Understanding the Basics of Montessori Infant Program

 If you are getting trained from a reputed Montessori teacher education center, you will learn about how to nurture a Montessori environment specifically designed to meet the developmental needs and interests of children. It is designed for those between the age of six weeks to 24 months for the infant program.

The program is separated into three key stages - 0-9 months, 9-15 months, and 15-24 months. For any layman these stages and ages doesn't really much of difference, but only a trained teacher in Montessori education will understand how each of these stages reflect the phenomenal physical, intellectual as well as emotional development of the child. This is the age when they absorb all aspects of language, environment, and culture.

As with any Montessori environment, the infant room activities are carefully set out where the child can discover and explore his/her surroundings. The teacher takes out the materials at the appropriate time based on their observations of the kids' individual development.

The Montessori infant materials are made such that the children can use them with minimal assistance. The idea is to help them learn about how to complete and repeat tasks without interruption and interference. Eventually, they can grow their confidence, analytical skills, independence, as well as concentration span. The holistic approach is unique for every child and with proper learning opportunities, they can form their intelligence and personality.

0-9 Months

The first stage of the Infant Program is all about developing a broad range of skills that foster concentration and other sensory awareness. The primary focus is to provide them with opportunities that can help build positive relationships with their teachers and peers. The main materials used in this portion of the program includes grasping and reaching rattles, sound bottles, mobiles, sensory boards, treasure baskets, and the shapes board.

9-15 Months

From 9-15 months, you can clearly see the development in the various features of the infant and this is when they start growing control over how they think, communicate, and move. The materials are carefully introduced to this age group that assist children in developing the psychomotor skills, muscular strength, hand-eye coordination, social and language skills, and visual and sensory capabilities. Typical Montessori materials would include objects such as permanence boxes, shape sorting, color sorting, discs on a dowel, imbucare boxes, counting activities, nesting cups, language cards, matching activities, stacking blocks, and puzzles.

 

15-24 Months

The third and final stage of the Infant Program Montessori teacher education is a transitory phase that creates a prepared environment for the children to participate in the structured Montessori Toddler and Preschool Programs. They learn through various activities about the practical life activities, such as pouring or spooning and provide students with various scopes to explore in the earlier programs.

The idea for these kinds of programs is to help them develop a concept of order, develop their vocabulary, and aid them in rising their ability to communicate, concentrate, work independently, and understand straightforward sequences.

The Four Planes of Development in Montessori Training

Irrespective of where you are in your Montessori journey, understanding and implementing Maria Montessori’s theories of developmental psychology is a difficult task. Montessori’s theory of human development, called the Planes of Development, is one of the vital parts of training . When you complete your training, there is a deeper understanding of your child, and all the children by extension.

The different planes of development -

•    The First Plane: Birth to Age 6 (Early Childhood)
•    The Second Plane: Ages 6–12 (Childhood)
•    The Third Plane: Ages 12–18 (Adolescence)
•    The Fourth Plane: Ages 18–24 (Maturity)

The Four Planes of Development, as said, are given exceptional importance in Montessori teacher education center. This is the holistic framework that is a part of the developmental psychology and covers all aspects of a child’s development including academic, moral, spiritual, and emotional.

When a child is born, the possibilities for him / her is endless. However, it is important to have a mentor who can help him/ her traverse the difficult journey of constructing herself.

Traditional education certainly helps but a child starts learning from the very first months of their lives.

Dr. Montessori recognized human development is not perfectly linear. This means there are peaks and valleys that marks the progression and retrogression.

The First Plane: Birth to Age 6 (Early Childhood)

This is considered the most important time of a child’s development. From quirks, likes, dislikes, this age is when a kid organize himself physically. It’s during this time when the child learns to crawl, walk, speak, read. Every child has an absorbent mind from birth to three years of and can soak up everything around his world. However, in the second phase, this absorption becomes conscious.

The Second Plane: Ages 6–12 (Childhood)

This is when the child is creating her intelligence, and the conscience. It is extremely important for young children to understand the physical order. This is generally met in the first plane of development, and the older child searches now for moral order. This is the phase when one grows the sense of right and wrong.

Additionally, this is the time when children learn by observing the adults in their life. When you look for the Montessori teacher training near me to send your kid for the classroom education, you must also see the accreditation of the teachers. The child learns a strong moral role depending on the models in his/her life. This is why it is important to see people with integrity. Simply said, this plane makes justice important.

The Third Plane: Ages 12–18 (Adolescence)

The years of adolescence is scary and needs extremely sensitive training. In Montessori’s eyes, this stage is very important as it marks the construction of his social self. This is also when the child separats from his parents, mentally and physically, and starts taking control over his life. The budding teenager phase marks the strong moral conscience.

The Fourth Plane: Ages 18–24 (Maturity)

This is a matured phase and the newly minted adult works and constructs the sense of self-understanding. This is the stage when you learn about spiritual and moral independence.

Montessori education encourages the overall development of the child through the theory of the Planes of Development. Apart from the academic development, the stages make them a complete person with maturity, imagination, and a good moral character.

Why Montessori Education is Appreciated Worldwide

The holistic approach of Maria Montessori in reframing the kids' education has really impacted the teachers and the communities. With the aim to create productive individuals who are capable of focusing on the behavioral, intellectual, emotional, and moral, development, Montessori training has seen a huge leap in popularity.

Understanding how Montessori education can impact the society by large

Applying Montessori principles for the budding brains can have a seriously positive impact in the society. Placing it in wider context, there are fathomless possibilities when the training is done properly. It helps in understanding the children’s rights, without any consideration of gender, race, religion, or social differences. Delivering quality Montessori education has proved to be a very critical step in shaping little ones. The Montessori certification online is thus gaining popularity where aspirants can opt for this course and add value to the education system.

The teachers' training course on the online training abides by the education modules developed by Dr. Maria Montessori. It is based on scientific observations of the various stages a child goes through from birth to adulthood. The Montessori Method, today, has seen a worldwide accpetance as parents now understand the importance of this special course of education.

This training course follows the clinical observations that has helped Dr. Montessori develop the understanding of how children can learn from their surrounding environments. She focused how it is important to make task and various physical activities that occur naturally in the environment and should not seem as a forced one. She believed that learning is a ‘self-directed’ process, which means, it is based on the fundamental laws of human nature. If we can provide the children with a suitable environment, kids can even educate themselves of the basic requirements for life. When they are assisted by trained teachers in a sustained environment, these children can grow better than those who missed the education. The core concern of Montessori Method is to give a lot of freedom to the child so that he/she can utilize his or her own skills, observation and common sense to learn.

Speaking about Dr. Maria Montessori’s method of teaching, it also helps the children to understand what it means to be self-sufficient and independent. In any kind of educational training, the main idea is to aid them student in pushing the child’s natural drive to learn. When there is a 'prepared environment' for the children based on their age and learning stages, it makes they grow faster morally, socially and intellectually.

To make this educational outreach global, there are now Montessori certification online that can be opted by anyone who wishes to be a teacher!