Sophie was apparently not quite done with her bean mosaic. She came into the kitchen, searching high and low for the beans and looking really excited. Thus, I filled up a plate with a canister of Playdoh and let her put the remaining beans in there.
Then I tried to entice her with ten beans in a Playdoh canister. She seemed to like the “shaker” so I stretched it further by asking her to guess the type of beans in there. Clearly, she was not interested. She was much better at matching animal sounds to pictures of the animals.
I have always wanted to try “pouring” with lentils but I was too scared of what might happen. But one thing led to another today and somehow, I found myself giving Sophie a measuring pitcher, a cup, a bowl and some beans to try pouring! Although it might seem trivial, it was a great leap for us.
Our first few attempts were disastrous, but I could see Sophie’s effort and I was so happy she did not become frustrated or discouraged over her “failures”. In fact, she always burst out laughing when she spilled the beans all over the floor. I had to hold her hands to show her how to pour properly. I really hated picking up the tiny beans from the floor and Sophie was not always willing to do it. In the end, I made her sit on the floor and it worked beautifully! I think I was even more excited than her!
I realised that Sophie is definitely able to stay focused and accomplish Montessori tasks if I allow her to make mistakes and “play”. She loves how we cheer for her and she enjoys working on such activities. I should not have any doubts on her ability and I have to let her exercise some autonomy as well. I decided to set up a permanent area in the kitchen for her to work on potentially “messy” stuff and perhaps even food preparation.
When I was arranging the materials, Sophie started playing with the jelly cups. Usually I would stop her because she tends to throw things around. And I was right. But today, she did more. She picked them all up nicely. Yes, it is time for her to come into the kitchen…
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