A basic tenet of Montessori learning is to “follow the child.” This makes particular sense with a toddler, because really, you can’t force a toddler’s interest. Either she’s interested in something or she’s not.
I recently pulled this matching game together after Bean started collecting letters from around the apartment.
For months now, Bean has been noticing and picking up on written language. She’d point to letters on subway cars and shout “LETTERS, MOMMY.” Did you know letters are all over boxes at the supermarket too? And in mommy’s crossword puzzle? And on street signs? “MOMMY! THERE’S LETTERS ON THIS!” became the hymn to my day.
I had no idea how to follow the child in this instance. Sing the alphabet song? We bought letter toys and an alphabet place mat, both of which she was mildly interested in. One day, I noticed that she’d grouped letters on the refrigerator by shape (b/d/p/q and m/n/u and l/i/r/j etc) Another day, she started pulling letters from her word puzzle toy, and matching them to her refrigerator letters.
Follow the child. She’s not learning her alphabet. She’s interested in letters as curious shapes. And she loves matching things.
Might as well follow the child and turn it into a proper game for her.
This tray is still quite challenging for her. I only put four letters in it at a time, and ones that are very distinct from each other. The letter pieces come from various toys we already had (Melissa & Doug Magnetic Wooden Alphabet, Hape Lowercase Alphabet Puzzle, and Melissa & Doug See & Spell) and I made the laminate alphabet cards.
She usually first rounds up all the letter pieces that match, and then tries to locate the card they all go with. I feel like she is working through a lot of things in the process — that letters can look differently depending on the font, that a two dimensional object can be rendered as three dimensional object and still be considered the same thing– in addition to learning her letters.
As with any matching game, this is also an excellent way for her to learn vocabulary or, in this instance, the sound of each letter. As she plays, she wonders where the “d”s all go?
I don’t feel like this is rushing the reading process at all. She is learning the alphabet, in her own way, in her own time. It’s just another wonderful Montessori tray.
