Montessori: Characteristics of the Young Child

From the pages of Dr. Montessori’s research, we learn of “sensitive periods” in a child’s development. These can be thought of as blocks of time in a child’s life when he is particularly receptive to certain stimuli to the exclusion of others.

Dr. Montessori called attention to certain characteristics in the two to six year-old child which are of critical importance:

Sensitive

Period (Years) Particular Sensibility

Birth to 1½ Movement
Birth to 3 Absorbent Mind
1½ to 4 Sensory experience – special attraction to small objects and
details
1½ Complicated activities and gross motor skills
1½ to 3 Language Development
2 to 4 Gross motor skill refinement, concern with trust and reality
2 to 6 Awareness of order, sequence in time an space, music
2½ to 6 Good manners and sensory refinement
3 to 6 Susceptibility to adult influence
3½ to 4½ Fine motor skill refinement – writing and drawing
4 to 4½ Tactile sense
4½ to 5½ Beginning abstraction, reading with letters and forming
sounds to represent spoken words
5 to 6 Foreign language

The Individual Child

Early childhood educators have come to accept today what Dr. Montessori discovered so long ago:

The child under six has a genius capacity for mental absorption.

The “absorbent mind” will never repeat its miraculous ability to absorb the native tongue, to perfect movement, or to internalize order. Never will these sensitivities be more alive than in the preschool years. The child entering preschool is gentle and vulnerable with a need for love, protection, friends, and intellectual stimulation. These are serious needs. To serve children directly is not what they need; to give help is sometimes an obstruction.

The Montessori prepared environment allows children to act freely on their own

initiative, meeting needs through individual, spontaneous activity. The children learn to work quietly and intently on their own tasks. They use the materials with a sense of perfection and order seldom found in adults. They are building concentration and self-discipline. Because the materials are scientifically selected, children are able to learn skills that were previously reserved for development at a later age.

Reading and writing are treated as an extension of spoken language. Young children have a singular mathematical interest, and therefore, with the use of concrete materials, they can be exposed to all four mathematical functions with large numbers before they are six years of age.

Because these children are characterized by “absorbent minds”, the work seems
untiring and effortless. The children test their skills in an environment that is patient, respectful, and free from distraction. When children work on skill mastery by manipulation of environment and repetition they will work with joy and mastery of the skill will come naturally.

Pages

Montessori Cafe