THE PLAYHOUSE EXPERIENCE
The Playhouse Mom’s Morning Out program may be the first “classroom” environment your child experiences from home to school. Our environment is prepared to give the child the opportunity to discover himself/herself, through independent activities that focus on each child’s particular stage of development. At the Playhouse, our role is to nurture the child through his or her unconscious absorption of language, community and culture, as well as to encourage and promote the expansion of fine and gross motor movement. The child at this age goes through huge leaps of development and each teacher uses the Montessori tool of observation to best guide each student in his or her growth.
The Playhouse is a Christian Mom’s Morning Out program that is family-oriented and each of our toddler environments welcome open communication with families. Our teachers partner with parents to seek the best possible opportunities for growth and development for each child. Each toddler room has its own personality, but are equally committed to the Playhouse vision and to the Montessori philosophy and curriculum.
The first three years of a child’s life forms the foundation of the person the child will become. The Playhouse offers thoughtful experiences for each child, based on individual needs. This is not a daycare environment; it is a place where our teachers choose to spend their time and energy; to be advocates for the youngest child and to be a guide to the child’s rapid growth.
The MMO program is one that offers learning experiences through realistic, concrete and purposeful “work.” For example, a child can be seen mopping or scrubbing a table, painting, watering plants, or practicing language through objects and cards, or through music and rhyme.
“How can this help my child develop?” you may ask. Consider the simple act of scrubbing a table. This material is created with several purposes in mind:
- It aids in the child’s adaptation to the environment.
- It teaches the child a practical skill – to wash a table.
- It helps the child with the act of becoming functionally independent.
- It aids in the development of the child’s will.
- It coordinates and refines movement.
- It aids in social cohesion.
- The repetition of this work satisfies the child’s need for self-perfection.
- The toddler is in a sensitive period for order, which is satisfied by sequenced work.
- It enriches language by learning the names of all of the parts of the work.
- It aids in the development of self-esteem and self-confidence.
- It aids in the integration of movement, intellect and will, which will lead the child to normalizing in the environment.
This is just one of the materials in the classroom. Each item on the shelf provides a similar list of purposes, designed specifically to assist the child.
Our time at school is joyful; singing, laughing, playing in our recreation room, and, yes, working. The efforts of these toddlers are lighthearted and do not hold the same negative connotation that adults often associate with the term “work”. It is the important work of learning words, learning to use the bathroom, learning to be independent, and learning to care for the environment and others in it. The children are given the utmost respect in the classroom. Our classrooms never force a child to work; the child is offered learning opportunities and, through this, the child desires to do a task and repeat it until he or she is satisfied. The adults in the environment have the enormous task of fostering the child’s independence, self-esteem, and self-confidence, all the while guiding the child to more challenging and satisfying tasks. There is nothing more fulfilling to us than watching your children grow into the people they will become!