Prepared Environment – 6 to 12 Mths – The Low Shelf

Part 5 of an 8-part discussion handout.

Materials Organised on a Low Shelf

The two great pillars of human life

Are language and movement.

And of the two,

movement came first.

(Even to hear a sound,

The ear drum vibrates

Three little bones dance

And the brain understands these movements.

Even to speak a word,

There must be the orchestra

Of lips, tongue, palette, throat, stomach, lungs:

all these must learn to move together –

what a miracle!)

So movement is a great thing

And when we see the child’s life

as a growth in intelligent movement

within the environment they live in,

we understand immediately

the need for objects to explore.

A world of Things to explore

There is a world of Things.

And each Thing has a gift to offer.

A rolling ball

is a motivation to crawl.

An empty box with a lid

is more interesting than the present inside.

Anything that invites intelligent movement

is a help to the child.

Order in the environment

This is why we lay out,

on low shelves,

things of interest to them.

They are on low shelves

so the child can choose what they want themselves,

following their inner teacher.

They are laid out,

just a few things – say five to eight at a time –

So there is a manageability to the choice,

and an order to their arrangement.

This order appeals to the baby

Since they are part of an ordered Universe

Where if a planet were to stray from its orbit

Everything would collapse.

Aids to Development

What are these things we should lay out?

A tray with common objects from around the house

Whose names you can offer to your child.

A basket of animal models,

pieces of fabric,

empty bottles.

A box with a selection of balls.

Soft ones for the 6 month old,

hard ones for the 12 month old.

Because soft ones don’t roll far away,

but hard ones do.

Observe the way they work with something

And think: “What New Thing

Or New Way of doing an Old Thing

could I offer them that

picks up on their interest

in This Way of doing This Thing?”

A bowl of seasonal vegetables?

Different pieces of fabric?

A musical instrument?

Anything that introduces them in a simple way

to some part of our world.

Observe your child in our prepared environment.

See what they are interested in.

And try to follow their interest.

 

Next: The Floor Bed

 

Some useful links

Props for standing

Encouraging walking