Today we’re going to be talking about Montessori rugs! Typically, when one thinks about Montessori baby activities, rolling Montessori rugs may not be the first thing that comes to mind. (For me anyway…) That being said, rolling and unrolling rugs actually may be one of the Montessori activities done most often throughout your child’s Montessori education!
In Montessori, we typically use floor rugs and size appropriate wooden tables to offer traditional Montessori lessons.
Lets for a second imagine walking into a Montessori Infant Classroom. It is likely that you will see Montessori work being done on Montessori rugs on the floor. Believe it or not, that is totally normal in the Nido Classroom! This offers our babies an opportunity to grab a material from the shelf and work right where their interest began!
The What and Why Behind Montessori Rugs
Montessori rugs are the rugs on which Montessori materials and lessons are presented on the ground. Actually, they are offered from infancy through elementary as an option to work.
In infant education, Montessori rugs are a great way to offer an isolated space to present activities to non-mobile babies and crawlers on the floor. If you think about how a slithering and crawling child naturally grabs materials from a shelf, it likely would look like a grab and pull onto the ground. That said, Montessori rugs offer a specific and purposeful workspace for our babies. Presenting materials on Montessori rugs fulfills our babies innate sense of order and offers an element of consistency as their materials change.
Pro Tips: Where to Find Montessori Infant Rugs
Believe it or not, one of my favorite things to use as Montessori rugs is *drum roll please* …. table placemats! Placemats are the perfect size for infant and young toddler work and can actually be found pretty much everywhere! I typically head to my local HomeGoods and search the kitchen area for some rad mats for my babies.
(These rugs were on super clearance at HomeGoods!)
I suggest storing your mats in either a tall slim basket. They also fit perfectly on small wine racks. 🙂 (Just like the one I have pictured above)
How to Offer the Montessori Rug Lesson
In addition to storing the Montessori rugs, you’ll probably want to know how to present the rolling/unrolling rug lesson to your baby! The idea is to use each hand, grab the edge of the mat and slowly roll once. Once you have completed one roll you will want to use your other hand to grab the roll and roll it once more. Do this until the mat is completely rolled!
In regards to unrolling the mat, slowly use your fingers to pull on the roll to release the mat. (Essentially you want it to be slow enough so your baby can observe.) And that’s it! You may need to show it a couple of times as your child develops. That said it is a fun and easy presentation!
This lesson is great for fine motor refinement and honors our babies innate inner sense of order!
Of course while having child-sized tables are amazing, Montessori rugs are a wonderful option to have as a part of your classroom or home environment. Try this out and let me know what you think in the comments below!
Sending so much love to everyone… 🙂