This year we had our Montessori Gold Coast fairy again at the christmas graduation in 2010.

Her rabbit and dove are so patient with the children when they come out for a pat. The children love her, and so do we.

Early childhood is a time of tremendous growth across all areas of development. The dependent newborn grows into a young person who can take care of his or her own body and interact effectively with others. For these reasons, the primary developmental task of this stage is skill development.

Physically, between birth and age three a child typically doubles in height and quadruples in weight. Bodily proportions also shift, so that the infant, whose head accounts for almost one-fourth of total body length, becomes a toddler with a more balanced, adult-like appearance. Despite these rapid physical changes, the typical three-year-old has mastered many skills, including sitting, walking, toilet training, using a spoon, scribbling, and sufficient hand-eye coordination to catch and throw a ball.

Between three and five years of age, children continue to grow rapidly and begin to develop fine-motor skills. By age five most children demonstrate fairly good control of pencils, crayons, and scissors. Gross motor accomplishments may include the ability to skip and balance on one foot. Physical growth slows down between five and eight years of age, while body proportions and motor skills become more refined.

Physical changes in early childhood are accompanied by rapid changes in the child’s cognitive and language development. From the moment they are born, children use all their senses to attend to their environment, and they begin to develop a sense of cause and effect from their actions and the responses of caregivers.

Over the first three years of life, children develop a spoken vocabulary of between 300 and 1,000 words, and they are able to use language to learn about and describe the world around them. By age five, a child’s vocabulary will grow to approximately 1,500 words. Five-year-olds are also able to produce five-to seven-word sentences, learn to use the past tense, and tell familiar stories using pictures as cues.

Language is a powerful tool to enhance cognitive development. Using language allows the child to communicate with others and solve problems.

A key moment in early childhood, socioemotional development occurs around one year of age. This is the time when attachment formation becomes critical. Attachment theory suggests that individual differences in later life functioning and personality are shaped by a child’s early experiences with their caregivers. The quality of emotional attachment, or lack of attachment, formed early in life may serve as a model for later relationships.

From ages three to five, growth in socioemotional skills includes the formation of peer relationships, gender identification, and the development of a sense of right and wrong. Taking the perspective of another individual is difficult for young children, and events are often interpreted in all-or-nothing terms, with the impact on the child being the fore-most concern. For example, at age five a child may expect others to share their possessions freely but still be extremely possessive of a favorite toy.

It is important to be aware that the structure and expectations of Montessori influence the ways in which children grow and learn.

At Fridays Child Montessori Gold Coast we understand Children’s Minds Are Like Sponges.

Have you ever said a word or phrase and then either immediately or a little bit later you find your child repeating that same phrase? That’s because they pick up on just about everything and they love to learn and say new things.

Children unconsciously soak up information from the environment, learning about it at a rapid rate. More or less, the capacity to learn in this way is unique to your young child and lasts for the first six years of life. During this time, the impressions made on a child’s mind can actually shape and form it, and therefore have an impact on their future development.

Because children are fundamentally different from an adult, they learn in a different way. They basically have what Maria Montessori called an absorbent mind.

Dr. Maria Montessori, and Italian physician and educator, observed the interaction between the child and her environment, taking note of the eagerness with which young children engage in the world around them. She also recognized the ease with which a child could learn during the first 6 years of life.

She referred to this time as the “Absorbent Mind” stage because of the sponge-like ability of the child to take in new information.

Many of Dr. Montessori’s scientific observations and theories are being supported by brain research being done today, nearly 100 years later. You should be taking advantage of your child’s absorbent mind and feeding it regularly.

Before the age of six, a child learns from direct contact with the environment, by means of all the senses, and through movement; the child literally absorbs what is in the environment. The toys and materials in the home and school should be of the very best quality to call forth self-respect, respect and care from the child toward the environment, and the development of an appreciation of beauty.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where your child repeatedly does the same things over and over again that you find to be annoying?

For example, you take a trip to the supermarket and notice that your three year old wants to touch everything in sight. He will go to the shelves, pick something up, look at it, touch it, feel it, turn it around, try to find out what it’s for and what can be done with it.

He does this over and over again, and you may find it difficult to pry him away. Know that your child is not trying to deliberately be “naughty” but is developing new knowledge and skills through his senses.

At Fridays Child Montessori preschool we understand the mind absorbency that children have and put great emphasis on exposing children to their positive surroundings.

Don’t think that your child’s mind is an empty vessel that will gradually be filled up. Their process of learning is active, rather than passive and you should try to give your child as much freedom as possible. Only with this freedom can your child develop to their full potential.

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