carpetlaurea

in the garden. B efore......last summer A ditch turned deeper and deeper a nd became a playground for grown up males   T he lawn had an extra layer of soil a serious amount of loads wheeled out.   A tidy pond needs daily cleaning....a butterfly net works excellent!   E ntwined in ivy and freshly cracked slate P erhaps a place for some mallards to grow a pair. I love these ones....take a look at Marieberg , a most charming place! Ia

A t last I had them exchanged for these A special order of 5 units   H andmade in the Netherlands   M ade out of copper and weathers beautifully in my garden   P retty in the dark, Ia P.s Scroll down if you'd like to see the old lighting.

1.     Your baby will enjoy nursery rhymes, finger plays and other shared games. If you can find a Suzuki ECE class nearby, try it out. The Suzuki and Montessori Philosophies are very compatible 2.     Anticipation and surprise are something new for your baby. Peek-a-Boo games, and toys that offer surprises will begin to provide amusement for your baby and some shared laughter 3.     Your baby’s interest in books is growing and they will want to start turning the pages and holding on to the book themselves. Make a homemade book with several blank pages, and then including one surprise page with a pattern on it, somewhere in the book. 4.     Family and friends you see regularly will soon become favourite people as your baby’s social awareness develops. Make a book of favourite people using a soft photo album, or a custom board book Your baby might begin teething at this age – offering toys that they can chew and bite will he...

1.      Your baby is developing their hand skills from simple grasping to manipulating the objects that they hold. You can offer the Interlocking Discs to provide an opportunity to use two hands together – a new skill which needs practice 2.     Your baby has a natural attraction to faces and will love a simple doll figure at this age. Waldorf dolls make a lovely addition to your baby’s toys at this age, with their simple facial features and use of natural fibres in construction 3.     Sewing some interesting objects onto the toes of socks and popping them on your baby’s feet will provide an incentive to explore their feet, which they may have just begun to notice  4. Your baby is starting to develop the ability to choose. Offering a low shelf with three toys to choose from will help them to practice this skill. When rotating toys out, only change one of the toys at any time. Your baby has a strong sense of order and a need for ...

1.     By now you may have noticed your baby reaching out towards their mobiles and waving their arms about trying to bat at things. Offer your baby the Bell on a Ribbon for practising their batting skills 2.     Your baby’s sense of hearing is almost as acute as that of an adult. They will be highly motivated by sound and the opportunity to control the making of sounds. Offer your baby a variety of rattles and noise making toys to practice batting with. You might like to make a toy hanger to hang the batting toys from. 3.     Your baby’s reflexive grasping is being replaced by conscious control of their hand, even though their attempts at grasping are still crude. Provide lots of chances to grasp objects by choosing a selection of grasping toys that are light, small, interesting to look at and made of natural materials. Rotate the toys as your baby loses interest, keeping no more than 3 out at a time 4.     Up till now, you...

1.     Your baby is developing their sense of vision and visual tracking abilities during this time. The Octahedron Mobile will provide something to focus on with its reflective, metallic finish and primary colours 2.     The Gobbi Mobile offers further visual information with its subtle gradations of colour, corresponding to your baby’s newly developed ability to see shades of colours 3.     Your baby has almost fully developed colour vision, but is now working on depth perception and dynamic visual focusing skills (focusing on moving objects). Offering a mobile that moves freely and gracefully (like the Dancers Mobile , or the alternative Harmony Wings Mobile) will meet this need 4.     Your baby might be interested in holding something. While their grasp is still reflexive (not consciously controlled), offering sensory stimulating in the form of the grasping beads will help this reflex to develop into a controlled movemen...

Learn the art of infant massage – this will help you to calm an unsettled baby, and will provide valuable opportunities to connect on a physical level. It also answers your baby’s need for face to face time, which is essential for their beginning language development Your baby will be ready to transition into their floor bed sometime in these four weeks. A floor bed will allow your baby to see and move freely – both important conditions needed in the sensitive period for the development of internal order A mirror at floor level will give your little one a view of themselves and will help them to become more aware of themselves, and their body movements Place art work at eye level for your baby, and rather than having many pieces, avoid visual clutter by choosing and placing one piece and changing it out when your baby loses interest The Visual Mobile Series can be started during this month. Begin with the Munari Mobile which is designed to capture your child’s limited visual ca...

Inspired by Kylie's 5 things series and a question from Sara in her online community forum , I am about to start a series of posts about 5 things you can create, do or provide for your baby in each month of their first year of life. To kick things off, here are 5 things your newborn may need... Your newborn’s consciousness revolves around their immediate physical experiences. Prepare a womb-like sleeping environment by making a Cestina (a traditional Montessori sleeping basket used during the symbiotic period) Your baby needs to get used to being carried and held. Help them to feel secure by making a Topponcino (a small, soft, flexible mattress useful for carrying baby, holding baby and transferring a sleeping baby from place to place). You can buy a Topponcino from Maria, in Greece. Your greatest opportunity to connect with your new baby is through your caregiving routines. Prepare the area for physical care (nappy changes, dressing) so that you can offer unhurried quality co...