Montessori Babies

All About Montessori Baby Wooden Materials with Lea Shell

January 06, 2022 Bianca A. Solorzano, M.Ed. Season 1 Episode 29
Montessori Babies
All About Montessori Baby Wooden Materials with Lea Shell
Show Notes Transcript

In Episode 29, I had the honor of interviewing the amazing Lea Shell, COO of one of my favorite Montessori Baby Material shops, Essential Montessori! 

We discussed:

  • What are Montessori Baby Grasping Materials?
  • Montessori Materials vs. Other Materials on Market
  • Benefits of Wooden Montessori Materials
  • How to Care for Wooden Montessori Materials
  • And more!

Thank you so much to Essential Montessori for partnering with our show! Check out essentialmontessori.com to discover their amazing Montessori Baby Materials and use the code MONTESSORIBABIES for 10% off your order at checkout! 

Head on over to EZPZfun.com to discover their beautiful products that were specially formulated by mothers and experts to cater to your baby's age and stage of development. Use the code MontessoriBabies10 at checkout for 10% off your order!

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Xoxo,
Bianca A. Solorzano, M.Ed.
Baby Development & Montessori Consultant
And Your Baby Tour Guide

Bianca: [00:00:07] Welcome to Baby Tour Guides, Montessori Babies podcast. I'm your host and baby tour guide Bianca Solorzano And for the last decade, I have dedicated myself to helping parents, educators and Caregivers optimize baby development through a Montessori lens. This podcast is all about evolving our Montessori practice to make our time with our sweet babies easier, relaxed And so much fun. Let's jump into it. 


This episode is sponsored by Essential Montessori. Everyone likes something different about essential Montessori materials. Maybe you like the local organic vegetable dyes they use. Maybe it's the callback for the classic designs by Dr. Maria Montessori. Or maybe you'll be starting a new family tradition of passing along sunshine, Montessori heirloom materials, family owned and handmade in the U.S. since 2013. Only the essentials. Find out more at a EssentialMontessori.com. And don't forget to use the code Montessoribabies for 10 percent off your order at checkout. And now for our show. 


Welcome to episode twenty nine of our Montessori Babies podcast. I cannot tell you how excited I have been for this episode. I had the honor of interviewing the amazing Lea Shell, and Leah is the CEO of one of my favorite Montessori baby material shops Essential Montessori. So in this episode, I had tons of questions for her. Obviously, she just gets into the the intricacies of the Montessori materials and the creation process behind them and how to take care of them. And all of that and all of that is so important within the Montessori material experience that we're offering to our babies, right? So I first want to start off by just talking about the materials themselves and just by having simple, beautiful, safe Montessori materials for baby, we are able to offer just a world of developmental benefits, right? Some of them teach them how to, you know, transfer from hand to hand.


Bianca: [00:02:12] Some of them teach them that they can transform their environment. Some of them work on, you know, refining, grasp and, you know, the textured beads and all of that. So there's so many amazing developmental opportunities that come from these gorgeous materials. And one of my favorite parts of the Montessori material progression is that each material is specifically designed to fulfill and stimulate that inner developmental need. So Leah herself has a bachelor of science and entomology and then received her master's in teaching, where she was formally introduced to the Montessori philosophy. So she and her partner, JJ both grew up working in wood shops with their families, and so essential Montessori was born. And I'm so grateful I've used a central Montessori in both classroom and in home settings, and I could not recommend the materials more. So let's go ahead and jump into the interview with Leah so you can learn all about the gorgeous Montessori materials that they make and how to take care of them and their benefits and everything else that has to do with these gorgeous materials.


Bianca: [00:03:13] Ok, thank you so much, Leah, for being here today. I'm so happy to have you on our show.


Lea: [00:03:18] Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.


Bianca: [00:03:20] Ok, so for those in our audience who are just getting to know you and just getting to know a central Montessori, can you tell us a bit about your history and Montessori in the field?


Lea: [00:03:31] I immediately knew Montessori from birth was what I wanted to implement in the home when we started a family. It just made the most sense and felt like the best way to support and nurture a child from birth. Along with my husband and partner, JJ, I began making Montessori materials and officially took over the day to day operations of a Central Montessori CEO in November of 2019. I resigned my day job as the education director at a citizen science nonprofit, and when we were pregnant with our oldest daughter, we began searching for affordable Montessori materials to use in the newborn space. What we found was that they were either mass-produced or prohibitively expensive, and all were manufactured somewhere other than the U.S. and because of that, had really high shipping costs. Then we put our woodworking experience to good use and began making Montessori materials at our dining room table, and our downstairs neighbor was thankfully very understanding. She said she she liked the sound it reminded her of her father working in piddling around in his workshop. So that made us feel like we did OK. We quickly outgrew the space and were able to purchase our first home together when we welcomed our second daughter and moved our workshop into a slightly bigger garage. So that was exciting to have that space. Now we're in Massachusetts and loving the area and exploring totally different part of the country, and we homeschool our daughters, who are now in first and third grade and had been to our ninth holiday season as a company. So we keep busy.


Bianca: [00:05:11] Wow. Oh my goodness, I love your story. I love how you know it starts with just loving Montessori and implementing it with your baby and, you know, finding a way to make those materials accessible to your baby, right? I love that. I love that. I love that. So for those in our audience who are new to Montessori in infancy, we have, you know, parents and caregivers and educators who are more seasoned. And then also some who are newer. Can you explain to them what monastery grasping materials are?


Lea: [00:05:40] Yeah. So for having worked with certified Montessori educators, we knew that preparing our own infant environment from the start was the simplest way to make sure we were doing the best we could in a small space and budget that we had to work with. And so much is unknown when you go into pregnancy and childbirth. So we were like good academics and we prepared as best we could. Checked out and read every book in the library about Montessori from birth and consulting with Montessori educators and area schools that had Neato rooms in Raleigh, North Carolina, where we were living. Yes, it was really fun. Sorry. I will eventually answer your question. I love it. I love autism. It's just so overwhelming when you first start out. So all that said, Montessori grasping materials are made from natural materials, cotton, linen, leather, wood where you can feel and explore the grain, have access to it. So when you hold it, it doesn't feel like plastic. If you had your eyes closed, you could actually tell that you're holding something that's wood and so small enough, yet safe for the child to hold and manipulate, transfer and hand to hand when they're ready. Working towards that pinch or grip that tells you they're ready to try to start feeding themselves always. Yeah, I was just always working towards more and more independence.


Bianca: [00:06:55] Yeah, I love that.


Lea: [00:06:57] Thanks. So like some of the materials, introduce some cause and effect for the child can see the parts of the material that makes the sounds. There's no mysteries and no tricks, you know, like the ring rattle that that you can actually see the rings or if I'm making too much noise, but you can actually see the rings.


Bianca: [00:07:14] It's wonderful noise. It's the noise. We want to hear


Lea: [00:07:17] Some Montessori anthem over here.


Bianca: [00:07:19] Yeah, exactly. Oh my gosh.


Lea: [00:07:22] Yes, so here we go. So having the wooden rings, but you know, there's no mystery the child can can clearly see what is creating the sound rather than the classic rattle where you see like the the sphere with something inside of it, like a miracle, like it's making sound. I don't know how


Bianca: [00:07:39] One of the main things that I love about grasping materials is just that how they're able to learn how they can transform their environment through just manipulating them with their hands. And it's so beautiful to watch when you slow down and you hang it above, you know, say you have a child who's laying on the floor, laying on a, you know, a little bit propped up on a boppy or something like that, and you hold the grasping material and they grab it with their two hands and they're exploring it. And then you see that aha moment when they make that sound, it's just so beautiful. So I would absolutely love it if you would tell us what Montessori materials you offer in your shop. Ok.


Lea: [00:08:17] Absolutely. I guess that we make a classic grasping material, so they're like secure birch hardwood beads tied with vegetable tanned leather and our fellow shaker. I'll do another. Oh, I love this style chick. I just remember that first time our daughters grabbed that and moved it, and we're just amazed they had made a sound with the movement of their hand and so light enough and designed for movement, not for teething or mouthing. You know, there's much better materials for that, right? And so once a child begins like mouthing those types of materials, you know, to rotate those out and reintroduce them, not as a musical instrument. We actually still have our bell rattle where our original bell shakers in our musical basket for our girls who are now eight and six. So we also offer our classic wooden ring. That's the first dressing material that we introduced to our daughter actually brought it with me to the birth center and, you know, in their nursing and they they scratch so much. And so we actually she would grasp this and hold this so that she could do that and not be scratching her face or me. And so that was one of the first things that we introduced and we had a couple in her bag. So some people are always tempted to put the little mittens on, but their hands are how, you know, they're just new to the world. This is how they're exploring their space. They can't really even see very well. And so being able to use their hands and touch and feel warmth and know you're there, it's important not to limit that sensory. And so that was just a way to have the same effect of not allowing them to scratch, but having them grasp something. They're hoping for something.


Bianca: [00:09:58] Absolutely. I love that too, because, you know, they're still learning about their world. They're still exploring in those moments, you know, in all moments, right?


Lea: [00:10:08] Yes. All of the sponges, all the things, they absorb everything, right.


Bianca: [00:10:14] So much is happening.


Lea: [00:10:16] I have a pile. I have like another one in a basket. Here, I'm make another sound the bell cylinder. This isn't traditionally a grasping material, right? So this is something that we think about for three to six months older beyond that. But if you're looking for something that you can have in your bag. Transitional piece also, it's great they can hold the cage on the outside, and so it's one that can grow with your child, they'll start going after it when they are older and are thinking about crawling. Yeah, and we have the interlocking discs, which is your hand, a hand transfer across body and also as a rolling one. I love the simplicity of that material.


Bianca: [00:10:54] Yes. Oh, I love all these materials. So first, I love your shop. I love the quality of your materials, and you can really tell that it just came from your hearts, which I love. So, for example, the bell cylinder material, that's a really fun one, you know, as they become more and more and more mobile too, they will initially crawl after it, which is the the goal is to get them to move forward, but they will run after it. When they're runners, you know, they'll also use it as a rolling experiment across the floor. And there's a lot of different things you can do with it. So I love your materials. Thank you so much for sharing what you offer.


Bianca: [00:11:33] Of course it's like we have. I have the rollers and they roll at different speeds and we as educators and I was like, Oh, there's all these things we can do to encourage them.


Bianca: [00:11:44] Absolutely. And that's one thing I love about the Montessori materials, too, is because they're simple and they really offer a whole world for the child to be able to use them, especially with those materials, the grasping material. Because when we get to some of the more traditional Montessori material progression, they have their purposes and all of that. But with those types of materials, it's really cool to see how they use them and manipulate them. So anyway. So would you mind telling our audience what qualities distinguish Montessori baby materials from other baby toys on the market per say,


Lea: [00:12:16] Ok, so in woodworking, we always say that you need to use the right tool for the job, so I'm going to use that as my analogy. So Montessori materials show respect for the child by being made well and being presented an appropriate time based on the child's needs. There's no magical Montessori dust, you know, that makes an infant learning material, strictly Montessori that you can choose to go back to those original materials that are designed back in Rome for use in the Casady, meaning you can choose to support your child's development with materials that are in the spirit of Montessori. There's so many resources that provide guidance, like your podcast being one of them. And and so this biggest reminder to us was that implementing Montessori in our home needed to support our personal family philosophy of minimalism, respect, curiosity, connection and fun that was just our personal home. And when my partner and I made our first and only trip to a big box baby store, we were overwhelmed, to say the least. Every item was seemingly trying to jump off the shelf and get our attention and didn't fit into what we'd been like diligently researching and instinctively knew what we needed, which wasn't much for a newborn. You know, they don't. They don't need much to choosing all of what we call the BPP toys or anything that required a battery basically would not be like conductive to the respectful and peaceful Montessori home learning environment that we wanted to have.


Lea: [00:13:45] So choosing items that support different sensitive periods for your child, paying attention to that timing, follow the child. We say that over and over again, right? There's like so many wonderful, wonderful resources like accessible books Montessori from the Start by Lillian Jensen, Montessori Baby by Baby's Been, as well as the many incredible Montessori educators and parents who are active on Instagram and share their environments materially. Choosing quality will last for many children. Is it self-correcting? So does the toy do all the work with minimal input from the child is an active toy that encourages the child to be passive? Or does your child do more work like with a passive toy than interacting with it than encouraging the child to be more active? So thinking about that balance? Yeah, and I I love we love the mobiles. We make some mobiles too. And so thinking about the visual mobiles that are out there, the right tools for visual development would be incredibly beautiful. Series of visual mobiles, binary black and white cards, octahedron go v dancers, mobiles, we all do. And then the tactile level. I'm just I love them all.


Bianca: [00:14:56] And now for a quick message from our sponsor. One thing I can promise all of you is I will only ever promote products that I have tried and tested within my years of experience within the Montessori world. And that's why I am so excited to announce the Monastery Babies podcast partnership with EZPZ. So EZPZ provides all the feeding gear you need for babies first bites and sips all the way to feeding independence. Each collection is designed for a different developmental stage. The tiny collection is for infants, their mini collection is for toddlers, and the happy collection is for preschool. EZPZ products are made from one hundred percent food grade silicone, and they come in muted colors such as sage and blush. Other gorgeous colors like lime and coral, and some Montessori colors like blue and grey. Head on over to easy peasy, fun to check out the developmental benefits and safety features of each product and be sure to use the code Montessoribabies10 for 10 percent off at checkout. Thank you so much to easy peasy for sponsoring our Montessori Babies podcast and now back to our show.


Lea: [00:16:07] And so each materials mindfully designed and introduced to function in a way that support a child through learning about the world and how the world works and how they can interact with it, just like you said before. Right. So above all, Montessori learning of environments respect to the child, follow the child and so a choice to respect the child by preparing their environment with materials that are also quality and beautiful and providing them in limited numbers. They think about kind of the rule of five, and so it's not like overwhelm them and give them access in a safe way and particularly focus on timing so that material is not introduced too early or late. All right.


Bianca: [00:16:45] Yeah. Oh my goodness. You just offered so much helpful information for what to look for and implementing pedagogy and philosophy as you're looking for it. I love how you offered the self-correcting piece. Like, is the is the material something the child can manipulate and work with, but also figure out, you know, and I love that about Montessori materials. I love how it really encourages that inner will to learn that Dr. Montessori talks about so much, you know, so thank you for offering all of that information. It's so, so helpful. Would you mind telling our audience what some of the benefits are of the beautiful Montessori wooden materials?


Lea: [00:17:27] Ok, so just some some, you know, because I could talk many, many days,


Bianca: [00:17:31] Give us as many as you want.


Lea: [00:17:34] Okay. So I think putting a natural material like wood in your child's hand gives them an opportunity to explore their environment. It's real. It's comforting to sounds like a little woo woo, but I truly feel like I am honoring the tree that these materials are made from. I'm not painting them. I'm not plasticized them with like paints or finishes that make it so you can't tell that it was once a tree. Yeah. And so like even for our colors, like there's colors in our materials, I just held up our fall roller because it has different colored balls inside of it. So we make our own vegetable dyes using local organic ingredients that we usually pick ourselves as a family, which has been really fun.


Bianca: [00:18:22] I love it's so beautiful,


Lea: [00:18:25] So I just love. I love working with wood so much and it's warm to the touch. You instantly feel grounded when you hold something. If it breaks or scratches, you can repair it. We only work with solid wood. You don't use plywood, so it's sometimes possible to depending on what happened to something that may have broken or cracked. This goes for any furniture or spoon or anything you have in your home. That solid wood, you can repair it. So because what is textured, it's porous like bacteria can't live on the surface and reproduce like they can on smooth plastic. And so it's considered it's considered a naturally antibacterial surface. That's not quite the right term for it, but basically can exist and reproduce like they can on other surfaces. So even just like putting it in the sun for a little bit of time is better than having to spray down everything. And so like I know, a lot of schools use like UV light to sterilize there, and you may have seen that in your rooms, but just to sterilize the space. So there's just so many reasons I love working with wood, and I have a favorite quote from the joyful child I make you familiar with. I read it.


Bianca: [00:19:31] Oh my goodness.


Lea: [00:19:32] Ok, we have this on our page because it's it's our favorite and it speaks to us on these levels, so I will read it. The use of wood instead of plastic helps the child appreciate the natural world the colors, shades and greens of wood, and the varying weight of wooden toys in a variety of sizes and densities. Quality shows respect for the child and teaches the child respect for belongings. Beauty and durability are important at all ages for the child's tastes are being formed at this time of life. People who learn to appreciate living with beauty early in life can more easily lead us in creating a beautiful home and perhaps a beautiful world when they grow up. Oh, I love that.


Bianca: [00:20:14] Oh my goodness, that encompasses so much of the Montessori material. I love how it talks about the respect of the natural world and the appreciation for the natural world, because it's also a huge topic in Montessori, you know. Thank you so much for sharing that with our audience. It was for letting you know. So we talked. A little bit about cleaning the, you know, the Neato and the rooms and all of that and the approaches that may be taken. Can you tell us how best to care for our wooden materials?


Lea: [00:20:45] Absolutely, yes. This is one of our frequently asked questions. So I'm I'm here, I'm here for you. All right. So would, you know, takes a little more work than plastic toys, wood? So would Montessori materials. You're going to have to care for them, but with proper care, they're going to last longer than something that's made of plastic. The way we prepare our materials is that we use a blend of organic olive oil and beeswax for materials that you have access to the grain that still feels like wood when we touch it. I think I've said that like three times already, but it's important to me. It's important. And so, you know, wood grain will naturally lift and change with any moisture. So we always recommend sanding and then refinishing with a similar blend of an oil and a wax and then polish the material with like a lint free cloth. Ok, so the oil will soak into the wood to condition it and keep it from cracking or breaking easily. And then the wax will settle on the surface to protect it from moisture. Like your apple. You pick off a tree. I didn't know this. I always thought they added wax to it. The apple already has wax on it, and if you polish it with your shirt, it will get shiny. That is the wax naturally on the apple. Oh, you info to me, this is straight from New England.


Bianca: [00:22:01] I know you're in California. I am originally from California, I assume. Ok, good to know. So if you polish it, it'll get shiny and it's it's further protecting. This is not an apple, it's a piece of wood, but it's the same idea. Yeah. So, you know, the wax settles on the surface and it protects it from further moisture coming in. It's not completely waterproof. You need to maintain and continue to care for your wooden materials. So just like you wouldn't soak or steam or put your wooden spoons through the dishwasher, you know you still have to take care for materials. So just like wipe it clean with a damp rag and then let it dry completely. This is key. Make sure it's dry like sand. Any rough spots that you might feel, just use your hands. If you feel something that's rough, you can take a piece of sandpaper to it. Go with it until it feels smooth and then refinished. Reapply your your finish that you've made or have or use. There's a lot of different options out there for wood care and finish, and I really don't want to sound like a salesperson. So but we do in our shop because this is a frequently asked question. I do have a little kit that I put together. It's the sandpaper that I use in the shop.


Bianca: [00:23:12] Well, that's amazing.


Lea: [00:23:13] It's the wood finish. Like we looking at this on camera and I forget that I am not a visual. I'm not releasing right now in my hands. It's little, but it goes a long way. And so that is our beeswax in olive oil finish we use in the shop and then our little rag that we use, that's lint free and I cut it and I sell it. I like surge the edges so that it won't go everywhere. But so it's not like a giant little thing. It's exactly the right size that you need for the materials you have, and there's some little directions on there, too.


Bianca: [00:23:42] So I would have loved to have that in my classroom when I was like,


Lea: [00:23:47] I was like, Oh, you know, I should just put this together to help everyone. But you know, this is all stuff that you might already have. Not everyone has a wood workshop in their home, but, you know, not everyone.


Bianca: [00:23:59] That's a great, great little package for people. I mean, again, I would have loved to have that in my classroom and even still have materials that could really benefit from that.


Lea: [00:24:09] I hope we have a lot of families who've purchased, you know, purchasing materials for their first child and then they'll purchase the kit and then they'll send me a picture like, look, it made them look new again. I should have taken it before picture. But like, though, you know, they these are materials that we, you know, we made for them five years ago. And they've like sand at them and they've made them and they look just like that. That's really fun.


Bianca: [00:24:31] Do you mind my asking? So you mentioned wiping it down with a damp cloth? Is it just a cloth with water on it? Do you use anything with it?


Lea: [00:24:39] Some people like to use like a really mild detergent. I don't like to do that because I just like, put it in the sun. But also, like I said, like, these are materials that are to be presented like on the shelf, so they're not supposed to be where they're eating or, you know, there shouldn't be other things on them. But I know that's not always the reality you can use. Some people like to use like a little bit of apple cider vinegar, like a little bit in the water, and that should help it. I think mostly just letting it dry completely and refinishing and just sanding any spots. Ok.


Bianca: [00:25:12] Awesome. Thank you. That's really helpful because you know, when you're using it every day with your child or when you're using it with multiple children in the classroom or multiple children in your home, then you know it's good to know how to refurbish it. We'll say, Yeah, yeah. You know, back to where it started.


Lea: [00:25:28] Yeah, I think the big thing is like a little like if you're going to have something wet in your home, like have some sandpaper on hand. Because that's the easiest way to bring it back to where it was before. Just take off that layer that you're having an issue with and underneath it is more solid wood. I hope that's


Bianca: [00:25:43] Helpful. It's very helpful. So kind of, I guess, progressing my last question. Well, not necessarily on cleaning, but we were talking about a little bit about refurbishing. So can you talk a little bit about how long these materials can possibly last?


Lea: [00:25:57] So I think as long as they're cared for, like as long as you're conditioning in the wood, as long as you're, you know, making sure that they're maintained, they could last decades like truly. And so like I, my oldest is eight, right? I was recently cleaned out my bag that I was using as my diaper bag. And if anything goes in there, I promise. Not that story. Not that kind of story. Don't worry, but I did. Like, I reached in and I found in like the little zip pocket. I found the stroller still underneath that. I had made her nine years before and it was just sitting there waiting for for time, for someone to reach on there and find it again. I also found the interlocking disks that we made for them. And I was just like, Oh, it's such a thing. I remember sitting down. I remember making these things that's so special. So I think as long as as long as you're able to, I mean, of course, you know, things happen. They're natural, solid materials. So they would checks and cracks and does over time. That's yeah, that's that's kind of that's also how we understand and appreciate natural materials as as people. It is people interacting in our environment. And, you know, it's compostable. Yet it's not going to live in a landfill forever. Like if something breaks or something cracks and you're, you know, you're done with its life, I put it in your yard.


Bianca: [00:27:25] Absolutely. And I love how, you know, it kind of incorporates the whole we're taking care of it and it's progressing and it's staying and it's evolving. And you know, it can absolutely be refurbished to what it was. But, you know, even modeling to your child, doing it in front of your child, a little bit of an older child. But you know, they get to see how the material can come back to life by taking care of it. And that's so wonderful, you know? I know in the toddler space there's, you know, a couple of different polishing lessons. And so, you know, it might even be fun to get them involved with the rag. And, you know, so it's all natural materials.


Lea: [00:27:59] I've definitely I've definitely seen our finish in in in the toddler spaces. Nice preschool.


Bianca: [00:28:06] It looks like perfect size. Again, I just saw it on camera. It looks the perfect size.


Lea: [00:28:10] I just I feel like I like I said before, I feel like we're honoring the tree. Like if you continue it through its cycle and go through that with your child and show that to your students and model that and just taking care of the things that we own and have chosen to bring into our homes, I think that's important to moms as well.


Bianca: [00:28:27] Absolutely. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate all of this information. It was so wonderful. Again, her shop, Essential Montessori, is just glorious. She has so many amazing materials and you can really tell that they're all just filled with love and care. And thank you so much for coming on the show. I really, really appreciate it.


Lea: [00:28:49] Well, thank you so much, Bianca. I really appreciate. This was so fun.


Bianca: [00:28:52] And that was our Interview with the amazing Leah from Essential Montessori. I will have their materials linked below, and don't forget to use the code Montessori babies at checkout for 10 percent off your order. If you're interested in purchasing something, I will tell you kind of like I've said, I will not promote materials that I haven't tried and tested, and I love their materials, so definitely go ahead and check them out. I also wanted to end today's show with our quote and when that doesn't directly correlate with materials, but more so talks about the newborn and one that has been truly inspirational for me. So this quote is by Dr. Montessori, of course. And here it is. We have to look at the newborn to understand the secret of our life. We have to study how this being that at birth is incapable of comprehension and lack self-awareness, who has neither memory nor will becomes intelligent. This quote to me just really embodies the mystery of, you know, newborn and early infancy. And that's when we offer these types of materials, and that's when we start to see these things like transforming their environment. And, you know, they're starting to use their hands to grasp things and and all of these tiny baby steps that takes the baby from where they are, you know, in womb to birth to then you know that running playful toddler that we have later on.


Bianca: [00:30:18] So I hope you enjoyed this episode. I do want to give everybody a giant virtual hug and just say thank you so much for being a part of our community and listening to our show. A huge shout out to our Montessori baby patrons if you're interested and become. Being a patron. Check out our Montessori Babies Patreon page, there are some wonderful perks that come along with that, so definitely check that out. And lastly, I just want to end on a note of you guys are all amazing, all your wonderful parents and educators and caregivers are so wonderful. And, you know, just the fact that we're all here and learning together and growing together means that we're all putting in our best effort to be, you know, our most prepared adult, as Dr. Montessori would say. So anyway, thank you so much for tuning in to episode twenty nine and I will catch you in the next episode bye.


Bianca: [00:31:09] Hey, it's Bianca, your baby tour guide here. Hopping back in to say thank you again for listening to this episode of Montessori babies, if you found this episode helpful and would like more information. Hop on over to Baby Tour Guide and download my three Montessori Guide to join our community and receive the latest on optimizing development through a Montessori lens. You can also find me on Instagram and Facebook at Baby Tour Guide. Also, if you found this episode helpful to your Montessori practice, I would absolutely love it if you would leave a review to help other parents and educators find our show. Thanks again for listening, and I will catch you in the next episode bye.