Thinking fast on the spot, I asked her if she would like to draw a picture for her mum. She said she did.
We go for a walk on a Friday afternoon and so I then proceeded to find an envelope and explained to her that after she had drawn the picture, we could put it in an envelope, address it and on our walk we would go to the post office to buy a stamp. She decided that she really wanted to do that.
So she drew a lovely picture for her mum and I showed her how to fold it and put it in the envelope.
We took some money on our walk, stopped at the post office where one of the children asked for a stamp. The little girl whose picture it was, posted it in the post box.
To me, this is the exact intention of Montessori education. Real life education.
I'm sure that there are a whole heap of boxes that can be ticked for the EYFS from this activity too, but the main objective of this entire lesson was to cheer up this little girl and this was successful. Further to this, she learned to fold, put a letter in an envelope, she learned that she needed an address and a stamp before posting it in the box. In a few days her mummy will receive her picture through the post so she will begin to understand the cycle.
That is such beautiful idea, during the short time my son was at nursery I worried so much about him missing me (well, I think it was a way of deflecting from the fact I really missed him), I think that as well as being an excellent learning opportunity for the child it will also bring her mother peace and confidence that she is in good hands.
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