A Montessori Moment: The Amazing Creativity of Preschool Students

This year long series looks at the experiences of teachers, parents, students, and Montessori education itself, as we follow a student through his first year at a Montessori Preschool. The Montessori Insights and Reflections of a Preschool Student’s First Year is a collection of useful stories, tips, and information that has arisen from one real student's Montessori journey, viewed through the eyes of his Montessori Teacher, Bree Von Nes.

Montessori Moments: Insects and Creativity
My Montessori preschool students have been showing so much interest in insects over the past couple of weeks and consequently I have been trying to integrate our insect theme into every curriculum area. Jordan has been refining his fine motor control by using tongs to transfer flies into a ceramic frog and he loves the new “cards and counters” activity which I placed on the shelf - it is so much fun to watch him carefully order the Number Cards 1 to 10 and then carefully count out the corresponding amount of wooden ladybugs below each numeral.

Today, I observed a four year old Montessori student self-initiate an art project which showed great concentration and knowledge on his part.

First, he organized a tray with two pencil crayons as well as the circle frame from the metal inset stand. He then found a large piece of paper from the art shelf and took everything to a table. He carefully traced the circle frame 3 times, one on top of the other (like a snowman). Next he drew two antennae, six legs, two eyes, a mouth, and interesting decorations. I continued observing him and to my delight he asked one of the Montessori kindergarten students to help him label the body parts: head, thorax, and abdomen. He then cut out his insect, taped on some string, and swayed it side to side to make it fly. The look on his face was priceless… a self-initiated masterpiece!

As much as possible, NAMC’s web blog reflects the Montessori curriculum as provided in its teacher training programs. We realize and respect that Montessori schools are unique and may vary their schedules and offerings in accordance with the needs of their individual communities. We hope that our readers will find our articles useful and inspiring as a contribution to the global Montessori community.
© North American Montessori Center - originally posted in its entirety at Montessori Teacher Training on Wednesday, November 10, 2010.