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If education is always to be conceived along the same antiquated lines of a mere transmission of knowledge, there is little to be hoped from it in the bettering of man’s future. For what is the use of transmitting knowledge if the individual’s total development lags behind? —Maria Montessori The Absorbent Mind, p. 4. In her recent webinar, “The Power of Playful Learning: How guided play sparks social and academic outcomes,” Dr. Kathy Hirsh-Pasek stated that, according to her research, “…adult directed play was better than free play when there is a learning goal.” (Hirsh-Pasek, 2014) Why the Montessori Environment uses Guided Play to Foster Learning In the Montessori environment, there are specific learning goals assigned to each area of the classroom as well as to each material. If we look at the Pink Tower, we see that it looks like a set of basic stacking blocks. And if we were to allow the children to freely play with them, they would learn to build a tower, knock it over, and start...

One test of the correctness of educational procedure is the happiness of the child. —Maria Montessori What You Should Know About Your Child, p. 73. When adults talk about work, we often think of it in negative terms. We say “I have to go to work” rather than “I get to go to work.” We refer to weekdays as the “work week” and to our weekends as “play time” or as time to relax. We see work as that which we must do in order that we may enjoy ourselves later. The Montessori Environment Provides Opportunities to Explore through Play Play is the Work of Children The negative connotations we associate with work cause us to look perhaps a bit too harshly upon the use of the term in the Montessori context. “The child can develop fully by means of experience in his environment. We call such experiences ‘work.’” ( The Absorbent Mind , p. 88) We already know Dr. Montessori thought play was the important work of childhood. If you watch a child of three, you will see that he is always playing with...