How to use the Montessori Annual Cycle Mat
We have absolutely LOVED our Montessori Annual Cycle Mat in our Montessori homeschool. It is SO fun and versatile. We have reached for it with each change of season, with our annual walk around the sun, (We started this tradition in our home last year and it was so meaningful and fun! We will definitely be repeating it this year.) and as interest is there. So what is this material? This is a Montessori inspired material that can be used with children 2+. It falls into the Cultural Curriculum in the 3-6 classroom and can be used in the Cosmic Curriculum in the Second Plane (7-12). The mat has four colors to represent the four seasons. The beads represent the months and days of the year and are coordinated with the names of the month.
How to use for “Tot School”
In our “tot school” (this is what we called our Montessori inspired journey with our oldest from 18 months-almost 3) we used this for exploring the seasons. This was not the first experience with the changing of seasons. In Montessori, you start with the concrete and move to the abstract so initially, our focus was on experiencing seasonal change in nature. For example, in the fall we play with leaves, acorns, and dried flowers fading with the close of summer and the coming of fall. We did activities that were culturally inline with our family’s beliefs and social activities we participate in such as carving a pumpkin. There isn’t much instruction (arguably there never is in Montessori – there should be more modeling than talking. Which I definitely struggle with sometimes!) but there is quite of bit of unguided exploration and free play. Once we explored each season enough for the concept of the seasonal change to stick, I brought out the mat. I kept my presentation very simple in “tot school”. It went a little like this:
“This is our seasonal mat. (Run hand around the mat slowly admiring the colors). Each of these colors reminds us of the season it represents. This beautiful red color reminds us of fall or autumn. Do you want to hop onto the red color? What happens in the fall? (At this age my daughter mostly talked about leaves falling! I might prompt by asking what happens to the leaves or what we like to do with a pumpkin). What happened before fall? Was it hot or snowing? (Hot!) Yes, that’s right. That was summer. This beautiful yellow color reminds us of summer and the bright sunshine that fills our sky and warms the earth. What do you like about summer?”
We then dance around and play. She loved dancing with the beads which I honestly didn’t do much with in tot school. We read poems about the current season or sang songs about it. Just had fun! The next time I presented (a couple days later) I said,
“I want to show you something new about our seasonal mat. Would you like to come with me?” and I held out my hand. We sat down and I touched the blue color and said, “Isn’t this shade of blue lovely?” (pause while gently rubbing it with my hand and let her rub too) “This color reminds us of winter. It reminds us of all the cold and snow that comes when fall is ending and winter is coming. Do you like to play in the snow?” (have fun talking about it) “What do we wear in the snow?” I let her go and drag out her snow gear from the closet and place it on the winter quarter of the mat. She then ran and grabbed things for summer, fall, and spring and put them on the right places. She loved this activity.
How to use in the 3-6 Homeschool Classroom
In our 3-6 classroom, there is a variety of ways to incorporate this material. I’ve used the beads to help illustrate the passage of time (closer to 4), the month of the year to show where we are and we were are going. Matching work with the colorful months of the year and the beads (or the mat!). We’ve also used this mat to discuss each seasonal change. I love to break it out on the day of the summer and winter solstice or the spring and autumn equinox.
We used it for seasonal sorting work this past winter. Our daughter sorted animals that will be here in the summer, migrate in the fall, hibernate in the winter, and migrate back. We move them around as we talked or as she directs herself while playing. I will continue to pull it out as we continue our exploration of time and lay the ground work for history (see more here on Info Montessori). There are truly so many uses for this Montessori inspired material. I may do a big post once we are further into 3-6 with a recap of all the ways we have used it. This is just a few ways we have already incorporated it.
How to use in the 7-9 Homeschool Classroom
In the 7-9 classroom, I intend to continue to reach for the seasonal mat in our discussion and celebration of birthdays called the walk around the sun, celebration of life, or the birthday walk. It is such a fun tradition. This article on Living Montessori Now does a great overview. We will use it in our Cosmic Curriculum as we continue to illustrate the passage of time and use it in conjunction with a globe to aid in understanding the impact of the earth’s rotation and revolutions around the sun. It can be used in conjunction with the study of the earth, the sun, or as a jumping point into any relevant biome exploration or space exploration. Really, wherever the child’s interest will take them! Following the child is quite fun. I can’t wait to see what each of our children chooses to learn through their exploration in the cosmic curriculum.
I hope this overview is helpful for plugging the seasonal mat into your Montessori homeschool curriculum regardless of where you are in the journey! Do you use a seasonal mat? It can be a quick and easy DIY with felt or you can grab the one we own on Etsy. It comes with the beads and months of the year. There are other beautiful options out there as overviewed here.