My first Montessori Monday tip...
De-clutter. In the new year, it is traditional to draft resolutions to make this year the best year it can be. For me, this always means a renewed commitment to organization. Clearly I have not been successful with this yet. However, since becoming a Montessori mom, I have made a concerted effort to at least create order for Nicholas.
One of the first things I learned (probably on my tour) was to avoid toy boxes because of the chaos inside that can overwhelm a child. This was a little disappointing as I had recently repurposed our man-cave into a playroom with darling little toy boxes and shelves. In the classrooms at Hudson, I was directed to the shelves at child height filled with "lessons"--each one in a special tray or basket, so children could see all of them and easily transfer to a table.
I strive to create this type of order at home as well (at least in the toy areas, which exist on every level in our 3-story townhouse). I convinced myself that our toy boxes were really more like cubbies because they were divided into small spaces and used these to sort different types of blocks and cars. I also pulled out the storage boxes and put away things that were too young for Nicholas and ones that didn't fit neatly on the shelves. I tried to keep out what I considered to be his favorites. I intended to recycle the toys, so there would always be something new and fun to explore. However, it has been hard to get other toys/lessons out of the closest, but I am happy to say that more has gone away as we have gotten more items from Christmas and other occasions.
Think about putting some toys away, so your child can focus on and engage with the ones that are out. Arrange them in such a way, so your child can see them and get them out easily. Amazingly, this actually helps the toys get back where they belong. And if you have a great strategy for getting the closet toys back into the rotation, please let me know. I need some help in that department.
Let Mission Organization 2011 begin!
Thanks to Megan and Beth for their comments on my Facebook page. I wanted to share the shelves that I found to be the best and most reasonably priced.
ReplyDeleteI loved the shelves by Land of Nod (the kid division of Crate and Barrel), but they were a little pricey.
We went with Stackable Storage Collection from the Company Store. Before ordering, be sure to Google Company Store coupon codes. You can usually get at least 20% off.
http://www.thecompanystore.com/Stackable-Storage-Collection/70009x,default,pd.html?start=16&cgid=ck-playroom-furniture-storage-organization