Montessori work materials, also known as Montessori teaching aids, provide young children with the best way to combine spirit and matter, and are created on the basis of careful observation and careful consideration of young children, with each aid being uniquely designed and made.
Montessori teaching aids are not teaching tools for teachers, but “materials” for children to do “growth work”.
They are not objects to assist teachers in their lessons, but rather mediums for children’s independent education and self-discovery.
Therefore, Montessori teaching aids and ordinary toys are very different, mainly in the following five aspects.
1、Different purposes
Montessori teaching aids are placed in pre-prepared studios, and there are strict rules for their use and specific educational purposes. It can help children’s life grow naturally, mental self-construction, realize systematic sensory training, promote the coordinated development of muscle functions, enable children to obtain spiritual nutrition in the process of manipulation, realize independent education, and develop personal potential.
2、Different forms
Montessori teaching aids mostly originate from things familiar to children in life, whether in material or shape, can give children a sense of reality and intimacy, so that children feel the boundaries of nature and perfection. The size of teaching aids is designed to be suitable for children’s use, fully respecting the physiological and psychological developmental characteristics and processes of young children.
3、Different characteristics
The design of Montessori teaching aids is based on compliance with the sensitive period of young children, with full consideration of the applicable age and range, with hierarchy and logic, so that young children can achieve potential development independently in the process of operation and achieve the purpose of gradual development.
4、Different effects
Montessori teaching has the function of “error control”, which enables children to find errors and correct them on their own in the process of operation. There is no need for adults to provide endless guidance and care, thus ensuring that the process of independent education is carried out smoothly and that the stimuli provided by the teaching aids can stimulate the children’s concentration to the greatest extent.
5、Different meanings
Montessori teaching aids operation can cultivate the child’s inner and outer sense of order, and this function is not only reflected in the teaching aids themselves, but also relates to everything on the periphery.
Montessori teaching aids are designed according to the sensitive period of children. It is systematic, complete, and in accordance with the laws of the development of the human mind.
It ensures that the system of early childhood education is well implemented, which is not possible with toys or other educational laws.
As Montessori said, “Our teaching aids make autonomous education possible and allow for systematic sensory training that is not dependent on the ability of the teacher but on the AIDS system.”Teaching aids begin by providing objects that attract the child’s attention and also contain reasonable stimuli.”
As a Montessori teacher, one should be familiar with the operation of teaching aids in all areas, combine theory with the practical operation, and use one’s professional abilities so that more children receive the purest and most professional Montessori education.
https://www.kidsinthehouse.com/blogs/kidsinthehouse2/montessori-toys-vs-regular-toys
