Montessori Mondays - What are Sensitive Periods?

The term ‘sensitive period’ refers to a period of time in which a child will become driven to develop certain skills and, if given the opportunity, will focus all of his/her attention and energies on the acquisition of those skills. Maria Montessori spent much of her early years in forming her philosophy observing children work and play and was able to place many of these sensitive periods in specific "Planes of Development. " These "Planes" created by Dr. Montessori are four distinct periods of growth, development, and learning for children and youth roughly divided by the age groups birth - 6, 6-12, 12-18, and 18-24. The first plane is described as the time of the absorbent mind because from infancy to about 6 years old the mind is capable of absorbing large amounts of information about the environment through the five senses. It is during this time that children acquire language, begin developing motor and cognitive skills, copy the social skills of adults, and develop expectations of how the world will treat them. Consequently, a toddler's sensitive periods revolve mainly around the development of fine and gross motor skills and language. The Montessori method is designed to take maximum advantage of the "planes of development" by preparing exercises and activities that the majority of children in each plane are drawn to. These activities allow children to explore and develop skills that will help them become valuable citizens of our world later on as adults. Thanks for reading!