Even though modern media often portrays young children as clumsy, loud, and noisy, children who are on a path of normal, healthy development—what Montessori called normalization—have a love of silence.
Watching a six-week-old baby playing with a floor mobile, I see a child who is wide-eyed and quiet. It seems as though the child is using the quiet to figure out the surrounding environment.
Reach for the butterfly on the mobile. The butterfly moves, and a chortle of delight follows.
Reach for the butterfly again. It moves, and a look of accomplishment follows.
Kick the support, and all the bugs on the mobile move. The child repeatedly kicks the support with both feet, then stops, watching the bugs twirl and then come to a stop.
The telephone rings. The child hears her mother’s voice, and the exploration of the bug mobile stops. The child turns her head toward the sound of her mother’s voice.
The silence is broken, along with the child’s exploration of the effects of movement and her concentration on the activity.
It is as though, in the stillness, the child is aligning thought and desire with action—beginning the process of independent action.
A child’s frustration can begin with the noisy and often unavoidable interruptions of everyday life:
- The phone ringing.
- Music playing in the background.
- Street noises.
- Television.
- Other children’s movements and sounds.
Being given a quiet place to work out what to do next allows a baby to learn to trust their inner instincts and understand how their actions affect—or do not affect—their bug mobile and, eventually, their larger world.
As this confidence builds day by day, the child comes to appreciate the quiet that supports the connection between thought and action.
The two-and-a-half-year-old loves learning how to carry a chair and place it carefully on the floor, one leg at a time, with almost imperceptible quietness.
Young children realize that their shoes make distracting noises on the floor and may choose to walk in their socks, go barefoot, or tiptoe.
In a Montessori classroom, you will see children walking carefully to another person in order to talk to them rather than yelling across the room.
Children in Montessori classrooms are empowered to get another person’s attention by ringing a bell softly or turning off a light.
When children are offered a place of quiet where they can form their own thoughts and follow through with their actions, we see the emergence of a love and respect for silence.
One of the games we play in Montessori environments is the Silence Game.
Here’s how to play:
Darken a room and ask the children to listen without talking. Count silently, using your fingers to help the children focus on remaining silent. Sit quietly for 60 seconds, then ask what they hear.
When I play the Silence Game with children, I’m amazed at what they notice:
- The hum of the fluorescent lights.
- Cars going by.
- The faucet dripping.
- The wind in the trees.
- A dog barking down the street.
Lengthen the time by thirty seconds each time you play.
This is a simple but powerful learning game that strengthens a child’s need for—and love of—silence.
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