Toddler
18 months – 3 Years
Welcome to the Toddler Community at Montessori International Children's House- MICH. Our Toddler Community is designed to nurture your child's innate curiosity and support their developmental milestones in a warm, engaging and supportive environment.
Help Me to Do It Myself
Child-sized tools that fit tiny hands allow your toddler to prepare a snack and serve it to friends. A small broom empowers independent clean-up. We teach the skills of self-care and toilet learning. Your child learns a set of concrete life skills and self-confidence – but, more importantly, understands how to make a genuine impact on the world.
A Community
Our students grow together into a close-knit, caring community. When children work, learn, and grow together, they learn much more than any of them could learn alone!
A Beautiful Environment
Our bright and sunny toddler classroom is specially designed for your child between the ages of 18 and 36 months. It is a world scaled down to your child’s size. Here, your child paints, cooks, waters the garden, sings songs with friends and works with materials that develop fine and gross motor coordination.
Practice Makes Permanent
Often, children who don’t do things for themselves simply don’t know how or haven’t been given the chance. We take a different approach – by observing your child closely, providing just the right lesson when they are ready and then allowing them to practice again and again (and again!) until they master it. Mistakes are viewed as learning opportunities in an atmosphere of patience, trust and respect.
Absorbing Language
We surround your child with rich and stimulating conversation to support this once-in-a-lifetime period of rapid language development. Your child, trying to blow bubbles, might be encouraged with “Blow! Can you make the air move just like the wind?” Children's mind effortlessly absorbs the new vocabulary, which plants the seeds for reading, writing, and self-expression in the future.
First Friends
Making first friends and learning how to function within a community is a life-shaping experience for your child. Your child emerges with strong friendships that will continue as she moves through the rest of the programs in Montessori.
An Environment Conducive to Learning
Our program emphasizes self-directed learning, hands-on activities, and respect for each child's unique development. We provide a carefully prepared environment where young children can explore and learn at their own pace.
A Joyful Experience
Maria Montessori once said, “One test of the correctness of the educational procedure is the happiness of the child.” Take a peek into our Toddler classroom and you will see children who are happy, engaged, and deeply connected to their friends and teachers. As a result, your child develops a deep affinity for school and a true love for learning.
Exploration
To be a toddler is to be curious. There are so many things to see, touch, hear, feel and do in the classroom! Beautiful materials that stimulate her senses are rotated frequently on low shelves to pique your child’s curiosity. She is encouraged to move freely around the classroom, to choose activities and explore her own interests.
Ready to Move Up
Sometime between the ages of 2 1/2 to 3 years of age, your child’s language skills and self-expression will develop rapidly and you will see an increase in after confidence in independence, as well as a keen interest in broader concepts. Your child will want to know what lies ahead, outside of the Toddler Classroom. At this point, it is time to move up to the
Primary program, which is designed for children from the ages of 2 1/2 to 6.