If you want to become a Montessori teacher, along with certification courses you must also know about Montessori classroom toys. Having a Diploma in Montessori teachers training will enable learners to gather a lot of knowledge in Montessori teaching approaches. Over here, you shall get thorough information about early childhood care in young children.
The Montessori method of education involves the use of multiple items to boost up a child's development via improving his/her social skills, fine motor skills, cognitive skills, and so on. Wooden toys, art and craft materials, etc., are being used in the classroom and the benefits of Montessori toys are literally numerous! There are mainly two kinds of toys that are used in these classrooms, open-end toys and close-end toys.
Both of these toys have several significant importance where children learn a lot in this process and ultimately become self-dependent in the long run. Dr. Maria Montessori believed in the principle that kids should be made independent from childhood and hence the Montessori methodologies focus on guiding the learners to the greatest extent possible. Using these toys, kids can figure out how to sort out problems themselves. The Montessori teacher training course gives detailed information about how to use those toys and their benefits.
Benefits of open-ended toys:
A creative mind - These toys can be used in many different ways. The scope is endless and children usually come up with several innovative ideas and play with those toys.
No fixed schedule - One of the significant benefits of these open-ended toys is that they are extremely calming and refreshing. Sometimes after a tedious classroom session, kids become mentally tired and they need some solid recreation. Since open-ended toys can be used as per a child's imagination, playing with those toys can be quite tranquilizing.
Framing stories - Children often use open-ended toys to enact a play or tell a story.
Own world - Open-ended toys are one of the most fascinating items that kids love playing in the Montessori classroom. Their level of imagination increases and this often helps them in visualizing great ideas. They play hours after hours with these toys and enjoy time in their own world.
Benefits of Close-ended toys:
Sense of ownership - Every close-ended toy has a specific mission and children play with these toys when they aim for a particular goal. Kids feel special and a sense of ownership works when they get to play with these toys.
Becoming an expert - While using close-ended toys, children aim for a specific purpose and once they down finishing a task or assignment with those toys, they feel accomplished. They start believing that with the proper focus they can reach a target and become an expert.
Concentration - The level of concentration in a child increase when such toys are being used. It is because close-ended toys are having a fixed pattern and unlike open-ended toys, kids cannot use them as per their imagination. Hence, while solving such games, they concentrate more.
Rectification - There are many close-ended toys that allow kids to rectify themselves while playing with those. For example, puzzles are a type of such toys and any misfitting puzzle will immediately let children know that they're doing something wrong and need to play correctly.
Specific Skills - Every close-ended toy has a motto. It teaches specific skills to kids like organizing items, writing, reading, framing a story, and so on. Besides, there are many instructions written on those toys that kids should follow after playing like cleaning up.
Thus, the debate on this topic is actually endless because the utility of both of these toys is more than awesome. Hence, the Montessori classroom toys can be perfectly handled by a Montessori teacher who has already gained the knowledge of using the toys through a Diploma in Montessori teachers training course.
Written By : Roshni Chatterjee