Why Join Montessori Playgroups?
Despite the rain showers, we all assembled to have the Montessori playgroup sessions for this year. This was a pack-away session (took me 10 mins to prepare the environment, with my Husband's and Kara's help).
As I mentioned in talks and my online pages, having a place for everything, on a child-friendly scale, encourages both independence and self-discipline. Children know where to find what they need, and where to put it when they’re done. An ordered environment also has fewer distractions, allowing children to focus on the task at hand.
My aim for doing these talks and playgroups is to encourage more families in the Philippines to embrace Montessori principles. You can implement as little or as much as you want.
Here's one simple way to do so. At home or wherever we are, we use the following acronym to remind us about playing with our child. You will notice that this revolves around the Montessori Principles. Give it a try too, again -- whether you're working parents, stay at home, work from home, etc., YOU can make it work 😍⠀
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P | PREPARE the environment and PLAN to play with your child each day.⠀
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L | Allow your child to LEAD the play (i.e. to choose the activity).
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A | Be ATTUNED to your child’s emotions and interests during play.⠀
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Y | YOU are the most important part of the equation. Observe rather than instruct. Encourage rather than praise. Guide rather than correct. The interaction you have with your child will build lasting memories and connections.
P.S. I really love that we get to meet other families from our Momtessori PH online community in person. We now have around 8,000 members and parents have started forming their Montessori-inspired playgroups and book clubs too! 😍😍😍
Thank you to our very generous sponsors who helped make our sessions extra special: Cheeky Monkeys Manila for the venue, Bonjour Baby World for the work mats, Learning Playgroup, Won of A Kind PH, and Zenutrients for the raffle items and giveaways!
Stay tuned, planning the third and last session for the year before we leave PH to spend time with our family in US.
