Videos
These wonderful short clips capture the major developmental milestones of babies in the first year of life and beyond…they illustrate so well the tendencies that Montessori wrote about in her early observations: concentration, love of order, exploration and orientation, repetition, work with the hands, communication…they’re truly lovely videos!
North American Montessori Teacher’s Association
NAMTA has a great collection of DVD’s that spans the developmental continuum from birth through adolescence. My favorites that highlight infant/toddler development are In a Montessori Home and Edison’s Day.
Books
The Complete Book of Pregnancy and Childbirth , by Sheila Kitzinger
Sheila also has been involved in an amazing project to bring birth doulas into prison hospitals. See her website for more information
Our Babies, Ourselves, by Meredith Small
This book appealed to the academic in me. Small explores the anthropology of parenting infants around the world. This relatively new field of study, called ethnopediatrics, explores the link between the physiological needs of infants and the ways in which different cultures foster parenting styles to meet those needs. There is much to ponder and discuss in this book, and much of it hits on themes that are considered sacrosanct: feeding, sleeping, the development of language and movement, etc. I plan on doing a more in-depth review of this book soon!
Montessori from the Start: The Child at Home, From Birth to Age Three, by Paula Polk Lillard
A great introduction to bringing Montessori practices into the home environment. While some of the ideas are a little rigid for my tastes, Lillard does a good job of explaining the philosophy and principles of Montessori.
Toys and Furniture
Beautiful, handcrafted mobiles, designed with babies’ developmental milestones in mind. MiM also offers hands-on workshops for you to build your own mobiles!
Lovingly handcrafted toys for young babies, designed by a Montessori-trained educator.
My favorite catalog to give to new doula clients, as it has not only wonderful products that are thoughtfully chosen, but excellent accompanying text exploring infant development from a Montessori perspective!
