Prepared Environment

This is one of the most important aspect of the Montessori Philosophy because it is through the environment that a child makes sense of his / her learning. Children are an early age of 2 years onwards or even as young as a 6 month old baby needs a healthy and predictable environment to work in. This is important because a prepared environment provides the child with a clear means to put his / her purposeful movement to purposeful work within an environment. Children need to move and if we do not provide the child with an environment that lends itself to the child’s growing intelligence and development, we are not going to be able to help the child develop according to their right path.

It is through movement that a child is able to learn best. The understanding of movement must not be equated with just the need for the child to move like jumping , walking or skipping but movement that also develops the fine motor skills.  We sometimes overlook the need to provide means for the child’s development of their fine motor skills because it is the large motor skills that are easily observed and seen as a child’s competence in life. However, the fine motor skills which develops later, leads to many other areas that affect the child’s self esteem, as well as their skills like in writing.

A purposeful learning environment must be prepared by an adult who  is also sensitive to the needs of the child. An adult must be aware of a child’s developmental stage as well as the child’s sensitive periods.

As I continue my work within my environment, I hope to put in pictures that would explain the importance of the prepared environment.