“Just as we have to prepare a special environment for sport, like a tennis court, if we are to play tennis, the child must be given the means for the kind of exercise necessary for his life. The small child must have the opportunity for movement. ” – Maria Montessori
“There is not just a need for happier schools, schools where the children are free to do as they like or schools where they use certain materials: education today needs reform. If education is to prepare man for the present and the immediate future, he will need a new orientation towards the environment. ” – Maria Montessori
“Our work is not to teach, but to help the absorbent mind in its development work. How marvellous it would be if by our help, if by an intelligent treatment of the child if by understanding the needs of his physical life and by feeding his intellect, we could prolong the period of functioning of the absorbent mind!” – Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind
“Movement, or physical activity, is thus an essential factor in intellectual growth, which depends upon the impressions received from outside. Through movement, we come in contact with external reality, and it is through these contacts that we eventually acquire even abstract ideas.” – Maria Montessori.
“In our work, therefore, we have given a name to this part of the mind which is built up by exactitude; we call it the ‘mathematical mind.’”
– Dr Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind
The “essential purpose” of language is used to communicate, but it also serves many purposes; to establish relations among people, express or clarify thoughts, play, creative mental activity, and gain understanding.
