Teach Me to Do It Myself: Montessori Activities for You and Your Child

This book is a terrific resource for parents looking to get away from using paper-and-pencil "worksheet" activities with their young children. These activities teach the same early skills (letter and number recognition, patterns, fine motor skills, counting, etc.) using common household items. Each learning activity (Montessori refers to these as "jobs") is presented in a two-paged spread with photos and a bulleted list of items/steps needed to easily create the job. The Montessori concepts of independence, use of manipulatives to learn, organizational skills and self-direction are fostered with these activities. Many homeschooling parents have little time to read the original Maria Montessori texts and figure out how to incorporate her ideas into their teaching. This book does that job for them. Well done!

I am very fond of this book. It is a great guide offering almost "duh!" like activities (things that you would never even think of going out of your way to teach your kids) to do with your toddler in order to help them gain a sense of independence and accomplishment. That said, almost all the activities can be done without going out and buying a whole bunch of materials. I particularly like this book as a mom interested in the Montessori method, but not being able to afford to put my children in the pricey Montessori schools in my area. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it's in colour and has plenty of photos. Also, if there is an activity your child really likes, it has suggestions for other activities similar in nature. I like that the book shows you many of the activities they do, but leaves it up to you how you would like to present them to your kids. The book does not specifically tell you what age range the child has to be in order to present an activity, but it does state in the beginning that it presents the activities in order of being the easier concepts to grasp to the more difficult (specifically chapters 1,2, & 5). The author tells you to use your judgement on what you think your child can handle (for instance if they seem to like counting and maths, they will more likely progress faster with the maths activities. I personally would've liked a generic age range per activity, but I understand the point the author is trying to make. I just like that the author gives us the activities the Montessori schools do, but doesn't require the reader to completely apply the Montessori method. I plan on using this as a reference since I would like to educate my children myself until they reach kindergarten.

I also have _Montessori Play & Learn_ and _Teaching Montessori in the Home: The Preschool Years_. This one contains the same type of activities, but somehow makes it seem simpler than the others, and seems to require less complicated special equipment to be bought or made. If you're only going to buy one Montessori book to use with your preschooler, I would recommend this one. Update: This book is perfect if you just want to do some Montessori-style activities with your preschooler. However, if you want a deeper understanding of the Montessori Method, the materials, and the exercises, I'd suggest you *also* get Basic Montessori (Clio Montessori). That book can be intimidating (see my review), but does give some excellent and in-depth explanations. Use the two together for the best of both worlds.

I checked this out of our local library and found it easy to follow, bright and fun to look at with color photos, and full of resources like pages to photocopy in the back. Also, the activities made me really excited about Montessori methods. The math section was especially nice. I am online today to order my own copy because three weeks to borrow it was not long enough!

We were given the book as a gift and love it! A great variety of fun and educational projects for all ages. The writing is warm and concise and easy for parents and children to follow. We especially enjoyed the science section - filled with fun and imaginative activities to encourage our son's curiousity.