The Montessori curriculum from birth to 3, on one map.
Every work in the five areas of the infant and toddler program, in the order it is usually offered, with the steps, the safety checks, and the reasons. It is written for infant rooms (Nido), toddler rooms (Infant Community), and families at home.
154 works18 strands30 room and care norms
One bar per strand, one bead per work.
How to use the birth to 3 workbook
- 1
Find the child on the map
The full map shows every strand from birth to age 3, with ages in months. Select a work to see, by name, what it needs first and what it leads to.
- 2
Read the safety checks first
147 works list safety checks above the steps. Where US federal or pediatric guidance differs from Montessori practice, the work says what the guidance says and what this curriculum does.
- 3
Offer the next work
Each work has the materials, numbered steps, extensions, and the signs that the child is ready to move on. Many infant works are things the adult places in the room, such as a mobile or a pull-up bar.
- 4
Plan the day around care
The classroom page has the norms for feeding, diaper changes, sleep, and safety, sample days for an infant room, a toddler room, and a home, and typical milestones by age.
Reading the beads
The workbook uses the colors of the Montessori bead stair, the same bars children count with in the 3–6 room.
Each area has one bead color
- Movement: the 5-bar
- Practical Life: the 2-bar
- Sensorial: the 3-bar
- Language: the 9-bar
- Art and Music: the 6-bar
Ages count in beads from age 1
- 9 mo Under 12 months: weeks or months, no beads
- Age 1: one red bead
- Age 2: two green beads
- Age 3: three pink beads
The bead stair starts at one, so ages under 12 months have no beads. Plate numbers such as MV T1.02 carry a T, so a birth to 3 binder never shares a number with a 3–6 binder.
Also in the workbook
- Care, norms, and milestonesCare routines, safety, the adult’s role, sample days for a Nido, an Infant Community, and a home, and typical milestones from birth to 3.
- Head Start infant and toddler outcomesFor school accounts: the federal birth to 3 goals with the works that meet them.
- 3 to 6The primary program: Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Mathematics, and Cultural, with a themes calendar.
- Why it worksPrinciples, kinds of lessons, record keeping, and the research behind the sequence, with sources.