The Playhood Blueprint for Early Years’ Education: Part 1

Kicking-off our review of the pedagogy that’s guiding the Playhood approach we must of course start with Montessori.

BEYOND THE SHELFIE

Let’s start with the elephant in the room: too often the perception of ‘Montessori’ can be of something particular or perfectionist, expensive to access, or a ‘brand’. I recently noticed someone uncomfortable with it seeming too good to be true. Having a beautiful aesthetic, Montessori is generally showcased with its carefully-prepared environments and signature calm hum of purposeful learning. But to dig deeper about what is is that challenges or even intimidates some people, I think, reveals how radical faith in the child’s potential and respect for their individuality is, even to this day when we have a significant body of child development research that reinforces so many of its tenets (for starters, these studies). It’s a proven method and it’s central to a positive Playhood experience for the entire family.

As podcaster and Montesssori mom-of-five Nicole Kavanaugh recently posted, there’s so very much more to Montessori than shelves, but we must not downplay their importance. If we can’t help but find them appealing, then actually they’re working for their intended purpose of enticing exploration! The child’s active participation is the heart of the Montessori experience. A recent post helpfully summed-up the prepared environment here if you want a quick digest for more on that and we will be exploring sequencing and materials in our next blog post. Sparking a child’s intrinsic motivation while their brains are developing rapidly, reinforcing and building-upon that learning is not only fun for them in the moment but turns out to be key to their success later in life. Neuroscience research in recent years has evidenced this as part of essential ‘self-determination’ skills and it starts with environments that nurture curiosity and independence.

To believe children worthy of intentionally designed, right-sized and independently-accessed materials - and to trust them with glass, china, real plants, knives and tools and so on as we do everyday at Playhood - often runs counter to common understanding of children in our adult-centric society that’s sadly still often receives them as incapable, dependent and lacking agency or value.

Toddlers as powerful advocates of world peace? Activists against climate change? Chefs and artists? It’s just not possible… Is it?!

I LEARN; WE LEARN

What Maria Montessori believed, researched and fought for was setting the tone for early years’ care and education that is joyfully intuitive: led by the child themselves in order that they know the pride of achievement, in turn igniting powerful motivation for other activity and also lays the foundation of engaged citizenship. Montessori’s core mission was capacity-building for the least powerful and impoverished in society. Multi-age classrooms enable lots of learning from each other also, and speaking more broadly, there’s interdependence between all of us humans.

There is a connection between our positive self-worth and our effective contribution to wider society: a nurturing space plus loving relationships reinforces a sense of order within that they will carry with them out into the world in due course.

The toolkit to thrive depends on problem-solving and executive functioning skills, and not which facts one can recite. We cannot help but notice the ways mainstream settings are featuring more and more of the Montessori approach to foster dispositions for learning (even if it’s not attributed as such!)

A rising tide lifts all ships, of course, and at Playhood we are proud to be interpreting and deploying Montessori methods in an authentic but progressive way, inclusive of the whole family as well as the whole child, while staying curious about integrating other pedagogy it overlaps with, too. The photos and videos of the children busily exploring every corner of the garden and shelf of the studio are honest representations of the atmosphere and everyday experience here because great investment has been made in a settling-in process that gives them a sense of belonging plus ownership and pride in their space; creating conditions for self-esteem and confidence to grow organically via respectful and empathetic practices in our everyday routine; and scaffolding for their resilience in coping with and adapting to challenges as they occur, because they feel safe and cared for.

A key metric for this is the way a parent’s or visitor’s arrival does NOT disrupt their play. A reaction on almost every tour - or when we tell someone new about the Playhood co-location of workspace and nursery - is along the lines of, “But what if they glimpse you?!” as if it’s risky to work in close proximity, as if it’s necessary to forcibly separate their worlds. The opposite has turned out to be true.

Another aspect to note how deeply-rooted community gets built via self-assured individuals sharing values and experiences, is the way we take responsiveness to the furthest degree. This is thanks to how present our engaged parents are and how our feedback loops work daily in such a small group. But ‘serve and return’ relationship habits are absolutely critical in any setting, for developing brains, as well as having the added benefit of building community ties. Maria would be very proud of the findings in our little experiment as it heads into its third year, we like to think…

WATCH & LEARN

A huge positive shift in educational discourse since the start of the pandemic has been at long last towards wellbeing as both mental and physical health in concert and prioritisation of social-emotional learning. These were the very things Montessori built her children’s house model around, wrote and lectured on extensively.

A key feature of the Montessori experience is the benign ‘neglect’ (bear with us here if this is a new idea to you!) where a calmly-regulated adult hangs-back from intervening to aid a child in their task, unless a matter of safety. Children need to repeat processes over and over again - it’s how they learn. That trust and faith is a preparedness to hold their tongue, control their hands and basically efface themselves in the service of the child’s learning:

It requires them not to assume they know best or can do better, or that there’s a right or quicker way.
It requires them knowing the child so well and having earned a strong rapport with the child who will invite their help when truly needed, or that of a peer, and with whom they will celebrate their successes when they have them.
It requires them not thinking as a ‘teacher’, didactic and knowing more/best, but as a guide setting the context for discovery.

As Laura Perfetti, Head of School at Playhood, explains, once the moment arrives where children start sharing their own ideas and knowledge, then the educator becomes the learner. And when the child helps and instructs another child they have become the educator. Dr Montessori said, “The greatest sign of success is to be able to say ‘The children are now working as if I did not exist.’”

Think about how much of ‘conscious parenting’ advice out there (popular experts like Dr Becky or Janet Lansbury, for example) preaches addressing our own limiting beliefs, clouding trauma, hasty urges, triggers and temper before judging the child’s behaviour. Regulate yourself first and observe? Let the child learn for themselves by experience? Yup, Dr. M. was streets ahead on all things positive discipline, role modelling, relationships, and communication. Barbara Isaacs also touched on this in a recent webinar on the connections between child development thinkers and the Montessori method.

TOUCH & LEARN

There’s so much families can learn from choosing a Montessori for their child. Their parenting and their home will also transform, as we hear so often from Playhood members. It’s truly a journey to go on in partnership with the educators in the setting. Many nurseries are positioned as ‘play-based’ and many toddler events or toys are touting the benefits of sensory play, but spend a bit of time in a Montessori school and you’ll notice how the ‘work of the child’ is such rewarding fun for them thanks to guides who understand deeply their role and thanks to the tools, activities and design of the spaces which are particularly stimulating and inviting. It’s a real art, and a joy to behold. Montessori lessons are powerfully memorable for children because they feature so much storytelling, imagination and repetition. If you do one thing, ahead of reading and research, it’s go and see for yourself to observe children and adults interacting in a Montessori school and handle the materials for yourself!

To build on this senses-led and independent learning theory, the Playhood studio offers free flow play from indoors to the garden, where lush planting, flowers, digging pits, and the growing of herbs, fruit and vegetables immerse the children in the natural world and where loose parts and open-ended structures fuel imaginative exploration. It can feel hard to believe it’s set in a regular residential street in Crouch End sometimes! The studio itself was custom built for this purpose and the lighting, surfaces, storage, facilities and fixtures all consider the children’s experience and promote their independence. With just six children per day and our high ratios, the staff are naturally more able to respond to emerging interests and abilities in concert with parents building on this at home and in the wider world. You are warmly invited to follow along on Instagram or facebook, or book in a visit today to get a feel for our difference IRL if you can.

In the coming weeks we will be sharing more blog posts about other pedagogical intersections for more discussion, too, as well as sharing more in our social media to build on this (brief!) overview of why and how Montessori is at the core of the design of Playhood.

“Adults must defend children [and] must see the real humanity in children… Social progress means that the next generation is better than the one before,” Dr. Maria Montessori, The 1946 London Lectures, p.140.

FURTHER INVESTIGATION:

Simone Davies’ books are beautiful and practical ways to learn about Montessori family life.

The Montessori Bookclub podcast is an accessible way to familiarise yourself with the actual writings of Dr Montessori.

The Montessori Way by Tim Seldin & Paul Epstein is a classic text.

Instagram Inspiration / follow recommendations:

A nice overview of Montessori as “a lifestyle philosophy”

The potential of children, celebrated

and another take on ‘why Montessori?’

Reference for materials

Beautiful reflection by Gabriel Garcia Marquez on his Montessori experience

A reminder of the three types of educational experience in a Montessori setting

Not ‘Montessori’ specifically but there are incredible overlaps with her findings and the latest in child development research and neuroscience are reported here