The media depends on quickly turning our children into rabid consumers. You take a child to see a new movie and they just have to have the toys marketed along with it. Fred has them next door! You don’t want to be Scrooge, and soon your house resembles a recycling depository for colorful plastics. Most disposable plastic toys are like sugary treats for a child’s brain. They provide a rush of excitement and interest, followed by a crash once the fever subsides. Then comes the next must-have toy and the cycle continues.
In environments lacking toys, children in Montessori schools are completely absorbed with dressing frames, juice squeezing, banana cutting, using tools, colour tablets, sandpaper letters and numbers, geometric shapes, and materials like the Pink Tower. They all want to get their hands on these materials. This has been happening for over one hundred years. What’s going on?
These materials provide real food for their brains instead of a sugary rush of excitement. They help children in their work of creating independent, functional people, with strong brains and a positive sense of self. Instead of the next must-have toy, think about the materials and experiences your child can get at home.
Thanks to ANNA at Montessorri in Stukely for this.
