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SeaStar
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| Posted: July 24 2007 at 7:50am | IP Logged
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I know this has been addressed before, but I need some insight.
My kids love the pink tower, but they do want to "play" with it. Example: line the cubes up on the floor and put a stuffed animal on each one. I hate telling them "no, you can't play with those- you can only line them , etc". Same with the brown stairs. I remember Genevieve's post about her brown stairs- how her boys really enjoyed playing with them and were quite creative with them.
Lining them up and doing the purist extension activities- fun for a little while, but how long will that hold their interest? I think I'd rather let them play a little with the materials and really enjoy them. Of course, abuse, throwing, etc would not be allowed.
I just don't like hearing myself always say, "No, you can't do that with those!". And then putting them away, where they sit on the shelf and no one gets any use or enjoyment from them.
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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Barb.b
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| Posted: July 24 2007 at 8:05am | IP Logged
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Melinda,
I had to laugh - my ds (4 years) loves to play with animals and will turn any thing into a game with his animals. I am interested in others responses. I am not a montessori purist or any where near an expert. But I feel that kids creativity is important. Who says there is only one way to use materials. One reason I don't send my kids to a preschool is most of them limit kids immaginations and creativity. Everything done a certain way, color in the lines . . . Now this doen't mean that you wouldn't work with them at times on the activity as it was created to be. But between sessions you have with your kids (using the materials as you want them to). I say let them play. I think playing with the cubes with animals is growing their little brains too!
Barb
P.S. My son frequently gives his animals communion with the mini Mass set!
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Eleanor
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| Posted: July 24 2007 at 3:06pm | IP Logged
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If the pink tower isn't holding their interest, I'd be inclined to think that one of the following is going on:
1) they're not ready for it yet (which seems unlikely, given their ages);
2) they've already thoroughly learned the principles it teaches, and are ready to move on (which would be a normal and desirable thing);
3) there are too many distractions in the environment.
Whatever the reason, I very much doubt that it would help matters to let them use the tower as a toy "in between lessons." If anything, this would just be confusing. The materials are intended to be used in a certain way, and this aspect, in itself, is an important part of the method. It's one thing if the child learns the basic presentation, then comes up with his own extensions, which involve a new application of the concept(s) taught by the material. But putting animals on the blocks wouldn't qualify, IMO... unless the animals are being graded from smallest to largest, or something like that. 
This is no way intended to put down the value of open-ended, imaginative play -- it's just not what these particular materials are for. From the Montessori perspective, they're tools, with an important purpose that should be respected. Although this might sound like a rather pompous thing to say about some painted wooden cubes, it's something that children can readily understand and appreciate. In the same way, we wouldn't encourage our little ones to use an egg slicer as a guitar, or stick their paintbrushes into the sandbox to make a "forest."
From the Michael Olaf Montessori FAQ:
The materials teach specific things and then the creativity is incredible. Like learning how to handle a good violin and then playing music. It is not considered "creative" to use a violin as a hammer, or a bridge while playing with blocks. We consider it "creative" to learn how to use the violin properly and then create music. The same goes for the materials in a Montessori classroom.
Also, one further point that seems relevant:
Although the children are encouraged to be careful in their use of the materials, the risk of damage isn't the primary concern in deciding which activities are appropriate. If it were, they wouldn't be given, e.g., pouring activities involving glass pitchers on a ceramic tile floor. (In Montessori classroom design, tile is strongly preferred to linoleum, precisely because there's a higher chance of breakage, AKA "control of error."  )
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montessori_lori
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| Posted: July 24 2007 at 4:52pm | IP Logged
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I have to agree with Eleanor on this one...playing with the materials is not a good habit to encourage.
When the pink tower is done as a serious work, it's a sight to behold. The concentration and the control of movement needed to do it correctly almost get you choked up when you see a child commit to doing it from start to finish.
Once you have used it as a toy, with no guidelines, the chances of going back to it as a serious work are nil. The magic is gone, the essential nature of the material has been changed.
You must ask yourself - what is the didactic purpose of the pink tower? What do you expect them to learn by doing it? It does have a specific purpose - it's not just 10 blocks that are fun to move around.
Since they must already have plenty of toys, those should be what they play with - using other blocks with their stuffed animals if they so desire. The materials aren't sacred, per se, but really they *almost* are. They take their cue from you - if you treat the materials with the utmost respect (respect for their purpose and for the lessons inherent in them when they are done right) the kids will too.
Once a child has demonstrated that they can do the pink tower as a work from start to finish (one block at a time: carried correctly to the rug, made back into a tower, taken apart, and put away), and can do the same with the red rods and brown stair, they can use those three materials in combination to make fantastic geometric displays...but the foundation needs to be there.
If this sounds strict, well, Montessori (esp. in 3-6) is a very strict philosophy. That's what produces the amazing results that people aren't used to seeing in small children.
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Angel
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| Posted: July 24 2007 at 6:00pm | IP Logged
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Just a thought from my own limited experience... when my kids start playing with the materials, if I don't say something to them about it, they never really start concentrating and working with them. An example: my 4 yo got the golf tees and clay down today and started setting them all up. He filled the entire clay block up with tees. Then he told me, "See, Mommy, they're all ready for the battle."
Sigh. Everything's a war to these boys.
Anyway, if I'd let him continue with the "battle", he would have just knocked stuff everywhere. He might have spent a long time knocking stuff over and making explosion noises, but he wouldn't have been developing the skills the golf tees and clay are supposed to develop. When I told him the tees weren't for playing war, I expected him to just put everything away. Instead, he surprised me by really concentrating for the next 15 minutes: putting the tees in and out of the clay, scraping the clay off the ends of the tees with his fingers and smushing it back into the block of clay, then carefully putting the tees back where they belonged.
I think this was more beneficial to him than allowing him to play with the material however he wanted. He and his brother have lots of time outside with sticks and Playmobil guys and Legos to play battles. I don't think setting a limit between play and work is harmful. What I have run into with my older kids is that they expect *everything* to be play, and when they need to work, they often have a hard time concentrating and not degenerating into silliness, etc. We have ADHD issues in our house, so it's a little different around here -- more extreme -- but I do see this area as one in which I want to work with my little ones so that we'll avoid remedial limit-setting in the future.
Kids really want to know where the limits are, IMO, and they're really good at finding those vague loopholes.  Especially at that young age, the more clear cut and consistent the limits are, the more comfortable the kids will become with them. Eventually anyway.
--Angela
Three Plus Two
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SeaStar
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| Posted: July 24 2007 at 6:10pm | IP Logged
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Thank you for all your input. I can see that I need to put the cubes away for now. I feel hampered by not having a dedicated school room. I have been using my dining room, but when the house went up for sale, I had to make it into a DR again for showings.
If I could set up a sensorial area in a dedicated room, I think that would help distinguish between learning and playing. I thought we'd be moved by the end of August, but since the house we wanted to buy failed inspection, we are in limbo again. So, rather than waiting indefinitely, I have been introducing some of the materials. If this goes on much longer, I'll have to do away with the DR again (I can hear my realtor grinding her teeth). We have to go on where we are.
Thanks again.
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: Playing with the materials
