Montessori Equipment for Homeschooling 3 to 4 Year Olds

We are sharing the answer to a great question we got in from a parent asking what equipment we would recommend for this age group.

If you purchased our Montessori Curriculum for Primary Class (PreK to Kindergarten ages), there are some basic lists and suggestion in the binders and we suggest you make or buy the equipment that we introduce in the curriculum. Most of it can be made fairly easily, and all of it can be made or improvised if you are handy with DIY projects.

Here is a basic starter list:

1. Sandpaper Letters

2. Movable Alphabet set in a compartmentalized box or DIY equivalent

3. Word cards for CVC (e.g. dog), CVVC (e.g. beak), and CVCV (e.g. cake) words.

4. Practical Life DIY setup including small pitchers, bowls, sponges, clothes, brooms, mops, dustpans, buckets, and similar material (if you have our curriculum, see the list in the binder).

5. Spindle boxes, Golden Beads (units through thousands), number cards (1 to 10000)

6. Red Rods, Number Rods, Pink Tower, Color Tablets (at least set 1 and 2), Brown/Broad Stairs

7. Books using words from #3 above as well as more advanced material designed to be read to your child. See the free downloadable books at Project Gutenberg and check out a sample of our Adobe PDF book for Montessori Pink Level Reading words. You should have a minimum of 20 books that your child can start reading and at least another 20 that you read to your child. You can make these with the Gutenberg books, write your own, browse yard sales, or take out library books, too.

8. Three-lined writing paper, pencils, erasers, colored pencils with pencil holders, blank rolodex cards (for you to make equipment with), watercolor paints, brushes, painting and art paper, smocks/painting clothes.

Questions? Send them along!