{"id":424,"date":"2017-03-16T14:34:05","date_gmt":"2017-03-16T14:34:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/?p=424"},"modified":"2017-03-16T14:34:05","modified_gmt":"2017-03-16T14:34:05","slug":"childs-play-why-the-materials-in-montessori-classrooms-are-not-called-toys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/16\/childs-play-why-the-materials-in-montessori-classrooms-are-not-called-toys\/","title":{"rendered":"Child\u2019s Play: Why the Materials in Montessori Classrooms Are Not Called \u2018Toys\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhat a beautiful classroom with such beautiful toys!\u201d a visitor exclaimed when she entered a Montessori classroom for the first time. Her guide, the school\u2019s Director, smiled and quickly replied, \u201cYes, the prepared environment is beautiful, isn\u2019t it? The materials<\/em> in the classroom were developed with very specific intentions, and if you look carefully, you\u2019ll see that they aren\u2019t quite \u2018toys\u2019.\u201d The Director then led the visitor to a chair where she could sit quietly and observe the class in action. At the end of her visit, the guest met with the Director and commented, \u201cYou were right. Those beautiful materials are not<\/em><\/strong> toys, are they? They are wonderful learning tools!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This experience is very common. Visitors to Montessori schools quickly come to realize that the children in the classrooms are working purposefully with very special materials that have been carefully arranged in the environment just for them. As it should be, the materials are beautiful and inviting, and they entice the children and provide them with an opportunity to experiment and explore. However, they are not toys, as we know toys to be from what we see on television and the mad marketing aimed at children by the media. Instead, the materials in Montessori classrooms have a purpose much deeper than just to amuse the children. The items set out in the classroom draw the children to them, and the materials help the children develop various sets of skills as the children engage with them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This is part of the magic of the Montessori materials. Children are drawn to them. They learn so much and gain many skills by interacting with them, all the while finding meaningful enjoyment in the activities. To begin, let\u2019s look at the items found in the Practical Life<\/a> area of the classroom. They are child-sized versions of items children might find around the house for cooking, cleaning, and attending to daily tasks. However, the children find these fascinating! They love learning how to pour liquids from one container to another, and as they are learning this skill, they also have fun learning how to clean up spills with a sponge or a mop. They find joy in washing dishes! Unbelievably, the children delight in folding laundry! Part of the intrigue is that these are the very things they witness adults doing all around them. Imagine how proud 3- or 4-year-olds are when they can offer to help with these chores and show an adult that, indeed, they can complete the tasks! Children gain confidence and experience a feeling of importance when they see they can make a positive contribution to family life. So much is gained from learning these daily life skills\u2014so much more than just the skill itself, and all because the children have appropriate items carefully set out for them to explore! Not many toys offer this type of benefit, and yet, the children are having fun in completing these tasks with the materials.<\/p>\n

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During your child\u2019s birthday or special holiday, how many times have you found that the wrapping paper, bows, and boxes have been more appealing to your child than the gift that was wrapped? It\u2019s a common complaint that parents share. Dr. Montessori in The Absorbent Mind<\/span><\/a> said \u201c[the child] is not quiet with his toys\u2026. for more than a few minutes. The real trouble is that children have no real interest in these things, because there is no reality in them.\u201d <\/em>While every December we see shows dedicated to the \u201c10 Hottest Toys for Tots\u201d and advertisements warning us to \u201cget it before it\u2019s sold out!\u201d we should remember those adult complaints about the packaging being more appealing than the toy itself. Dr. Montessori was spot on in her observation of children. They prefer spending time with things that have meaning or purpose. These types of activities draw the child\u2019s focus, and he or she will use them over and over again, not toss them aside as children often do with toys. With this self-directed repetition, the children begin building concentration while at the same time experiencing joy in working with the materials. Not many toys could make that claim.<\/p>\n

Throughout the Montessori classroom, children explore the materials that not only teach a specific skill (such as pencil grip, pattern recognition, counting, or word identification), but that also teach concentration, manual dexterity, problem-solving and much more. In addition to being multifaceted in its purpose, each material in the classroom also provides a way for the child to know whether or not he or she completed the task correctly. As Dr. Montessori noted, \u201cThe control of error through the materials makes the child use his reason, critical faculty, and his ever increasing capacity for drawing distinctions. In this way, a child’s mind is conditioned to correct his errors even when they are not apparent to the sense.<\/em>” The genius of Montessori is that children very naturally learn from the materials, and the children see this as time spent on joyful activities! Toys, in general, do not offer this to children. This is why toys are often cast aside, while children can be found working with Montessori materials for long, extended periods of time.<\/p>\n

While the materials in the classroom are often referred to as \u2018work\u2019, the \u2018work\u2019 provides the children with the opportunity to do things that they are very interested in doing and to explore their world. Montessori recognized that children thrive in a prepared environment with inviting materials that are arranged in a special order from the more simple to the more advanced. Children happily progress as they are ready and as their interest leads them from one activity to another. Because there is only one of each item in the classroom, the children must learn to wait for their turn to use something when it is available. By comparison, many homes are overflowing with toys that aren\u2019t necessarily organized or accessible to the child\u2014baskets or bins of toys must be emptied to find the one at the bottom, and often, the toys are a muddled mess. The wonder of the Montessori classroom is that it is carefully prepared and arranged, and children thrive in this predictable environment where they know exactly where to find what they are looking for. In Montessori classrooms, it is rare to find a child with nothing to do, and nearly impossible to hear the words \u2018I\u2019m bored\u2019. Children, surrounded by toys in their homes, often make these complaints, much to their parents\u2019 dismay!<\/p>\n

We learned from Dr. Montessori that if we \u201cFollow<\/em> the child, the child will show you what they need to do, what they need to develop in themselves and what area they need to be challenged in. The aim of the children who persevere in their work with an object is certainly not to \u201clearn\u201d; they are drawn to it by the needs of their inner life, which must be recognized and developed by its means.<\/em>\u201d The needs of children are met in Montessori classrooms where there is a joy in the activity, as well as a productive buzz that radiates throughout the room. Children are engaged, learning, and having fun with the materials. Dr. Montessori seemed to find the perfect solution to engaging children in meaningful activity from even the youngest age. All without the need for a cluttered mess of toys anywhere in sight. Clearly, the Montessori materials have stood the test of time over the course of these 110 years. While the packaging that the materials come in may, indeed, be fun to play with, children in Montessori schools are rapt by the materials themselves, and these materials are a great gift to them, more than any over-advertised toy you could ever find!<\/p>\n

Are you interested in learning more about the Montessori philosophy? Request more information from The Montessori Children’s Academy<\/a> below:<\/p>\n

\"MONTESSORI<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhat a beautiful classroom with such beautiful toys!\u201d a visitor exclaimed when she entered a Montessori classroom for the first time. Her guide, the school\u2019s Director, smiled and quickly replied, \u201cYes, the prepared environment is beautiful, isn\u2019t it? The materials in the classroom were developed with very specific intentions, and if you look carefully, you\u2019ll […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":426,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[205,25,4,141,54,210,213,78,214,143,53,140,142,212],"coauthors":[13],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_2127.jpg?fit=3264%2C1398&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7icff-6Q","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":249,"url":"https:\/\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/09\/the-prepared-environment\/","url_meta":{"origin":424,"position":0},"title":"The Prepared Environment","author":"Alex Chiu","date":"September 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Be prepared!\u00a0 This is the motto for scouting organizations worldwide.\u00a0 Maria Montessori would have a said \u201cSi Preparato!\u201d in her native Italian tongue.\u00a0 And this is the message that Dr. Montessori shared with educators as she created her Casa di Bambini for the children she first taught.\u00a0 Providing a carefully\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Montessori Philosophy"","block_context":{"text":"Montessori Philosophy","link":"https:\/\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/category\/montessori-philosophy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"What is Montessori, Montessori classroom, Montessori preschools","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/IMG_1402.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/IMG_1402.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/IMG_1402.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/IMG_1402.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/IMG_1402.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":263,"url":"https:\/\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/montessori-around-the-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":424,"position":1},"title":"Montessori Around the World","author":"Alex Chiu","date":"September 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Last spring, Montessori education made international headlines when the United Kingdom\u2019s Prince George was enrolled at a Montessori school in England. George\u2019s family has a history with Montessori education; his late grandmother, Princess Diana, worked in a Montessori school as a young woman. Diana later sent her sons, Prince William\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Montessori Philosophy"","block_context":{"text":"Montessori Philosophy","link":"https:\/\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/category\/montessori-philosophy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Montessori Childrens Academy NJ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Camilla-Patch-1.jpg?fit=600%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Camilla-Patch-1.jpg?fit=600%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Camilla-Patch-1.jpg?fit=600%2C450&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":269,"url":"https:\/\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/2017\/01\/11\/five-questions-to-ask-at-a-preschool-open-house\/","url_meta":{"origin":424,"position":2},"title":"Five Questions to Ask at a Preschool Open House (Repost from October 2016)","author":"Alex Chiu","date":"January 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"As this is a common time of year for families to begin their preschool search for the next school year, we would like to once again share with you some pointers when attending a preschool Open House. An Open House provides parents with a firsthand impression that cannot be replicated\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Early Child Education"","block_context":{"text":"Early Child Education","link":"https:\/\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/category\/early-child-education\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/3-children-with-globe.jpg?fit=1200%2C844&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/3-children-with-globe.jpg?fit=1200%2C844&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/3-children-with-globe.jpg?fit=1200%2C844&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/3-children-with-globe.jpg?fit=1200%2C844&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/3-children-with-globe.jpg?fit=1200%2C844&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1425,"url":"https:\/\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/2025\/03\/08\/the-montessori-movement-comes-to-america-a-brief-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":424,"position":3},"title":"The Montessori Movement Comes to America: A Brief History","author":"Tori Inkley","date":"March 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Camilla Nichols, Senior Director of Montessori Developmentand 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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Early Child Education"","block_context":{"text":"Early Child Education","link":"https:\/\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/category\/early-child-education\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_1358.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":401,"url":"https:\/\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/2017\/01\/24\/preschool-profiles-mcas-2%c2%bd-3%c2%bd-program\/","url_meta":{"origin":424,"position":4},"title":"Preschool Profiles: MCA\u2019s 2\u00bd – 3\u00bd Program","author":"Alex Chiu","date":"January 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"To ring in the new year at The Montessori Children\u2019s Academy (MCA), we welcomed five new families to our 2\u00bd - 3\u00bd class at our Morristown campus. Despite their tender age, our seasoned MCA students gently welcomed these new friends, showing them around the classroom and modeling the manners and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Early Child Education"","block_context":{"text":"Early Child Education","link":"https:\/\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/category\/early-child-education\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"MONTESSORI PRESCHOOL NJ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/IMG_3713.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/IMG_3713.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/IMG_3713.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1445,"url":"https:\/\/themontessorichildrensacademy.com\/blog\/2025\/03\/28\/how-we-teach-reading-in-a-montessori-classroom\/","url_meta":{"origin":424,"position":5},"title":"How We Teach Reading in a Montessori Classroom","author":"Tori Inkley","date":"March 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mareme Konare, Early Childhood Head Teacher Scope and Sequence In a Montessori classroom, the Language area fosters reading, writing, and oral skills, with phonics as the foundation for literacy. 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