#Montessori - The first six years of life are a critical period. They are marked by incredible physical / psychological growth and development. https://360-academy.com/blog/Montessori-stages-development-infancy

1. Maria Montessori’s Four
Planes of Development
Childhood Education

2. Exploration of Mind and Personality
Transition from family life to
life in society
Focus on society
Focus on global community
Maria Montessori’s Four Planes of Development
Infancy (0 - 6) Childhood (6 - 12) Adolescence (12 - 18) Maturity (18 - 24)
Physical & Biological
Independence
Mental Independence Social Independence
Spiritual & Moral
Independence
Age 3 Age 9 Age 15 Age 21
Absorbent
Mind
Humanist
Mind
Specialist
Mind
Reasoning
Mind
“Help me do it myself” “Help me think” “Help me think with you” “How can I help you?”
Focus on self Focus on local community
(Friends, Family)
Exploring environment
through the senses: What?
Exploring ideas and
information: How? Why?
Exploring ideas and
information: How? Why?
Development of Absorbent Mind Exploring Human Social Life Desire to take their place in society

3. 1. Movement - Random movements become coordinated and controlled:
grasping, touching, turning, balancing, crawling, and walking.
2. Language - Use of words to communicate: a progression from babble to
words to phrases to sentences, with a continuously expanding vocabulary
and comprehension.
3. Small Objects - A fixation on small objects and tiny details.
4. Order - Characterized by a desire for consistency and repetition and a
passionate love for established routines. Children can become deeply
disturbed by disorder. The environment must be carefully ordered with a
place for everything and with carefully established ground rules.
5. Music - Spontaneous interest in and the development of pitch, rhythm, and
melody.
6. Grace & Courtesy - Imitation of polite and considerate behavior leading to an
internalization of these qualities into the personality.
7. Refinement of the Senses - Fascination with sensorial experiences (taste,
sound, touch, weight, smell) resulting with children learning to observe and
with making increasingly refined sensorial discriminations.
8. Writing - Fascination with the attempt to reproduce letters and numbers with
pencil or pen and paper. Montessori discovered that writing precedes reading.
9. Reading - Spontaneous interest in the symbolic representations of the
sounds of each letter and in the formation of words.
10. Spatial Relationships - Forming cognitive impressions about relationships in
space, including the layout of familiar places. Children become more able to
find their way around their neighborhoods, and they are increasingly able to
work complex puzzles.
11. Mathematics - Formation of the concepts of quantity and operations from the
uses of concrete material aids. (Age 4 to age 6)
Sensitivities during Infancy (Ages 0 - 6)
Source: NAMC Montessori Training Blog
Age
Sensitivities / Windows
of Opportunity
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Movement
2 Language
3 Small Objects
4 Order
5 Music
6 Grace & Courtesy
7 Refinement of Senses
8 Writing
9 Reading
10 Spatial Relationships
11 Mathematics