The Silence Montessori Activity

Series Summary

Some people don't give children the credit they deserve. Rather than treating them as independent human beings, some think that kids can't be self-directed, especially when it comes to education. While this may be true for some children, there is a great deal of danger in teaching a child that they are incapable of self-sufficiency. However, there is an educational method that empowers children with self-directed activities. Founded in the late nineteenth century, the Montessori method teaches children to do their own learning. Once an idea or object is introduced to a child, the teacher calmly steps away as the “silent presence” in the classroom. Invented by Maria Montessori, the method was originally used to help children that were thought to be unteachable. Through the process of working with these children, Dr. Montessori discovered a way for kids to learn through the five senses, kinetic movement, spatial refinement, motor skill coordination, and concrete knowledge. The atmosphere is pleasant for children, and they interact with the world in a natural and peaceful way. In this free video series, learn how Montessori improves senses in preschoolers. Our expert, Tami Elliot, is the owner and a teacher at a Montessori school. She walks you through all kinds of activities to improve sight, smell, touch, and hearing. With these simple activities, your preschooler will be able to improve the way they react to the world. So, what are you waiting for? Learn about Montessori sensory activities today!

Video Transcript

"This is a silence activity. There are different extensions on this activity so I'm going to show you a few examples of each one. You will need something comfortable to sit on that the child can relax and the word silence written on a piece of paper. If you like you can use a time although we generally do not use timers because we want the child to sit there as long as they would like to sit there. So the first time that they sit in silence they generally just sit there and maybe close their eyes and sit in quiet. Maybe the next time you would ask them to listen to their surroundings like the birds or a car going by. Another extension of this exercise is to have them put on a blindfold and once the have the blindfold on they sit in silence while you make noise and they have to guess what items you are using to make the noise. (Bell rings). Bell, sometimes the children will say door bell or something other than just bell. (Shaking a maraca) maraca. Then maybe we don't say anything at all and have them listen to see if they can hear anything on their own. If we hear a motorcycle going by we don't say anything and we wait until the children identify the noise they heard. So that is how you play the silence game."