When I first started reading about the Montessori method, it became clear to me that movement was an important theme. I have always been aware of the countless benefits of physical exercise, but what I found surprising was how movement impacts learning.
Movement is an essential component in Montessori education due to the relational effects on cognitive development. The absorption and retention of data in the brain are optimized when the physical body is in a state of motion. Maria Montessori became aware of this vital connection between brain and body and incorporated the theory throughout her pedagogy.
Prioritizing movement doesn’t impact cognitive development alone. The benefits of incorporating movement in early childhood can be seen at every developmental stage and include emotional stability and self-confidence.
How does the Montessori method incorporate movement to ensure enhanced development?
These four areas in Montessori specifically incorporate movement to enhance the development of the child as a whole:
- Allowing for Freedom of movement
- Encouraging purposeful movement through Practical Life activities
- Acknowledging a sensitive period for movement
- Through sensory education
#1 Allowing for freedom of movement
Freedom of movement is exactly what it sounds like. In a Montessori classroom, children are encouraged to move around freely and select activities to engage with.
They do not have assigned seating and do not have to ask for permission to get up from their table, walk around the class, join other classmates, or return materials to the shelves. Children are also offered the option to work on the floor on a mat. This action offers even more opportunity for movement by rolling the mat out and up when putting it away.
The principal would remain the same in a home setup. The child would have a safe space where the environment is set up for their use and they are free to choose their activity.
When children are allowed and encouraged to move around their environment freely, they grow up to feel a sense of trust from their parents and caregivers. This sense of trust makes children feel like they are capable of being independent and so they start to act accordingly. The more they act independently the more they build self-confidence which ensures their continued quest for independence into adulthood.
We can start implementing ‘Freedom of Movement’ with our children as soon as they are born.
Optimal physical development in babies happens naturally as long as we don’t interfere. A baby will go from immobile to rolling over, crawling, sitting, and eventually walking completely by themselves. They do not require your help. Are you shocked to learn this? I was. Read more on Dr. Emmi Pikler’s work if you need some convincing.
Your baby needs to spend as much time as possible on a flat surface on their backs. This is the only way position that allows them to move all their limbs. This way they can work on their strength and do all the little exercises that only they know how to do.
As our babies become mobile, we can provide a safe environment where they are free to explore without our constant interference. When they become toddlers we allow them to move through their environment and choose their own activities by becoming self-directed in their play.
The benefits of allowing for freedom of movement
- Graceful movement and coordination
- Increased creativity through exploration
- Independence and self-confidence
- Enhances problem-solving skills
- Movement enhances and deepens learning and retention of information.
- Movement in combination with Language increases learning by 90%
- Experiencing adequate amounts of movement leads to an increase in attention span.
- Children who move more have better emotional and social development
- Better decision-making skills
- Perceptual development
Young children are born being curious learners. They desperately want to become mobile so they can explore and interact with the world around them. The more we try to safeguard this natural-born curiosity the more likely our children will retain this gift which is at the core of all creative thinking.
Being allowed and encouraged to satisfy their curiosity by moving by any means necessary will lead to building and strengthening the creative muscle. It also helps children focus and increase their concentration span.
Moving your body reduces stress. The more opportunities children have to run, jump and exert themselves, the better their chances of working off some stresses. When we exercise our brains release endorphins and increase levels of serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. These all contribute to an improved emotional state and stress response.
#2 Purposeful Movement through Practical Life Activities
One of the most unique areas of Montessori is the focus on practical life skills from a very young age. Two-year-olds setting the table and emptying the dishwasher. No this is not child labor but it is the work of the child according to Maria Montessori
Young children have the drive to do the things they see the people around them do. Everyday tasks that we dread sometimes like doing the dishes. Children are fascinated by these seemingly simple and mundane tasks. To a child, these activities are complex, multi-step processes. They provide the child with a unique opportunity to work on a range of fine- and gross motor skills within each activity.
Each activity in Montessori is broken down into smaller steps. Each requires a great deal of coordinated movement for the child to master before they can put the sequence together.
Practical life activities are divided into three categories:
Care of self
- Brushing teeth
- Getting dressed
- Washing hands
- Hanging up a coat
- Tying shoes
- Blowing a nose
- Preparing a snack
- Pouring water into a glass
Care of the environment
- Washing windows
- Wiping the table
- Sweeping the floor
- Feeding the pets
- Watering the plants
- Setting the table
Care of others (grace and courtesy)
- Speaking on the phone
- Meeting, greeting, and saying goodbye
- Compassion and concern
- Table manners (when they are old enough)
- Carrying with both hands and set it down softly on the table
This is where the genius of Montessori comes into play. By providing young toddlers with the necessary tools and time to practice these everyday tasks, we are elevating these everyday tasks and empowering the child in their pursuit of these skills.
The movements have a direct and indirect purpose. The direct purpose of pouring water from a jug into a glass is to have something to drink but the indirect purpose is to master the controlled movement required to lift the jug and tilt it at just the right angle and at the right place to pour the water without spilling as well as to learn when and how to stop.
Practical life activities helps to develop:
- Motor control and coordination
- Independence
- Concentration
- A sense of responsibility
- A sense of order
- Self-discipline
- A problem-solving mindset
- Fine motor skills with an eye to the particular skills that a child will need for more cognitively demanding work such as reading, writing, and mathematics.
Practical life activities offer the child many layers of purpose including gaining mastery over their own bodies and the everyday ‘mundane’ by turning it into a joyful and mindful practice.
Help me do it by myself!
If you want to learn more about Practical Life activities I urge you to read this article I wrote: Montessori Practical Life Activities Explained.
I discuss the surprising benefits and how to teach these lessons at home.
#3 Acknowledging and supporting the sensitive period for movement
Sensitive periods in Montessori refer to specific times in a child’s development where they are attracted to a certain experience or building a specific skill. They are determined to perfect this skill and will work tirelessly until they have mastered it.
Montessori education makes use of this unique time by observing the child and responding and supporting each sensitive period.
The sensitive period for movement stretches from birth to around 5 and can be divided into two distinct periods.
The sensitive period for gross motor and fine motor development is from birth to 2.5 years old
- Lifting the head
- Using and coordinating hands and arms
- Grasping
- Kicking
- Rolling over
- Crawling
- Sitting
- Scooting
- Walking
- Climbing
- Running
- Jumping
The sensitive period for refinement of movement is from 2.5 to 4.5
- Using two hands at the same time
- Work on the pincer grip (in preparation for writing)
- Walking while carrying a jug of water
- Mastering balance
#4 Through Sensorial education
When you first see the Montessori sensorial materials you will probably have no idea what their purpose is but once you start learning about the extensive sensorial curriculum you will be in awe of the scientific approach Maria Montessori employed to design and develop each material.
Sensorial materials are designed to invite the child’s manipulations and require the child to touch and move the objects in order to learn the lessons.
The video below demonstrates how movement is used to enhance the learning and retention of information using The Pink Tower.
The sensorial materials are divided into 10 catagories based on what they aim to teach.
- Discrimination of size
- Discrimination of Color
- Discrimination of Shape
- Tactile Sense
- Baric Sense
- Thermic Sense
- Stereognostic Sense
- Gustatory Sense
- Olfactory Sense
- Auditory Sense
Sensorial materials help the child categorize all the sensory information that they have absorbed since birth and it does this by creating a hands-on experience where movement is required at every step. There is no passive learning here.
Montessori Sensorial Education also aims to:
- Help the child sort through different impressions acquired through the senses
- Develop skills for discrimination between weight, Dimensions, temperature classifications
- Broaden and refine the five senses
- Clarify, sort, and classify information to better understand their world
- Become capable of understanding abstract concepts
- Be able to isolate, experience, and explore one sense at a time
- Lay the foundation for introducing more advanced areas of study
How can parents support adequate movement at home?
Children need to be active as much as possible every day. The World Health Organisation recommends at least 180 minutes of various degrees of activity every day for healthy physical development. They also advise not restraining your child in a baby-holding device or car seat for longer than an hour.
The short answer is to allow natural development to take place naturally and to trust and support instead of control and restrict. Make sure your child does not spend long hours being sedentary and create enough opportunities for movement to occur naturally.
- Provide enough space in your home for free movement and exploration.
- Use a movement mat for your baby where they can lie flat on their backs.
- placing simple play objects near the child on the floor (sitting a child in front of a treasure basket before it finds the sitting position herself can cause ‘stuckness’ and passivity);
- a hard, carpeted, not-slippery floor and appropriate equipment for crawling through and over;
- Make sure to always dress your child (especially babies) in clothes that allow free movement.
- nappies that are not bulky – some prevent infants from rolling or bending their knees;
- Avoid placing children in positions they can’t get into or out of on their own. They will likely be stuck in a physically unhealthy or potentially dangerous position. For a baby, this could mean not putting them on their tummies if they can’t roll over on their own. Not sitting up a baby who can’t yet get into that position on their own. For an older child, this means not placing them on top of high jungle gyms that they couldn’t climb onto on their own or in a swing that they can’t get out of. Not only does this hinder a child’s ability to move but it also harms their confidence and independence.
- Choose riding toys that allow your child to cause the action independently, rather than motor-driven toys that only require your child to sit still to move.
- Offer your child multiple levels to climb, various textures to amble over, and sufficient time to navigate his or her own environment independently- even when doing so may not be the most efficient for you as an adult!
- Create a safe ‘YES-space’. This is an area of your home that you have safeguarded so you can sit back and enjoy watching them play instead of running around to try and keep them safe. Relaxed parents = relaxed child
- Use a floor bed that your child can get in and out of independently. You can use this as soon as you feel comfortable doing so.
- Provide your mobile baby with a weaning table and chair for mealtimes instead of always strapping them into a high chair.
- Keep your child away from screens (computer, television, or phone) during their first 5 years of life. If you want to know why I say this – please read my article on the scientific reasons for going screen-free in your home.
Montessori movement activities for babies and toddlers
Birth to 1 year
- Montessori infant mobiles
- Movement mat with mirror
- Bell and ribbon mobile
- Ribbon and ring mobile
- Cylinder with bell to encourage crawling
- A heavy table or other piece of furniture to pull up on
- Weighted wagon to push when they want to start walking
- Tactile balls
One to 3 years
Music activities
- Dancing and moving to different types of music
- Walking, skipping and moving to the beat of the music
Gross motor movement activities
- Climbing, jumping, running, walking, pushing and pulling, sliding
- Balls and bean bags
- Riding balance bike (propelled by feet) or pedal tricycle from 2.5 years
- Walking on a line or balance beam
- Balance board
- Climbing frame
Fine motor movement activities
- Scooping
- Pouring
- Eating with spoon and fork
- Dinking out of a cup
- Carrying a plate to the table
- Setting the table
- Practicing using zips, velcro, buttons, and laces
Hand-Eye Coordination activities
- Threading activities from ring stackers to stringing beads
- Posting activities
- Opening and closing activities
- Sorting activities
- Puzzles
- Nuts and bolts
- Latches and locks
Happy moving!