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Toddler

(18 Months – 36 Months Old)

Toddler Learning objectives

Focus on developing independence, social skills, confidence, and a solid academic base in preparation for future learning.

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The program is a dynamic, self-paced, and multisensory learning experience.
Children explore the six domains of the Montessori Curriculum, which are: Practical Life, Sensorial, Mathematics, Language, Science, and Culture.
Toddlers refine their skills through practice and repetition.
At this age, toddlers have certain special interests in various areas. The toddler classroom and the materials in it support these interests.
The daily routine also reflects this age group’s need to learn through movement and hands-on activities, while respecting children’s individual needs, interests, and learning style.

Some goals include

Nomenclature

common objects, body parts, colors, animals etc.

Counting

by rote and recognition of numerals.

Expressing

thoughts and feelings in sentences.

Engage

in physical activities.

Pincer grip

Using the pincer grip for writing and drawing.

Interacting

Interacting well with others and shows self-confidence.

Differentiating

between sights, smells, tastes, and sounds.

Skills

Showing curiosity and problem-solving skills.

Practical Life

These activities help children learn how to take care of themselves, others, and the environment while developing independence, social skills, grace and courtesy, concentration, coordination, and physical order.

Practical Life skills include:

Spooning

Transferring is a staple activity in the Montessori classroom. Children can:

Develop fine motor skills, focus, and concentration.
Learn how to use a spoon to transfer materials from left toright.
Practice hand-eye coordination as well as careful wrist rotation; important fundamentals for future writing.

Pouring

Pouring is a fundamental exercise to help young children develop eye-hand control.

Organized into a series of individual activities.
Provides increasing levels of challenge for small hands, as well as novelty that can keep the child’s interest.
Placed on a small tray, which is used to carry the work from the shelf to the table.
Develops order, concentration, coordination, and independence.

Dressing Frames

Dressing frames, made of two pieces of fabric that are fastened together using one of several everyday fastening devices, such as buttoning, zippering, lacing, tying, pinning, buckling, and hooking are core to Practical Life. Use of these frames:

Refines fine motor skills and independence.
Develops the skills necessary to dress oneself.
Develops mastery through repetition and practice.

Taking Care of Plants

Children learn how to care for classroom plants including when and how to water a plant, repot a plant and polish the leaves of a plant. This is a subset of children learning to care for their indoor and outdoor environment.

Cleaning after themselves

Children learn to actively participate in tasks necessary to maintain a tidy classroom.

Empowered by their learned skills to be able to address many of the day to day needs in keeping the classroom areas orderly.
Develop a sense of responsibility and pride when it comes to the appearance of the classroom.

Grating

Grating helps children to develop order, coordination, and independence while also strengthening the finger muscles and increasing concentration.

Instilled with a sense of achievement and contribution as they help in preparing food and gain skills which enable them to carry out daily household chores.
Strengthen the hand muscles and prepare them for writing.

Food Preparation

Montessori students learn real life skills that enable them to feel comfortable preparing food or drink.

Apply the skills they’ve learned to safely and effectively to do things like slicing a cucumber with a hand-held cutter knife.
Demonstrate their work with pride as they walk around the classroom and offer different foods to their classmates.

Sensorial

Children can develop and sharpen their senses of sight, touch, taste, smell, and sound through sensorial activities. These activities help them to classify, sort, and differentiate objects based on their sensory impressions. These skills are essential for learning language and math.

Sensorial materials include:

Sound Cylinders

This material develops the sense of hearing, exposing the child to different auditory experiences and, thereby, developing listening skills.

Enhances the child’s ability to distinguish between different volumes and pitches and develops related vocabulary.

Sorting Trays

Sorting is a fundamental activity in the Montessori environment that involves arranging objects according to a certain criteria, such as color, size, or shape.

Develop logical thinking and discrimination skills.

Pink Tower

The Pink Tower is usually introduced as the second activity in Sensorial work.

Develop a visual sense in perception and differences in dimension
Improve awareness and develop attention in working with sequences and systematic operations.
Encourage the power of reasoning
Develop the habit of correcting work until it is the best it can be
Develop motor control, muscular memory.
Sets the groundwork for the understanding of the science ofnumbers.

Brown Stairs

The Brown (or Broad) Stair activity is usually the third lesson within the Sensorial area.

This lesson consists of ten wooden rectangular prisms, which are 20cm long and have both varying widths and heights from 1 square centimeter up to 10. This represents a variation in two dimensions.
This lesson specifically helps develop an understanding of rectangular prisms and comparative and superlative adjective vocabulary, allowing the child to notice the squares of numbers from 1 – 10.
This material helps to build upon and expand the learning from the Pink Tower.

Red Rods

The Red Rods are usually the fourth set of materials to be presented as a Sensorial lesson.

Develop a visual sense in perception and differences in dimension.
Improve awareness, develop attention in working with sequences and systematic operations and encourage the power of reasoning.
Develop motor control, as well as reinforcing the previous learning.

Geometric Tray

The Geometric Cabinet contains six drawers containing squares of wood with insets cut into the most common plane geometric figures.

Develops the stereognostic sense, encouraging shape recognition through muscular memory and the tactile sensation.
Encourages a sense of accuracy through both the tactile and visual experience with the material.
Prepares the child for future geometry and math learning.

Mathematics

Children can explore abstract mathematical ideas through concrete materials in Montessori mathematics. The materials help students to recognize and measure numbers, order and count them, perform arithmetic operations, find patterns, and understand different number systems.

Mathematical materials include:

Spindle Box

A long wooden box is sectioned into 10 slots. The child places the appropriate number of spindle rods into the numbered slot. The range is 0 to 9.

Beginning set theory is developed with this material.
Reinforces the correlation between quantity and numeral while introducing the concept of zero.

Cards and Counters

Combines the sequencing of numerals 1 to 10 with an understanding of quantity as the child associates individual quantities with each numeral.
Refines an understanding of the relationship between counting and cardinal numbers.

Language

Children can learn how to recognize letters, sounds, simple words, vowels and consonants, and the basics of writing and reading through Montessori toddler language materials.

Language materials include:

Sandpaper Letters

The Sandpaper Letters are a series of alphabet letters in either cursive or manuscript form, which have a rough feel to them as to stimulate the child’s sense of touch and to assist in the development of sound recognition and writing. The child is shown how to trace the letter using their fingers. Once the letter has been traced, the sound of the letter is said.

This prepares both the hand and the mind for future writing. The muscle memory goes beyond just a memory of how to form the letter, it also helps the child internalize and remember the sound of each letter symbol.
In this activity the child is introduced to the lower-case sandpaper letters and their corresponding sounds.

Paper Cutting Strips

This material allows children to enhance their fine motor skills in preparation for writing.

Object-Picture Matching

Visual Discrimination is necessary part of the ability to see and recognize letter shapes and word patterns. 

Involves the training of the eyes for left to right tracking necessary for both writing and reading.
Expands vocabulary

Science

Children are introduced to science learning in an age-appropriate way, learning about the world around them and all aspects of life. This learning enhances understanding in other areas as well as fostering an interest in their environment.

Science materials include:

Botany Cabinet

Children use the botany cabinet to learn that there are different leaf shapes, learn the names of those shapes, and ultimately read the names using a series of matching cards.

Life Cycle Puzzles

The child observes and discusses life cycles of plants and animals in school garden, noticing how living things grow, reproduce, die, and decay in a continues cycle of life.

Science

The Montessori Culture Curriculum introduces children to the arts, geography, national culture, music, and history. Through cultural activities children explore their community and the world. They learn about similarities, differences, and develop a sense of understanding, appreciation and respect for diversity and all living things.

Cultural materials include:

Flags and Countries

Match the flags of the countries of all continents, and the flags of their own country’s provinces/states with the corresponding flags, using the corresponding Puzzle Map, Pin Map, or blank Outline Map.

Learn about famous structures within these countries.

Exposure to different cultures in the form of architecture and history.

Activities and Events

Children at are exposed to the diverse world we live in with a series of cultural events held at Yellow Acorn throughout the year.

Apply Now!

We are currently accepting applications for the 2026-27 academic year.

Please review the admissions section of our site and download the application below

when you are ready to apply.

 2024 – 2025
 2025 – 2026