Teach Me to Do It Myself: Montessori Activities for You and Your Child

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Based on key Montessori principles of learning through experience, TEACH ME TO DO IT MYSELF features simple activities to explore with your child and develop his or her senses, coordination, language skills, number sense, and science interests.

This fun and practical activity book will guide you as you work and play with your child. Montessori principles focus on teaching children essential life skills and giving them a greater understanding of the world around them.

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When quality time is in short supply, you need a practical workbook that helps you give your child the best possible start. TEACH ME TO DO IT MYSELF is exactly that, an essential workbook with step-by-step play routines and work exercises that you and your child can enjoy together, and that enables your child to develop an early set of life skills. A multitude of activities is covered, from learning to button a shirt, to starting to grasp numerals and develop simple sentences. All activities are presented with guidelines and suggestions that progress in terms of difficulty.

The activities are simple and especially framed for parents with no specialized knowledge, guiding them to work and play confidently with their children. Projects are based on the Montessori philosophy, and are focused for children between two and five years old. The activities are not expensive or overly time-consuming.

Divided into five chapters, the book opens with life skills and then introduces language, number sense, and science skills. TEACH ME TO DO IT MYSELF provides a unique opportunity for you to gain that important insight into your child’s needs and involve yourself in the development of your child’s coordination, awareness, and self-esteem.

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Maja Pitamic has over 15 years’ experience teaching children of varying ages and backgrounds. She has a degree in Art History and Montessori Teacher Training, and her specialization is in Early Years teaching. She has worked with children who have special educational needs, developing their skills through dance, movement, games, and gymnastics. It is through her association with the parents of her students that Maja has realized the demand for a practical play- and workbook for parents and their children.

Based on the key Montessori principle that children learn best through active experience, Teach Me to Do It Myself presents simple activities through which children explore and develop their skills. These skill areas include sensory perceptions, body coordination, language, understanding of numbers, and movement. This practical, color-illustrated parenting book is filled with activities and instructions for overseeing children as they carry out a variety of learning activities. Most activities will seem simple to parents, because once mastered, adults perform them automatically. However, toddlers experience a sense of accomplishment and self-worth when they learn to perform them independently. The many activities start with dressing and personal hygiene, then go on to include . . .

• Pouring activities
• Threading and sewing activities
• Peg activities
• Cutting with scissors
• Sorting activities by touch
• A color matching game
• Making musical scales with bottles and water
• Using alphabet tiles to make words
• Growing things in a window box
• Making finger puppets

Activities are described in detail and include checklists of needed items, as well as variations and related activities for children to try.