Friendship development in toddlers is an intriguing process, marked by significant milestones and stages. Here’s a breakdown of how it typically unfolds:

In the early stages, toddlers engage in parallel play, where they play alongside each other without much interaction. They may observe each other’s activities but don’t actively engage together.

As toddlers grow, they start to engage in associative play, where they begin to interact with each other during playtime. They may share toys, take turns, or mimic each other’s actions.

As children mature and develop social skills, they start to engage in cooperative play, where they interact with peers to achieve common goals or participate in group activities. This stage encourages collaboration, communication, negotiation, and empathy.

These stages of play are not strictly sequential, and children may engage in multiple stages simultaneously or move back and forth between them based on their interests and developmental needs. In a Montessori classroom, the environment is carefully prepared to support and facilitate each stage of play, allowing children to learn and grow at their own pace.

It has been exciting to witness the blossoming of friendships among the children both in the classroom and on the playground. 

This week, we learned about white button mushrooms. If you ask your children where they grow, they will probably tell you, “in the dark, in the dirt.” They may also tell you that their teachers both love mushroom pizza! We examined the stem and the cap, and the children enjoyed taking a closer look using a magnifying glass. Not everybody was willing to try a piece of mushroom, but we kept offering – we engaged in our food-tasting lesson all week long! The class was fascinated by the mushrooms and truly enjoyed exploring them.

Looking forward to an exciting week ahead! Christine & Lizette

The highlight of the week was Grandparents and Special Friends Day. We saw true joy on the children’s faces as they showed their loved ones around the classroom. Thank you all for coming and taking an interest and spending some special time with your beloved toddlers. 

We also celebrated a friend’s birthday this week. This birthday was a little different, as he was the first to turn three years old! We enjoyed doughnut holes as we listened to Happy Birthday by the Ting Tings and read a book about a dinosaur who played baseball. The children’s favorite part of celebrating their friends’ birthdays is to look at their baby photos. It is truly heartwarming to see them take such an interest.

In celebration of Earth Day this week,  we delved into discussions about our precious planet and the importance of taking care of it. We emphasized the significance of properly disposing of trash in either the garbage or recycling bins. The children had the opportunity to paint Earth using blue and green paint, which represented water and land. 

We’ve been exploring fascinating African wildlife, including zebras, giraffes, hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, elephants, and more. Our learning journey has involved reading books, visual matching activities, puzzles, and, of course, vocabulary enrichment. 

We tasted both black and green olives this week. A handful of the children could not get enough of the green ones; a few seemed to like the black, and another group did not appear to be fond of either type. There are hundreds of different types of olives, so we encouraged the children to try others at home. We discussed olive oil, as the connection was brought up by one of the children. 

Enjoy the weekend! Christine & Lizette