Montessori activities for 3 year-old children

We mentioned before that Montessori activities that aim that the child understands the nature of the things around him and their names, depend mainly on the stimulation and employment of his senses, because the child’s senses are the correct and easy entrance to his knowledge.

In this article, we present some Montessori activities that are suitable for the age of 3 years and older, and help in strengthening the muscles of the hands and the sense of sight and hearing.

Examples of activities aimed at developing the sense of sight:

We will notice that the activities that stimulate the child’s sense of sight also work at the same time to employ and activate the rest of the other senses.

These activities seek to achieve their goal through activities that provide the child with tools that differ in shape, color and size, and the child has to distinguish between types of shapes, colors or sizes.

Exercise 1: colored buttons

Tools used in the activity:

1- Groups of colored buttons, each group similar to each other, either in shape, size or color, but mixed together.

2- A number of small pots

Ask him to put each similar group together in a small bowl so that they match the classification; This exercise develops the child’s classification skills and enables him to notice the differences.

He also develops his muscular skills by picking up similar shapes and placing them in the appropriate place and working on developing his visual synergy .

Note: This exercise is under the supervision of parents to prevent the child from swallowing the buttons.

Stacking activity (alternative to the pink tower activity)

He knows the activity of the pink tower in the world of Montessori, but we can replace it at home with some available tools of gradual size (measuring jars, trays or food containers); For the child to stack them inside each other according to their size.

Some activities to develop the sense of hearing

The child’s sense of hearing develops with his age, and he begins to distinguish the sources of sounds and differentiate between different sounds. Therefore, through Montessori activities, we seek to develop the sense of hearing by providing some auditory activities and exercises.

Dried beans exercise:

Dried beans give great results when placed in a glass bowl and half full, their ideal size ensures that they do not get into the baby’s nose or ears. The child is also asked to take a handful of them and put them in the bowl again and hear the sounds of them hitting the bowl.

It is normal for some beans to scatter outside the bowl. Be patient and ask your child to collect them and put them in the glass bowl again. This will be doubly beneficial and along with the ear exercise to hear the sounds will help the child to be patient and collect the beans and help the mother with the housework.

Hand muscle strengthening activities:

The activity of loosening and tightening nuts or loosening and tightening the caps of small bottles

One of the activities that helps your child to strengthen his hand muscles and prepare him for writing, and if the nuts are not available, they can be replaced with empty bottles and cans, and the caps should be placed on the bottle or the box designated for it.

Muscle strengthening activity with clamps:

Among the activities that also strengthen the hand muscles and nerves, it is preferable to use small paper clips, not clothespins, because they are difficult to use.