joined in the initial efforts by providing their children with buckets of water but let the children take the lead in deciding what methods they would use to build it and how it would look. Like many Montessori materials, the sandcastle was a self correcting ‘work’. When it collapsed, the children accepted the challenge to see what they could do differently to prevent that from happening the next time. They spent hours on this endeavor, long after the parents retreated to their beach chairs close by just looking on from the distance. In the end, the sandcastle was quite the topsy turvy architectural wonder, decorated with seaweed and broken shells. It withstood the waves that crept closer due to the clever ‘moat’ the children dug all around it. This was a beautiful, child-created masterpiece. When the castle finally succumbed to the high tides that gradually came in, the children laughed as they watched it sink into the wet sand. It appeared that the process of building was what they enjoyed even more than the final product, and so they didn’t seem upset when their castle washed away.

Much later, as many families were packing up to leave, this one, too, faced the end of their perfect beach day. Not surprising, there were a few protests from the children requesting to ‘stay a little longer’. But again acknowledging their children’s feelings, the response was so Montessori-like in nature. “We’ve had such a great day and it’s hard to leave. But aren’t we lucky we get to come back again tomorrow?” Such simple, respectful words made an impact. The children, who very likely would have stayed hours longer if allowed, accepted that response since there was nothing to argue against it. These parents seemed to possess a toolkit of kindness, respect, understanding of their children’s needs, and gentle language, as well as the foresight of simple preparation of mind and materials, which created a simply beautiful Montessori by the sea kind of day for the whole family.