The Kavanaugh Report

 There's something a little overwhelming about buying stocking stuffers for me. I want something that isn't just little junk that is going to fall apart, I want it to meet my children's interests, and be something that they are actually going to use. But, it also needs to be small and affordable. And there needs to be more than one - ahh!  I have some go-to ideas that I fall back on for my kids every year - socks and underwear, for sure. Our stockings typically include five or six items plus a couple of candy/treat options. While some of it is small toys, I also like to explore some practical options that fit their current interests without feeling un-fun. So I thought I would share some more Montessori friendly practical stocking stuffers ideas.  Practical Stocking Stuffer Ideas for Kids I highly recommend following your child's developmental stage and interests when considering what gifts to give them. But here are some ideas by age for inspiration: Babies  Fleece ...

Oh I just love Montessori toddlerhood. There is so much goodness in watching your child perfect all the skills that they have learned up until this point. Walking through life with so much confidence, having such strong convictions, and just so much energy.   Penelope is coming down to her final months as a 2-year-old. As excited as I am to watch my baby move on into the next phase in her development, I'm savoring these last few months with a toddler-toddler. And we are just slowly living life here at home. I thought I would share a few of the things that keep us both busy all day at 2. Montessori Toddler Favorites at 2-years-old I can't possibly share everything she does. But, I have broken down into a few areas and I'm hitting her favorites that she comes back to time and time again. Remember that this is specific to Penelope and might look different to your 2-year-old. Use this as inspiration but take time to observe and prepare your environment specifically for your chi...

Creating an environment where my young children have access to a variety of materials is important to me as a Montessori parent. But, as a parent with five kids, access to paint has been a harder one for me to implement. While I know there are so many great benefits to painting at an easel - creative expression, opportunities for crossing the midline, cause and effect - the potential mess sometimes outweighs my readiness to make it available.  And, full transparency, I don't make paint available all the time. Instead, I choose when I have the capacity to be an available and prepared adult. While I hope that is often, access does ebb and flow based on other factors in our lives. But, I have found a few easel painting hacks that have made painting a lot easier. A few simple changes and I'm much more willing to let my toddlers paint.  Montessori Parenting Tips for Toddlers and Painting Easels  Like many things in a Montessori environment, a few quick changes make all the dif...

I can't believe another year has passed and we are back to Montessori Christmas gift lists again! I just love putting these lists together and really using my observation skills to figure out what is the best gifts for each of my children. If you see your children in these lists, please use them as inspiration and share with family and friends!  Just a reminder, this list only includes my children that are 12 and under. If you are looking for an adolescent list, you can find one in my Winter issue of my new magazine Joyful Seasons .  Real Life Montessori Christmas Lists  These are there entire lists but that does not mean that I will be buying all of this. Some of the actual purchasing decisions will depend on what I find on sale, what is in stock, and what family members decide to buy. Those decisions are all made in the coming weeks.  With that said, here's a look at our family's Christmas lists for 2024 from youngest to oldest! Gifts for Toddlers (Penelope) Penelo...

It feels like an impossible task to feature all the best Montessori friendly small shops that exist in the world, because it really is. There are so many amazing shops that showcase truly unique and fun Montessori friendly materials for kids at home. In this small shop gift guide, I'm sharing some of my favorite finds from 2024, from both shops I've loved for years, and some places that are new to me.  My hope is that you'll find a little something for everyone on this list as you are shopping this holiday season. If there is a small shop out there that I need to know about, put it in the comments, I love discovering new places and materials!  Montessori Friendly Small Shop Gifts and Toys to Love  Below I have organized the lists in general categories so that you can find a little something for everyone on the list (including yourself!). Here are some of the best finds from 2024:   For the Home Montessori friendly small shop finds for the home:  Display She...

As a Montessori parent, my goal is to support my children's developmental needs here at home. While my children attend Montessori schools, so the bulk of their exposure to traditional Montessori materials is at school, I try to support that learning here at home in Montessori friendly ways. Generally, that means in ways that connect their interests to the things that they are interested in learning. Ideally, in the preschool years, I want to keep that learning concrete, make sure there is some control of error, and that it has some movement/sensorial component.  Games are often a fun way to hook my kids in repeating skills that they are learning at school. Often when it comes to learning games, people think about math games. But, you can also play simple literacy games to practice sounds and reading words. Even in a Montessori classroom, games are used in many different content areas to get preschoolers interested in and coming back to work.  A Fun Montessori Friendly Literacy...

My kids go through phases of being really into block play and then phases of not. Right now, we seem to be in a block heavy phase again. I love watching them create with blocks, explore different ways to build, combine, and imagine with them. They are a great way to add pretend play to a Montessori home that is child-led and open ended.  Now, I'm no expert when it comes to block play. For that, I would recommend going to a checking out all the resources from Sami at Everyday with E and J  and her instagram for so much inspiration. But, sometimes it's helpful just to see what blocks make other people's collections - especially when it's not a huge collection of every kind of block.  Favorite Blocks in Our Montessori Home Again, this is not some extensive list of all the possibilities for blocks, not even close! This is just a look at our sets in a house with kids that like block play, but aren't obsessed with it. There are lots of possibilities when it comes to block...

Is Montessori really for babies? What did Montessori herself say about babies? Recently I had a post go viral on Instagram (come follow me there for a lot of real life, everyday fun) and one of the comments made me laugh a bit. See the post was about spills while offering a baby an open cup - the weaning cup - a quintessential Montessori babyhood thing. The comments went a little crazy, as they do on viral posts, but one stood out to me.  The comment, "Montessori was a preschool educator starting at age 2.5," highlighted a very common misconception about Montessori and the method itself. But, this myth remains pervasive in our culture. So often the word Montessori is slapped on products that have nothing to do with the method, and it makes people think it's just a marketing gimmick by companies. It's important to remember that Montessori is not exclusive to preschool, and talked extensively about babies under age 2.  3 Quotes from Maria Montessori on Babies for Paren...

One of my favorite parts of being a Montessori parent is preparing my environment to meet the needs of my children. It's been amazing to me that even small parts of our environment really need to change as my children move from the first plane of development to the second plane. In the elementary years, kids need more space, time, and tools to create big work. They are less concerned with order and precision, and more concerned with their big ideas.  In the early childhood years, everything in our environment is about order and access. That extends to the way we present art materials. Everything is organized and ready for our young children on small trays. The materials are all in one place ready to use. Ideally they aren't gathering too much around the environment and can get to work quickly as they feel called.  Organizing Art Supplies in the Second Plane of Development However, that all changes as children enter the second plane. They no longer need things to be organized e...

I'm so excited to finally introduce this project to the world - say hello to Joyful Seasons: Montessori Parenting, Everyday Inspiration, and Thoughtful Ideas to Nurture Every Season !  For years, I have wanted to create a publication that felt more inline with my everyday parenting experience. I wanted glimpses into what other Montessori parents were doing, lessons on what they have learned, and inspiration from their homes.  PURCHASE YOUR COPY HERE Blogs are wonderful, but they are scattered in a million different places. Pinterest is overwhelming, and other social media is too surface level. Nothing quite fit what I was looking for. I longed for the days of sitting on the couch browsing a magazine - something beautiful and quick, but also informative and impactful.  Dreaming up a Montessori Parenting Magazine While this has been a dream in my head for awhile, I finally made it a reality over the last couple of months. I reached out to some of my favorite Montessori cont...

Children are so fascinating for a lot of reasons! But one of the things that I find particularly fascinating about young children is all the different ways that they interact with the world. Play is an important part in how all children learn, explore, and master their environment. Maria Montessori was clear that a child's work is their play, and their play is their work. As Montessori parents we need to value how our children play and work to understand their play.  For me, an important part of understanding my children's play has come from learning more about play schema. Schema are a patterns of play that children use in order to understand the world around them. In very basic terms, play schema are "the how." How are children choosing to use materials? How are children processing their sensorial input? How are children exploring the materials in the environment? How are the children moving in the environment? Often play schema provide the answers to these question...