3 Montessori activities for winter

The Montessori approach is a child-centred pedagogy that involves adults accompanying the development of children's minds. From birth to the age of 6, children have an "absorbent mind" according to Maria Montessori — the creator of this approach — meaning they have an exceptional capacity for learning.

The cold is fast approaching, winter is drawing in, and outdoor activities are becoming increasingly limited. Today we suggest 3 winter activities inspired by the Montessori approach, which you can easily recreate at home with your child:

Activity 1: The seasons strip

Aim: Teach the child about the different seasons and help them notice changes in nature. (From age 3)

Materials for making a seasons strip:

• Images to print
• A large piece of card
• Self-adhesive velcro dots

Method:

• Create a seasons strip with a colour code and a pictogram for each season.
• Stick the strip at the very top of the card.
• Discuss each season with your child.
• Lay seasonal images out on the table, look at them together and sort them by placing them in columns beneath the corresponding season. (The velcro allows you to attach and detach the images as many times as you like.)
• You can check what has been remembered by turning the cards over, which have a reminder of the colour corresponding to the correct season printed on the back.
• To go further: you can head out for a walk and ask your child to collect things they find in nature and spot the signs that tell us it is winter.

ACTIVITY 2: Bead snowflakes

Aim: Develop imagination and fine motor skills (From age 2)

Materials for making bead snowflakes:

• Pipe cleaners, preferably white or blue
• Medium-sized beads

Method for making bead snowflakes:

• Cut 3 pipe cleaners to 15 centimetres each (you can make different sizes)
• Assemble them to form a 6-pointed star
• Your child can thread beads onto the arms to make a snowflake
• To go further: You can then glue your snowflakes onto a large sheet of paper or a piece of card and let your child decorate the rest of the page.

ACTIVITY 3: Discovering the polar ice

Aim: A sensory activity to discover polar animals (From age 4)

Materials for discovering the polar ice:

• 2 small bowls
• Blue food colouring
• Bicarbonate of soda + shaving foam
• Animal figures such as a polar bear, penguin, wolf, seal…
• Fake ice cubes (plastic)
• An igloo (or a picture of one)
• Images of Inuit people

Method:

• Fill one of the small bowls with water and add a few drops of blue food colouring. Add the sea animals and the ice cubes.
• In the second bowl, make fake snow by mixing bicarbonate of soda and shaving foam. Then add the corresponding animals, the igloo, and the Inuit figures.
• Let the children explore the scene, and talk with them about the animals — their names, their habitats, the igloo, and the life of the Inuit people…
• To go further: complement your sensory activity with books about winter animals.