Maria Montessori observed that children have a natural affinity for order and enjoy engaging with authentic materials. She had a profound respect for the inherent dignity of children, and she saw that deep and lasting understanding occurs when children lead their own learning. This springtime, celebrate the season while supporting your child’s learning with these simple and fun Montessori-inspired activities you can enjoy together.

5 Montessori-Inspired Activities

Caring for Seedlings:

Expanding upon the same principles at play when we encourage children to work with water pouring in meaningful ways, nurture some seedlings with your child this spring. With easy-draining plant pots and trays to catch overflows, children can successfully experiment with controlled pouring. Caring for plants is a real-life task, and children should chime in on what they’d like to grow. They can help monitor soil and light conditions, and they can continue to care for plants once they are moved to larger outdoor containers or gardens. Later on, you can enjoy the fruits of your labor together.

Spring Cleaning:

Spring is a time of year when we naturally turn our thoughts to cleaning up our homes, inside and out. Kids like the chance to emulate the work they’ve seen adults engage in, and they love the opportunity to contribute in meaningful ways. With safe and child-sized cleaning supplies, tasks like dusting, sweeping and mopping are appropriate for even small children. Jobs like matching up the winter mittens for storage allows them to practice folding while tapping into their desire for order. For a more complete list of Montessori practical life activities that you can incorporate at home, click here.

Using a Flower Press:

As the earth comes back to life, encourage the natural observer in your child by taking walks together to notice what is growing. Small samples of trailside life, such as wildflowers or different types of leaves, can be gathered for identification. Using a flower press to preserve specimens not only further encourages the natural scientist in our children, but it also provides a source of possible artistic creation. Pressed flowers make beautiful handmade cards or pictures, and can be used to help us understand patterns in nature. Click here to see instructions for a simple flower pressing book, or just use a thick, weighted book for pressing.

Building a Fairy House:

Fairy houses are popping up all over backyards and in the outdoors. This simple but engaging activity is inspired by nature and imagination. Using only found materials, select a place off the trail or in your yard where you can construct a small dwelling for an imagined fairy. Sticks and bark, leaves or dropped flower buds, pretty stones or lichen all make excellent construction materials. Let your child take the lead, and follow along, asking how you can help. It’s an opportunity to study what the winter left behind, to get a closer look at what’s growing, and to help budding engineers learn through trial-and-error constructing. Need some inspiration to help you get started? Click here for a photo gallery of some of the houses in Mackworth Island’s permanent fairy village.

Helping Prepare Fruits and Veggies:

Spring marks the beginning of the time of year when more plentiful, local sources of fresh fruits and vegetables become available. Whether you are picking early peas from your garden or buying early greens from a farmers’ market, look for ways to get your child involved with food preparation. Not only are kids more likely to try a taste or two when helping out in the kitchen, but they will be partaking in practical life skill-building. Even very young kids can wash fruits and veggies, and help to throw away peels. Older children can begin cutting soft items with supervision. Preparing food with our kids helps them associate healthy eating with happy memories and gives them confidence in their ability to feed themselves well in the future.

These are just a few Montessori-inspired activities to celebrate springtime. May they inspire you and your child to find new ways to engage the wonder and bounty of the season and breathe new life into your home.