One of the many universal learning and teaching principles used in Montessori education is the idea of the prepared environment.
Created and maintained by the adults in that space, a prepared environment consists of four components: people, tools and objects, ideas and nature.
What does a prepared environment look like?
Let’s start with an example with which most of us are familiar: a restaurant.
Restaurants usually specialize in a cuisine, from hamburgers to cordon bleu.
The people are prepared to cook and serve they type of food being offered. They clean, take care of customer requests and all those other niceties we expect.
The tools and objects we expect to see depend on the type of restaurant. Fast food or sit down? Do we see an order and pick-up counter? Or is there a sign that asks us to wait to be seated? Paper or cloth napkins? Flowers or ketchup on the table? Lighting? Wall décor? Floor covering? Sound scape of music or orders being called over a loudspeaker?
What about the ideas in our prepared environment of a restaurant? Cheap food fast? Expensive food slow? Jeans okay? Or are we expected to dress some other way? Do we need a reservation? Or do we wait in the bar until our buzzer goes off?
How is nature evident in a restaurant? I like to think that food is part of nature and that it should be presented as such, but many times that is not the case. Does the space allow natural light in with windows and skylights? Are the plants inside the restaurant? Is the outside landscaped or surrounded by a parking lot? Are the colors and sounds of nature included in the environment—blues and greens and perhaps the sounds of a fountain or stream?
I hope that you are beginning to see that a restaurant is a planned and prepared environment, designed to create a customer experience, whatever the vision of the restauranteur may be.
As we prepare environments for our children at school and at home, we should carefully consider the people, tool and objects (and technology falls into this area, also), ideas, and nature.
The prepared environment communicates to all of us…expectations, opportunities, and contributions.
A Montessori prepared environment is thoughtfully created, using the experience of over 100 years of observing children to understand the settings and activities where children can and will engage.
This is a key idea:
How do we prepare an environment for optimum learning experiences that lead to the development of competency, a sense of belonging, independence, order, coordination, concentration, respect for self and others, all while being a contributing member of the community?
Care of the environment in a prepared environment becomes a crucial aspect of meeting developmental needs of children, as well as adults.
Many of us have experienced the sense of satisfaction and ownership by putting together a piece of furniture. IKEA considers building their products an important part of their customers’ long-term sense of enjoyment. There’s even a term for it, “the IKEA effect”. Creating and caring for your environment creates a kind of contentment.
What is included in children’s care of the environment?
First, we need to make sure that the tasks for children are real and purposeful. Their tasks are not pretend play.
We offer real tools for real work. We offer child-sized tools–brooms, mops, sponges, buckets, cleaning and drying cloths.
Children around the age of three love to clean and we show them how to do it.
- Sweeping and mopping floors
- Washing tables
- Cleaning mirrors and windows
- Dusting shelves
- Polishing wooden boxes, metal, glass
- Cleaning spills
- Leaving materials ready for the next person
We offer a sense of order; a place for everything and everything in its place.
- Sorting objects
- Setting and clearing snack and lunch tables
- Folding cloths and napkins
- Returning materials to their proper place
- Checking shelves and straightening materials
Children care for plants and animals.
- Polishing leaves of a rubber tree plant
- Water plants
- Flower arranging
- Picking produce from the community garden
- Planting seeds
- Feeding classroom pets
- Cleaning pet homes
We involve the children in food preparation and clean up.
- Preparing snacks and meals
- Cutting and slicing fruits and vegetables
- Setting the table
- Serving food
- Washing dishes (real breakable dishes!)
- Drying and putting away dishes
- Composting food scraps
- Kitchen clean up
Children’s work extends into the outdoor environment.
- Sweeping patios and walkways
- Raking leaves
- Shoveling snow
- Weeding and watering garden beds and pots
- Picking up litter and yard debris
- Organizing tools
Children learn to care for the people in their environment.
- Offering assistance, “How may I help?”
- Holding doors
- Saying hello
- Speaking with respect
- Using peaceful ways to solve problems and conflict
- Helping younger child
- Putting away activities, leaving them ready for the next person
As we offer children opportunities for activities in specially prepared environments, they develop the following:
- Independence,
- Respect for their work and the work of others,
- The ability to self-regulate,
- Executive function skills, as well as
- A sense of belonging and purpose.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to work with adults with those skills?
Learning to care for yourself, your school and your home form important developmental building blocks.
Let’s offer our children opportunities to learn the skills of caring.
