Spring opens a refreshing door. Suddenly, there is time (unhurried, generous time!) to kneel beside a flower and really look at it. To follow a beetle across a garden path. To press a leaf between the pages of a book and wonder later what kind of tree it came from. To ask questions that don’t have quick answers and feel good about the not-knowing.
This is exactly the spirit of Montessori biology. Spring is perhaps the most natural season to live it.
How do young children learn biology in Montessori?
In a Montessori preschool or school, biology is woven into daily life. Children discover nature through care of classroom plants, observation of animals, and walking outdoors in the school gardens. We take time to pause and say: Look at this. What is that? We focus on guiding children’s natural exploration through mystery, revelation, and wonder. The wonder that is caught rather than taught is as important as any information or structure we provide.
The adult’s role in Montessori biology is less about knowing everything and more about modeling the joy of not knowing. When a child holds out a leaf or an insect and asks what it is, the most Montessori response in the world is: Let’s find out together! A good field guide, a magnifying glass, and genuine curiosity are all the materials needed.
The Two Worlds: Botany and Zoology
Montessori biology in early childhood focuses on the interconnected worlds of plants and animals. Both are available everywhere at Forestville Montessori – especially in Spring! They’re also abundant in your own backyard, on the many Northern Beaches nature walks and parks, in gardens and even on window ledges!
The World of Plants
Daily life in Spring naturally brings children into contact with plants. The foundation of botanical awareness can come from a garden to tend, a flower to examine, and a walk where the trees change as you move from sun to shade. At school, your children have ample opportunities to do this in the vibrant FMS gardens under the expert guidance of our horticulturalist staff Sally & Anahita.
For families wanting to expand exploration of nature at home, here are some Montessori-inspired ideas.
Begin with naming. Provide the real names of plants in your yard or neighborhood. Rather than commenting on the “flower” or the “tree,” spend time learning the names of specific plants. It’s worth visiting the library to pick up a simple field guide. Children love to hear descriptive names, like warratah or lemon myrtle connected to living things they can see and touch. Your FMS student may even be able to teach you a thing or two!
Explore the parts of plants. Pick a flower together and examine its parts: the petals that make up the corolla, the green sepals of the calyx beneath them, the stamen and pistil at the center. A magnifying glass makes this even more extraordinary. Use the real vocabulary: corolla, calyx, stamen, pistil. Young children absorb precise language with remarkable ease when we share it alongside the actual thing. FMS primary aged students will be adept in this, as it forms part of learning in their Montessori classroom.
Examine leaves. Collect leaves of different shapes on a walk and look at them together. Notice the veins running through the blade, the petiole connecting leaf to stem, and the varying shapes of the apex and margin. Press a few between the pages of a heavy book, and return to them in a week, when they are dry, flat, and perfect. This is a fun activity for toddlers and preschool to enjoy as well!
Sketch and label. Older children who are reading and writing might enjoy keeping a simple nature journal this spring. They might draw what they observe and add labels to their illustrations. Rather than a formal exercise, think of it as an invitation to look closely enough to draw what they see.
The World of Animals
Spring brings the animal world into vivid focus. Birds at the feeder. Insects on the milkweed. Frogs at the edge of the pond. Earthworms surfacing after rain. Each of these gives a chance to observe, name, and wonder.
Here are a few Montessori-inspired approaches for Spring zoology:
Set up an observation station. Having a bird feeder or bird bath in the yard or on a balcony is a simple invitation to at-home animal observation. Keep a bird book nearby and together practice using the guide to identify birds you see. Children who learn to identify the specific birds that visit their yard are building a foundation for scientific observation that will serve them throughout their lives.
Explore classification together. In Montessori zoology, children learn about the five classes of chordates (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish), as well as the broader world of invertebrates. Spring is full of concrete examples of every category! If you come across a frog, share that an amphibian is an animal that hatches in water, breathes through gills as a tadpole, and transforms into an adult that breathes through lungs and lives on land. When you spot a snake, point out that reptiles are cold-blooded and covered in scales. These simple descriptions provide a structure to help children organize what they are observing.
Follow a life cycle. Spring is a perfect time to observe metamorphosis in real time. Caterpillars becoming butterflies. Tadpoles becoming frogs. If possible, collect a few tadpoles in a jar of pond water and observe them over several weeks, returning them when the transformation is complete. Few experiences are more powerful for a young child than watching something change so completely and so slowly that they can follow every stage.
Look for invertebrates. Lift a rock in the garden and see what lives beneath it. Examine the underside of a leaf for insect eggs or larvae. Observe a spider’s web in the early morning when it is covered in dew. Collect a few interesting insects and look at them with a magnifying glass before releasing them. This world of arthropods and annelids and mollusks is underfoot and all around, and children who learn to notice it are rarely bored outdoors again.
The Most Important Thing
In all of this, the spirit matters more than any specific activity.
Montessori biology in the early childhood years is not about accumulating knowledge. Instead, it is about developing the habit of noticing. We want children to develop the disposition to stop, look, and ask. We also want children to understand, in the most concrete and living way possible, the interconnectedness of the world: how the flower and bee rely upon each other, how the earthworm nourishes the soil that provides nutrients for the plant. Each living thing has its place in a fascinating web of interconnections.
As adults, we don’t need to know everything. What we need to do is show our care about what is alive and growing and moving in the world around us. Children who grow up beside adults who pause to look at things become adults who pause to look at things.
Spring is a great time to visit Forestville Montessori School!
Come and explore our nature-filled campus, it’s brimming with colour and life at this time of year! Meet our animals and explore our gardens with wonder as our students do! Book your time to visit here.
