Blog Post

Parachute Time in the Montessori Classroom ⛱

One of the exciting and fun-filled activities in the Montessori classroom is the Parachute game, which not only brings joy but also serves as a tool for developing various skills across multiple areas.✨

🪂 Teamwork – A key skill that children practice while using the Parachute is working together as a team. Everyone must collaborate to move the parachute in the desired direction, such as lifting and lowering it in unison. This teamwork helps develop a sense of belonging to the group, teaches the importance of communication, and fosters coordination among peers.

🪂 Fun and Laughter – The joy and laughter that come from this activity fill the classroom with positive energy. Children often smile and laugh while playing, which is vital for emotional development. Playing with friends helps children learn how to build friendships and understand the emotions of others.

🪂 Physical Development – Additionally, the activity strengthens both fine and gross motor skills. Lifting and moving the Parachute requires muscle strength and coordination, helping children build strength and agility.

🪂 In Conclusion – Playing the Parachute game is a meaningful and beneficial activity for children in many ways. It promotes social skills, enhances physical health, and fosters a joyful classroom environment. Giving children opportunities to learn through play helps them become creative thinkers and confident learners in the future.🥰

✨ In the book written by Dr. Maria Montessori, we often see the phrase "Play is the work of the child." This emphasizes the importance of play, where play refers to purposeful play—play with intention and focus.

Why is play important? Because play allows children to engage, to take action, and to experience things firsthand, which helps them learn and retain what they have learned. Few children can learn effectively through listening alone; most learn best through hands-on experiences.✨

"What the hand does, the mind remembers." 🌥

Through play-based learning, children engage in various types of play, which support their development. These five types of play in preschool learning are:

🔴 1. Language Play – Playing with language, such as storytelling, rhymes, and vocabulary building.

🟠 2. Physical Play – Play involving body movement and physical activity.

🟡 3. Creative Play – Creating things, such as arts and crafts, and other creative activities.

🟢 4. Games with Rules – Games like Monopoly, tag, or traditional games like "Mon" or "Hide and Seek."

🔵 5. Pretend Play – Role-playing or imaginative play, where children act out different roles or scenarios.

🤚 The Restless Hands as the Beginning of Learning and Development Towards Intelligence

The hands that are constantly in motion serve as the starting point for children's learning and development towards intelligence. The brain remembers and learns from what their hands touch. Just like in a Montessori classroom, we use various educational materials that children can pick up, hold, scoop, pour, pinch, thread, pull, and touch. This hands-on experience is a familiar part of the work in our classroom that the children are used to.