Good Adaptation Leads to Transformation of the Environment

“…we see that rather than adapting to the environment, he creates an environment to suit himself” - Maria Montessori

Recently we were lucky enough to be gifted a fish tank. It now has pride of place in our environment and the school of beautiful little neon tetras are a source of delight for our children.

At Aroha Nui Montessori we offer a prepared environment where practical life materials and experiences are freely offered. Children have presentations when they show an interest or if it is part of the current life experience (for example cleaning up the table or sweeping after a meal).

We observe that once introduced (or perhaps if they have observed an adult or other child using the materials) children spontaneously explore materials, and make their own connections of what can be used where - so it was entirely natural to see our window cleaning setup being used to clean the glass of the fish tank.

We are always (quietly) excited when we see this kind of learning in action. It offers us a view into the child's developing intellect and reveals to us what Dr Montessori called the process of adaptation.

When we know what needs to be done, how to do it and where to find all the tools needed for each task we feel a sense of agency.

We believe that a sense of belonging is essential to a child’s well-being and this is true for adults too - having ways to contribute to community life is one of the easiest ways we can build this strong sense of belonging - after all we can all think of ways to invite others to be part of community life.

We encourage you to think about the ways you invite and support children to offer their contributions to your environment or family…

Aroha Nui

Carli