A Montessori Approach to Physical Education

Many of today's children tend to lead more sedentary lives than ever before; television and computers coupled with 'fast food' diets contribute to an unbalanced lifestyle. Recognising the need to turn the tide, to initiate discussion and to raise awareness of this growing problem, AMI invited Greg MacDonald to address the meeting of the Directors of Training and Trainers in Ambleside in August, 2000 on the subject of Montessori and physical education.

Greg MacDonald is an AMI Elementary trainer, consultant, and examiner. Greg's talk was introduced to the assembled Directors of Training and Trainers by Camillo Grazzini.

From the Introduction to 'A Montessori Approach to Physical Education' by Camillo Grazzini:

Maria Montessori is always primarily a scientist rather than a pedagogist, also when it comes to physical education. We can find evidence of her scientific approach to physical education in the first two Italian editions of her book, The Montessori Method - Scientific Pedagogy as Applied to Child Education in 'The Children's Houses' (1909 and 1913)...

As we can see in her book, Montessori herself adopts the so-called 'natural gymnastic movements' ... that lead to essential exercises such as 'standing and standing with good posture; walking and developing endurance in walking; running, jumping, moving and lifting weights; developing powers of balance', etc. We can find all these physical activities in Montessori's education of movement in the Children's House as well as in the relevant language activities.

From the main article on Physical Education by Greg MacDonald:

Section/Issue #1 Introduction

In this part of "A Montessori Approach to Physical Education", the author focuses upon the need for inclusion of physical education programmes in our schools. He traces the development of physical education from its historical roots in the lives of early human beings to the present day, and also examines Maria Montessori's own experiences in the field, her work in the area of nutrition and its relationship to classroom materials and practice.

'Intellectual progress is conditioned at every step by bodily vigour. To attain the best results, physical exercise must accompany and condition mental training'. (Comenius A.D. 1650)

A Montessori approach to physical education can be distilled into a single sentence: Approach physical education in your classroom as you would approach mathematics or biology, or any other area of knowledge, or any other skill.

Section/Issue #2 Introduction

In this part of "A Montessori Approach to Physical Education", the author highlights Maria Montessori's work in physical education, describing a range of apparatus introduced to the young children in her care. Fundamental Montessori principles are identified, and their application to physical education is discussed, the place of competition is examined, and a physical education programme having a distinctive Montessori flavour is described.