Bay Area Montessori Playgroup

Bay Area Montessori Playgroup Montessori Playgroup offering hands-on experiences and learning for toddlers and their caregivers.

04/21/2026

When we simply let children tune into their own voice, and stop policing their movements as much as we do as a society, we actually get to see them for who they are!

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we gift our children a childhood that feels like an open door, not just a view of the world through a window?🚶‍♀️

04/17/2026

Toilet learning comes loaded with timelines, opinions, and pressure.
In Montessori, we come back to something simpler — observe, prepare, invite, and trust.
This is one of the earliest opportunities we have to say: your body belongs to you. We’re just here to help you get to know it. 🌿

We often trade the process of toileting for a perfection of no accidents. 🚽We worry about these “accidents” 💩 and come u...
04/16/2026

We often trade the process of toileting for a perfection of no accidents. 🚽

We worry about these “accidents” 💩 and come up with rewards hoping they will remove said accidents, but the real win is simply connection. 🛜

Toileting is a dance between bodily awareness and communication. 💃🏽 It’s a milestone just like walking or talking - simple in nature, but as complex as our expectations make it.

Focus on the synchrony, and the rest will follow. 🤍

04/14/2026

Most of us were never told there’s a natural window for toilet learning — a time between 12 and 18 months when toddlers are genuinely curious about their bodies and what they can do.
In Montessori, we follow that curiosity. We use real words without drama. We set up the environment so they can participate. We offer the invitation calmly, and then we trust them.
Children are far more capable of this than we’ve been led to believe. And when we work with their development instead of against it, the whole process gets a lot gentler — for everyone.

04/10/2026

We spend our days drawing lines in the earth.

This is beautiful. That is yucky.

This is worth saving. That is just a mess.

But every time we “ew,” we build a grid.

And every grid makes a child’s world a little smaller,
a little further away,
a little more disconnected from the heartbeat of the ground.

This Earth Day, let’s take down the fences.

Let the mud be pliant. Let the beetles be intricate.
Let’s leave the door wide open
so they can fall in love with the whole, messy, wild truth of it.

Have you noticed how children transform the moment they step outside? 🌿In the outdoors, there are no wrong ways to play....
04/09/2026

Have you noticed how children transform the moment they step outside? 🌿

In the outdoors, there are no wrong ways to play. Leaves can be crushed, mud can be made into paint, and flowers can be woven into garlands or crowns.

The outdoors is the ultimate open-ended toy as it’s free, fluid, and endlessly accommodating.

Indoors has its place, but even the best toys have boundaries.

Outside, those walls disappear. The earth is our home, and we see that connection most clearly when our children are at ease within it.

We aren’t just observers of nature; we are a part of it. ✨

04/03/2026

Let me ask you something that might feel a little uncomfortable. 💬
When we tell our toddler « you have to share » — whose need are we actually prioritizing?
Sharing is not a toddler skill. The neural wiring needed to hold two emotional realities at once is still forming. And when we force sharing, we’re not teaching generosity — we’re teaching that their needs come last.

A child who feels secure in what is theirs becomes someone who gives freely. 🌱

At 2 or 3 or even 4, and sometimes longer, saying mine feels anchoring. A toy is an extension of their very self. So, ta...
04/02/2026

At 2 or 3 or even 4, and sometimes longer, saying mine feels anchoring. A toy is an extension of their very self. So, taking it feels like losing a limb and not like an act of kindness.

So, don’t force the hand-over, instead wait and model waiting. So they learn to wait too.

When we respect a child’s right to finish, we build a secure human who knows their work is worthy of respect. Only a child who feels complete in their own experience has the overflow to eventually give to another.

03/31/2026

We say « you have to share » with so much love. But does it ever work for you?
Before a child can genuinely give, they need to feel safe enough to hold. Generosity grows from safety, not pressure.

These 6 phrases are the ones we keep coming back to — simple, honest, and so much gentler than the default.

Which one feels most natural to you? We’d love to know 👇

03/27/2026

We often talk about independence as the end goal - I can do it myself. But independence is really just a pit stop.

The real superpower comes from being able to extend that consciously to others. It’s the shift from “I can do this” to “I am capable of doing this for you.”

So, our role is to help ourselves and our children not have these their walls but step into the power of choosing to show up for others.

🫶🏽

Is a child truly independent if they only know how to care for themselves?True evolution ideally follows a specific path...
03/26/2026

Is a child truly independent if they only know how to care for themselves?

True evolution ideally follows a specific path:

The Instrument: Mastery of Self, also popularly celebrated as Independence.

The Connection: Realizing we are part of a larger story.

The Expansion: Doing for others.

In an exploitative society, we build walls. But in a community of givers, we build bridges. Let’s shift the narrative from “I don’t need you” to “I am capable of doing for you.”

Address

510 S Mathilda Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA
94086

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Bay Area Montessori Playgroup posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category