Aruna: Avidly Adventurous!

This moment was humbling as i taught and guided these children from Salama Gachie community on environmental sustainability. I observed them engage in this practical life exercise as they dug and planted seedlings on this portion of garden.They understood that nurturing nature is everyone's call. Respect for the child as you guide them with these planting instructions allows them to learn about various garden tools and types of seedlings.This learning will be their way of life and in turn inspire other children who want to be part of such activities.We need to allow our children to participate in such exercises that allows their contribution to nature's conservation appreciated. Direct aim: Learning environment sustainability and its wellbeing . Indirect aim: Cultivating a sense of responsibility, furthermore connecting to nature.

This Practical life philosophy reveals a child’s inner needs. Here, a teacher; referred to as ‘a guide’, demonstrates but allows the child to do it alone-this helps the child develop motor skills. This activity of ‘dressing frames’, encourages a child to learn through experience. Here, this child is practicing tying shoe laces. The guide demonstrate this new skill, a few times before letting her try on her own Direct aim is to teach shoe-lacing and indirect aim is encouraging Independence, Patience, concentration and Coordination.

The Botany Cabinet, a Montessori sensorial material, plays a role in introducing children to the world of botany; giving them a chance to navigate the world through a scientific lens. Children at three years of age can use this practical life material. This developmental period is when they become familiar with the pincer grip. They also extend this exercise by comparing and matching the leaf shapes with plants outside or within the inside environment. Its primary aim is to encourage children to improve their senses of sight and touch as they explore this material. The secondary aim of the material is to familiarize the child to the language and concepts associated with the studies of botany and science.

Folding dinner table napkins is a fun activity that can improve your child’s Patience, focus and concentration. As you guide the child to learn how to fold it, note that the napkin should have the stitched indication grid lines. This improves the child’s eye- hand coordination and as they practice, they are refining their pincer grip. We should be keen as we gauge and introduce the child to different types of napkin folding depending on their age and your observation on their readiness or how skilled they are as each child is unique in their own way. The different napkins vary according to their grid indication lines. This control of error lines alerts them if they are on the right path of folding and unfolding. These napkin shapes also introduce them to basics on geometry and fraction in their future lessons. A fabric that is not too soft or hard is recommended. Let the child do this activity a few times for them to learn properly with your guidance.

The journey began in 2012. I always wanted to do something in the field of education and so when the opportunity arose, we purchased a kindergarten school.   . I had no knowledge of the Montessori method. I had to take over the school and then study the method. Then the owner left after the handover. I had to compress a two year course into one year. We took over when just thirty students were enrolled. I was teaching and studying as well as trying to implement what I was studying.  So it became more interesting. Then it started becoming very fascinating as I began implementing innovative ideas. These were not exactly in the syllabus but closely connected to it . Then I began studying child psychology to understand young children better. Then came a point when I wanted to educate more and more mothers about the Montessori method so they could implement it at home too. Thus children would benefit more. I used to do home visits to educate mothers. I also used to invite them to s...

Two years ago, I met a young lady at a function organized by my temple. While chatting with her, I told her about my school and the Teacher's Training college I run on my campus. Before I knew it, she had enrolled for the course and over a short period of time, we became good friends. She was actively following my posts about all the work I had been doing for various social causes. She became very interested in the sanitary pads project and approached me to showcase the project to people from our community, during the seventy five years in existence celebration at the East Africa Satsang Swaminarayan Temple. I met the fund raising committee of the temple to explain the details of my reusable sanitary pads project as well as the dry foods collection project. Fortunately it was approved quickly and we started working on the finer details of our plan. One Sunday was demarcated for my speech, when the temple attendance would be maximum, ensuring that we could reach a large number of ...

A Unique Place… A couple of days ago I visited an establishment which houses young girls who, for various reasons, have to stay there.  I was genuinely delighted to find that it was neat, clean and tidy place and well maintained. The girls were studying in a class room when we reached there.  In their spare time, they make handicrafts, which are then sold and the money kept aside for the creator of that particular craft item. They are talented young girls! It seemed to be a caring and nurturing environment but some of the girls need counselling in order to process all that they have been through in their young lives.  Everyone has a dream for themselves and it is important to give young people a second chance. All of us make mistakes in life and a chance to redeem ourselves in our own eyes and in the eyes of the world is essential. Most people we know have fancy wish lists which include Items like expensive cars, branded clothes, antique jewellery and foreign hol...