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Children under three, especially toddlers
often have a very negative reputation.

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Those terrible twos.

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We often think toddlers are unruly,

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that they are very egotistical,

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which they are and need to be for a while.

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We often think of them as being
very difficult to handle,

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very difficult to discipline…

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Before the will develops
there is an energy

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that is directing the child’s development.

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That energy is referred to as the Horme.

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The Horme is sometimes defined as a life force.

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And it’s evident in all living organisms.

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It’s that force that pushes that organism 
to become what it is supposed to become.

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Dr. Montessori talked about the idea that

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we are able to touch
the periphery of the child.

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The exterior of the child if you will,

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and there is a center inside that child.

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And inside that center is this secret of childhood.

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This incredible bundle of energy
that she called Horme.

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This is what is the core
inside of each of us.

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That we’re born with and
given the ability to construct ourselves.

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No parent taught their child to speak
or taught their child to move,

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it was because they are driven from inside.

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Young children have a very active Horme.

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So children aren’t being disobedient to adults.

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They’re really obeying this very strong, 
very internal force that they can’t deny.

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So a child who has to move all the time 
is being moved from inside to do that movement.

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That’s the power of this Horme.

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Nature knows that’s the process

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and is putting that child on
that path of development

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so that they can stand and free their hands


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and then they can explore the environment

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and that’s when we need to give them materials

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to manipulate, to develop the control
and coordination that happens.

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The art of working with young children

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is to try to figure out what it is 
they are needing to do--

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they are being pushed 
to do from this energy--

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and ask them to do it.

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Freedom is a point of arrival.

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It is not where we begin.

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It’s not a point of departure.

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And children are given various freedoms, 
depending on their increasing ability

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to handle the responsibilities 
that come with those freedoms.

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Montessori talked about
the development of the will.

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That as a child’s will developed

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their ability to make a choice and 
take responsibility for that choice,

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it had enormous impact on their ability 
to function in a social setting,

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with a set of rules, accepting
those rules gradually,

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whether or not they even agreed with them.

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The child first starts out just lifting their head.

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And then slithering.

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You can’t even notice it sometimes
when they are slithering,

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and all of a sudden you notice,

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they are two feet from where 
they were when I looked last.

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And then, slowly, rolling from back to front.

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And eventually crawling.

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And pulling up.

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And attached walking and walking…

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and then beyond that 
with the challenges of running.

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As soon as they walk, they 
want to start running and climbing

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and challenging themselves
in more difficult ways.

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So we look at the whole continuum 
from birth to three,

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in terms of gross motor

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as well as fine motor.

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So the development of the grasps,

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from reflexive all the way to a fine pincer grasp,

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that they can learn by the age of nine months

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if they are given the opportunities.

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And the materials to help 
those muscles to develop,

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and to help those
neurological pathways to connect

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so they can use their hands 
to affect their environment.

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Movement is the key.

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It’s through movement that we develop our brain.

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An environment for young children 
really has to have enough space

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so that the environment itself

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is not an obstacle 
to their development.

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And often unconsciously 
we create those obstacles

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by making spaces too small or too cluttered
or too crowded with furniture

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so they really can’t practice 
the movements they need to practice.

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Sometimes the obstacle is an adult’s attitude.

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“Stop moving so much.”

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“Stop climbing up and down off the chair.”

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“Stop pushing, stop pulling, stop climbing… stop…”

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All the movements they need to practice.

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We often try to stop them 
because it is an annoyance us.

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And yet we have to understand that 
to perfect their gross body movements,

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but also their hand movements, 
they HAVE to practice.

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And they need a lot of practice.

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So the environments they need 
for the whole first three years

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are going to change significantly.

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But the change is based 
on their developmental needs.

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The hand is so allied to 
the development of the brain

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and the work of the brain

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that sometimes I think we shortchange it

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by not giving enough to the work of the hand.

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Neurologically, children can make 
what is referred to as a primitive pincer grip,

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which is a very flattened kind of 
index finger and thumb grip.

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That’s a neurological acquisition.

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To move this from this real tight 
flattened pinched movement

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to a refined pincer or what’s called 
a mature pincer is experience.

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That’s not neurological-

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it creates a neurological pattern,
but that comes from experience.

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This comes from neurological development.

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How many of our children are stuck here?

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Rather than being allowed 
to move to something like this? 
And it comes early.

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Still if you are a three-to-six teacher

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you see children coming 
in to your environments

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with very immature hand skills.

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It’s simply environment that has caused that.

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It’s not their brain.

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It’s not. It’s just their experiences
that have caused that.

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During the second year the child
is becoming a socialized human being.

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Up until that point they are very egotistical.

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But gradually they come to understand
that everyone in this group has certain needs.

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Has certain rights. Not just me.

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And as they understand that,

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this social development is occurring simultaneously
with the Horme declining in its power

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and the will becoming stronger and stronger.

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And we support that development 
by giving young children choices.

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But also allowing them to experience
the consequences of those choices.

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We empower them by giving them choices.

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You can do A or B.

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We’ve controlled the situation 
by the choices we give them.

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But we empower them to make that choice.

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“You need to get off the table.”

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“Can you do it by yourself or 
do you need me to help you?”

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“We’re going outside.”

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Can you put your shoes on by yourself 
or do you need some help?”

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It’s a choice.

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So when we can empower them that way, 
we’re also feeding this developing will.

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Because they are making choices 
that they then get to see the responsibility for. ..

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I think one of the secrets to making
all of this work with toddlers

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is to have very few rules.

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We have one overriding rule:

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you may do nothing that hurts yourself, 
others or the environment.

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If you think of that overriding rule,

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that gives you such a big parameter 
to guide this development.

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And we try to use a positive approach.

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“We walk inside, we run outside.”

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“We talk inside, we yell outside.”

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So we give them all of these limits, 
if we want to call them limits,

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by voicing them in a positive way.

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If children are living in an environment 
where there are no limits,

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where they can do anything they want, 
whenever they want, however they want,

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that is absolute abandonment. 
The greatest fear of a child.

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So that the limits that we do create, 
and there aren’t very many,

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but the ones that are there are very clear, 
give a child the structure.

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Give them the security of knowing
this is what I can do here.

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This is what I can’t do here.

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And gradually, they reach a point where 
they can consciously choose to obey that structure.

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Practical Life with toddlers is interesting.

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It’s often messy. It often involves a lot of water.

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And you just know that.

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You know that’s part of the attraction of it to them.

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There is a lot of collaborative work 
around Practical Life in the beginning.

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And as the adult, we watch 
how their motor skills are coming along,

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how their cognitive skills are developing,

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and as they appear to be able to do bits
and pieces of a piece of work independently

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the collaboration diminishes 
and they take over more and more of the work.

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Till the next thing you know, 
they are doing the work independently.

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People marvel sometimes that these children
are able to bake bread, for example.

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The smell of baking bread 
is a great aspect of a community.

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But this is a contribution they are making 
to the communal lunch.

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It’s not something that
they are just doing for themselves.

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Their initial motivation is of course,
an egotistical one.

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But at the lunch itself, someone asks: 
“who baked this bread today? It is so good.”

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“Thank you so much for baking this bread.”

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“Yes! Pizza!”

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When I go into an environment
I’m looking for order and cleanliness

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and the appropriate materials for specific ages.

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One of the things that is challenging for teachers

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when they first come out of training

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is which materials do I have in my environment?

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However you don’t always have
every single child that needs

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every single material that’s 
in your album at the same time.

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So you have to look at 
the children that are there.

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That are present.

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Are there things on the shelves
that children don’t even look at? Or notice?

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That environment needs to be dynamic.

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It needs to change 
according to the child’s needs.

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And that doesn’t mean we change 
the entire environment every week.

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But it does mean that we have to observe.

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To pay attention to what the children are using,
what they are not using,

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what they are misusing as well
because that can be also a flag telling us…

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okay, this is not 
an appropriate material right now.

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They are trying to use it 
and it’s just not working

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and they are not getting anything out of it, 
and they are actually being destructive with it.

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So it’s not feeding a need.

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So I’m looking to see that the materials
are connected with the children.

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And somehow helping the teacher
to understand that also.

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To train her to observe, to train her eye 
to see those kinds of things.

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What the child really needs
in terms of their motor skills,

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in terms of their interests.

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Because it is not only about
ability and what they can do,

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it’s also about what they are interested in.

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Children of this age are showing us
every day what they need.

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Child: “Look it!”
Teacher: “Can you see your face in the mirror?”

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Meeting the child’s needs 
and realizing they will get there one day.

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They have their own path.

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And they are also going to do it very differently
than the way that you do it.

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So you’re going to go in

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and when you finally do that button presentation
you’re going to do it perfectly!

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And they’re going to go in
and they’re going to pull.

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And they’re going to try and –you know—
rip that button off

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because they really want it to
get out of that hole right now!

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And you’re going to have to be patient
with that and allow the child.

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And it’s not that you didn’t 
do your presentation correctly,

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it’s that the child is learning.

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And they are in a process.

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And we have to see what
they need before we just step in.

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That classroom has to be immaculate clean.

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You have to be able to organize 
the toilet education, toilet awareness,

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the snack, the food preparation,
the practical life.

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In that toddler class, 
you know that at the beginning,

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the moment that that child 
goes into the environment,

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he will touch everything. Everything!

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In the toilet environment there is no way
you can say you can not touch this.

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So I would start with very few things.

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With many conversations,
basically it is a matter of order, routine,

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how to go into the toilet, 
how to take off your clothes,

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how to change your shoes…

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So they are such tiny little things
that you have to do,

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so to establish a routine

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and also to establish that
the child feels very comfortable

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and the child feels that he can predict
exactly what’s happening in the classroom.

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Order is extremely important for the child.

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And in setting up the environment.

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So things need to be found in their place.

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And the adult needs to help in that process.

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With children under three,

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we can’t expect them to be 
putting things back from where they are…

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from age 8 weeks, it’s a process that happens.

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And in Nido, it rarely happens.

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It’s the adult that’s keeping the order.

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But the child still needs to be able
to find what they need to

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in order to satisfy whatever development
is going on inside of them.

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So if they are working
on that four-finger-to-thumb grasp,

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they can go over and find
the rocking base where it was.

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It’s not going to move to a different area.

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Even though they can’t put it back.

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They need to be able to find it there
to satisfy their development.

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Then when they get to the infant community,

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they start to understand things 
can be found in the same place.

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This is how order is;
it gives security to the child.

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They form points of reference 
that makes them feel more comfortable

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in their environments so that they can find things.

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Usually they don’t learn
how to put their work away

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until they are transitioning to the primary.

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That’s kind of one of the signs 
that we know they’re ready

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because they can do a complete cycle of activity.

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So in the beginning, they’re just going over 
and working at the shelf.

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Knowing where that item belongs.

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And as things move along, they might 
take that item to rug or to a table to work with.

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And then it stays at the table. It doesn’t get back.

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But at least they know work goes on a rug or a table.

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That’s a sense of order 
that they’ve gotten from the environment

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in terms of the adults and 
in terms of other children.

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Then they start putting their work back 
on any shelf in the classroom.

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So that rocking base might go 
in the shelf that has shoe cleaning on it.

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Any shelf in the environment.

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But they have internalized that order.

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That work goes on the shelf.

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They know that that work goes on a shelf.

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They don’t go over and put it in the sink. 
They put it on a shelf.

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Because they have internalized that order.

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So they are putting it on any shelf,

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and then eventually, 
they’re putting on the correct shelf.

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Not in the correct spot, 
but on the correct shelf!

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Then finally, it goes on that spot where it goes.

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Having works that are complete
as well is important.

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So that means that all of the cloths 
for handwashing need to be present,

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otherwise the child can’t be successful
in doing handwashing

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if he doesn’t have a towel to dry his hands.

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So, we need to make sure that the child 
when they are done replaces those cloths

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and if they don’t then we’re replacing those cloths.

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If there are no more cloths, 
then we’re removing the material somehow.

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Putting it somewhere it’s not available anymore

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because the child doesn’t understand 
there are no more cloths.

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They will go over and they will still try to do that activity.

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Being comfortable with getting messy.

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Being comfortable with letting children 
do things that aren’t in your album,

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being comfortable with allowing them to make mistakes, 
to see what happens if they do things in a different way,

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things like that are challenging 
when you are working in a community.

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We have to give up a lot of control 
and be patient and breathe

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and have a strong center and be really grounded.

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Open to accepting these children’s possibilities 
and their accomplishments.

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And what an accomplishment is,

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an accomplishment is learning,

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and having a smile and being joyful

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and feeling good about yourself.

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You are there because you are the support

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and you are the one 
that prepared this physical environment

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so that the child can do that independently, 
can do that work,

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can succeed and can gain that feeling 
of normalization

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of using their mind and body together 
to be a happy human being.

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That positive experience of being able 
to do for himself and to succeed

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without anyone interrupting 
is going to stay with him

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and that’s what we want him to take away.