Montessori and imagination play - I'm confused?

Question

I'm looking into Montessori schools and so far love everything I'm seeing... with one exception.

The AMI-accredited school I'm specifically looking at doesn't allow clothing, backpacks, etc, with cartoon characters, fantasy, etc. The website says "Camouflage gear, fantasy or cartoon character prints lead a child to play a role not his/her own. These are not acceptable for school wear."

I have fond memories of playing fantasy and imaginative games growing up. Why does Montessori disallow these things? Are they really that bad? Should the child not be allowed cartoon things at home as well then? I'm concerned and confused about this.

Thanks!

Answer 1

One of the problems with Montessori is their tendency to dictate policies that should be left to parents. In addition, they are not much for fantasy play in the first place. Fantasy play is important in a child's development. it helps them sort out the world around them, solve problems and develop their imaginations. It would be nice if children could come up with "scripts" not based on popular culture but a good teacher can help children expand on that kind of play.

Answer 2

They are not disallowing fantasy/imaginative play, they are simply wanting to allow the children to devise their own fantasies, not simply act out a pre-identified role or character.

Answer 3

I don't think that they are really bad.  Choose a different school, I went to a Montessori school, and had no problem with the clothes

Answer 4

Generally speaking, what you do at home, the school will not have problems with (exception: abuse, but that's a TOTALLY different subject).

Think about the imaginative games you did play growing up.  Think about the differences between the ones you really made up, where you created characters and acted them out, and the ones where you just copied what you saw on television and played out those characters.  Which ones did you feel were really creative?  If we're honest with ourselves, we would say the ones we made up were creative....not when we were playing superman and just reliving a scene we saw on television.

Actually, there was an NPR report that discussed this not too long ago.  If we really think about it, the point of the report was obvious, but something many of us do not think about.  Up until the 20th Century, we did not have toys marketed to children the way we do now.  Now we see a movie and there are thousands of dollars worth of toys we can purchase.  The child gets the toys and, while changing the scenario somewhat, does not really change much about the way the toys are played.  Creativity is not really as high as it could be.  Before the mass media, children used their imaginations quite differently.  

Maria Montessori saw these changes, as well as other factors, and began to see that they harm young children's creativity.  In a world that offers so much for us to have our imagination focused on, doesn't it seem odd that we only focus our child's imagination towards Spider Man or Transformers?  What about imagining the life cycle of a butterfly?  Or imagining many wonders of nature?  Or imagining how different people live in different parts of the world?  

If we are going to play out a fantasy role, why imagine something another person came up with?  Isn't it more creative to set up your own ideas and work with them?

I went to a Montessori school from birth until Junior High.  I vividly remember a game we played in my 6-9 classroom on the playground.  We each created characters and had a "good guy" team and a "bad guy" team.  It was SIMILAR to us playing GI Joe or He-Man, but it was quite different in that all our characters, scenarios, weapons, special vehicles, etc. were made up.  I personally had a bow and arrow that shot lightning arrows.  I don't think I would remember it as vividly if I were He-Man with his magical sword.  It isn't as creative since it isn't my idea.

I'm also reminded of a story where my brother FINALLY got to see Star Wars.  He had the toys for a long time, but always played them out in his own creative way.  When he finally saw the movie, he was upset because the movie was nothing like he created.  The way he played with the toys immediately changed to fit the movie.  All that creativity was squashed.

I might have AMI Montessori people yelling at me (I'm AMS), but I still think there's some importance to providing children with toys that do reflect the mass media they regularly see.  I think children have a need they're expressing by playing with these toys.  I also think it's just a simple, enjoyable thing that is fine to an extent.  There is a difference between home and school, however.  The children recognize this very early on and actually enjoy the fact that there is a difference.  Certain rules are different:

--We usually use a quieter voice at school.

--Our schedule is different between work and school.

--Our activities are different between work and school.

It's not too much of a stretch for them to say, "there are certain clothes that I may not wear at school because those are not school clothes."

As a final note, I have noticed that many children who have trouble concentrating and relating to others often act like they're Spider Man.  I pick on Spider Man (as much as I love Spider Man) simply because I see that web slinging thing all the time from these children.  So while I think for most children, it is fine to have some of that, I also think there are some children that escape to it too easily.  One child in particular would get really upset during games of freeze tag that the children would play.  He would love it until he got tagged, then he turned into an upset Spider Man and started slinging pretend webs at the child that tagged him.  This made him more angered when the child didn't get caught in the webs, but ignored it and kept playing.  This child always found his escape by pretending to be a superhero, which made him more upset when he realized that he, in fact, was NOT a superhero and he could not think of any other coping methods.

So...to answer your question, these things do stifle imaginative play, but in small doses, I also think they meet another need.  Whether it is appropriate at school or not is a question best left up to the school and whether you agree with that or not is something you'll have to take into consideration.  Generally speaking, I think it's great that there are schools out there that promote more real creativity rather than manufactured creativity.  (Again...I feel the toys, etc. meet a DIFFERENT need...not a creative need though creativity CAN POSSIBLY be found in them).

Hope this helps!

Matt

Answer 5

Some theorize that cartoon characters, all those commercialized fantasy things, discourage children's imagination rather than inspire it.

I believe they want to encourage children to use their own imaginations and not be influenced by trademarked characters.

There's nothing inherently BAD about such things, but it is good to encourage children to create their own characters from their own minds instead of pre-made ones.

In other words, they don't want kids playing Superman and Wonder Woman. Children are better off spending their time pretending to be mom/dad/siblings, rabbits, kings and queens, etc. Roles they create themselves.

Answer 6

The kids do this becase when you are not paying attntion to them they get bored so they just make an imagenery friend I know becuse my sister dose that and just observed and i found out.