Montessori and Play Schemas: A Parent's Guide to Purposeful Play

Children are fascinating, and they do a lot of things we adults might not understand at first. And one of these things is exploring the world around them in any way they know, in a way that usually looks repetitive to us.


Whether it’s a toddler intentionally dropping toys from their high chair or a preschooler meticulously arranging objects, these actions are more than simple play. They’re play schemas. 


The world of play schemas is a fascinating one, and so is their role in cognitive, physical, and social development.


So, let’s take a closer look and see what it’s all about.

Little girl placing colorful magnetic pieces and shapes on a white board.

What Are Play Schemas?

Have you ever noticed your toddler twirling their hair around a pencil or your preschooler spending hours meticulously arranging their favorite objects? These repeated behaviors are play schemas.


Essentially, play schemas are the recurring patterns of action that children use to explore and understand the world around them. Far from being random, these behaviors are deliberate experiments. Each action is a way for a child to discover how objects work and interact.


Jean Piaget, who was a renowned psychologist, referred to these patterns as "behavioral schemata." According to Piaget, children use exploration to construct knowledge, and these repeated actions are what help them strengthen their cognitive, physical, and social skills.

How Do Play Schemas Align With Montessori?

Montessori education is all about having a hands-on, child-led approach with a lot of exploration and repetition. Coincidentally, these principles align perfectly with play schemas.


One thing you’ve probably heard about Montessori classrooms is how they’re packed with open-ended materials, right? It’s all about giving kids the freedom to explore at their own pace. And when they do this, they’re naturally reinforcing those behaviors that help them learn more deeply.


It’s not just about play, either. This approach helps kids build independence while also working on things like fine motor skills, spatial awareness, and problem-solving.

Blonde boy playing with colorful Montessori sorting pallets.

Types of Play Schemas and Montessori Activities

If you get a good grip on different types of play schemas (and the Montessori activities that go perfectly with them), you can create an environment that encourages purposeful play.


So, let’s check some of those out.

Transporting

As the name probably suggests, transporting is all about moving objects from one place to another. It could be carrying toys in their hands, filling up a bag with treasures, or pushing a toy truck across the room.


Whatever it is, little ones are fascinated by transporting objects.


Activities:

  • Use small baskets or trays to encourage carrying items around the home or classroom.
  • Introduce toy carts or wheelbarrows for a playful delivery experience.
  • Set up a pretend delivery service where your child can “deliver” items from one spot to another.
  • Engage in water play with cups and pitchers to explore volume and movement.
  • Create sensory bins filled with materials, scoops, and containers.
Boy playing with a wooden cartwheel filled with colorful Montessori blocks.

Positioning

It’s never too early to start teaching your kiddo about order and arrangement, and you can do that with positioning. Kiddos who love positioning can usually be found playing by creating lines, patterns, and specific arrangements with objects.


Some positioning play you could see from your little one includes lining up their toys, sorting objects by color or size, or creating intricate designs with blocks or other materials.


Activities:

  • Provide blocks that can be stacked to build towers or other structures.
  • Use loose parts, such as pebbles or buttons, to create patterns and designs.
  • Offer magnetic tiles to explore symmetry and geometric formations.
  • Incorporate shape-sorting toys and matching games to enhance visual discrimination and organization skills.
  • Let your kiddos be engineers with toys such as our Montessori Magnetic Set.
Toddler playing with colorful Montessori toys in his playroom.

Connection

Children who love that ‘click’ sound are fascinated by joining things together. They might enjoy building with blocks, linking train tracks, fastening objects with Velcro or magnets, or even experimenting with zippers and buttons.


Activities:

  • Offer snap-together building toys that allow for endless creative structures.
  • Provide puzzles with interlocking pieces to bolster problem-solving skills.
  • Engage in bead stringing activities that promote fine motor coordination.
  • Give your kiddo a toy that introduces connection in a fun way and gives their little hands a lot of things to do, like our Montessori Busy Board.
Young boy engaged in a STEM activity, building a 3D geometric structure using wooden sticks and colorful clay. The structure resembles a house, demonstrating creativity, problem-solving, and fine motor skills. The background is blurred, emphasizing the child's focus and hands-on learning.

Transforming

Children who love transforming could never get bored of changing the state of materials. They might enjoy mixing paint, playing with dough, cooking, or even exploring the properties of sand and mud.


Activities:

  • Use playdough or clay to allow for molding and creative expression.
  • Encourage mixing paints to experiment with color blending and texture.
  • Engage in simple cooking activities where children can help stir, measure, and observe changes.
  • Promote outdoor play with sand and mud to explore natural transformations.
  • Incorporate paper cutting and collage-making to transform basic materials into art.
  • Make your little ones into little chefs who transform ingredients into meals with our Montessori Cooking Tools.
Child engaging in a sensory play activity, using yellow plastic scissors to cut colorful playdough. The table is covered with various crafting tools, including a rolling pin and textured molds.

Orientation

This schema is all about exploring different viewpoints and spatial orientations. Children who love orientation might enjoy climbing, hanging upside down, looking through objects, or experimenting with balance and movement.


Activities:

  • Set up ramps, tunnels, or obstacle courses to encourage movement and spatial exploration.
  • Use mirrors and prisms to play with reflections and angles.
  • Introduce balancing beams and other challenges that develop coordination.
  • Provide swings and slides to offer varied viewpoints and dynamic movement experiences. If you want to take this activity one step further, you can check out our Montessori Balance Buddy.
Girl climbing a wooden ramp while a small dog with a pink bow slides down, with a boy watching in the background.

Trajectory

Children who love trajectory are delighted by how objects move through space. They might enjoy throwing, rolling, or dropping objects, and watching how they move and interact with their environment.


Activities:

  • Provide balls and ramps for experimenting with gravity and momentum.
  • Engage in tossing games using beanbags or soft balls.
  • Use water sprayers to explore the flow and path of water.
  • Build marble runs or set up domino chains to observe cause and effect in motion with our Montessori Wooden Marble Run.
Two children playing catch with a colorful ball in a bright room with toys and bowling pins on the floor.

Rotation

This schema is all about spinning and turning. Children who love rotation might enjoy spinning tops, playing with gears, or even just twirling themselves around.


Activities:

  • Offer spinning tops, gears, or other toys that rotate.
  • Encourage creative expression through circular painting or drawing.
  • Explore water wheels to see how water can drive motion.
  • Provide tools like bolts and screwdrivers for hands-on exploration of rotation. And for kiddos who want their own tools to play with, you can get those from our Montessori Wooden Tool Box.
  • Use hula hoops and spinning chairs for active, full-body engagement.
Child painting colorful circles on paper with watercolors, surrounded by paint rings and a palette on a wooden table.

Enveloping

Enveloping involves covering or concealing objects, a natural curiosity for many young children.


Activities:

  • Supply fabric scraps or soft materials for wrapping and hiding objects.
  • Use boxes or bags to store items, encouraging a game of hide-and-seek with treasures.
  • Introduce dress-up clothes to explore roles and imaginative play.
  • Offer nesting dolls as a hands-on way to understand containment.
  • Organize treasure hunts to blend discovery with problem-solving.
Child folding a blue origami paper on a wooden bench, with colorful paper sheets nearby.

Enclosure

Enclosure is centered on creating defined boundaries or borders around objects.


Activities:

  • Use building blocks to construct walls, fences, or designated play areas.
  • Employ tape or string to mark boundaries on the floor or table.
  • Provide boxes or containers that help organize and sort objects.
  • Set up play tents or forts to create a sense of a secure, enclosed space.
  • Use trays and placemats to delineate activity zones such as art or mealtime spaces.
Young girl in a blue sweater carefully stacking wooden blocks into a tall tower indoors.

Conclusion

If you want to support your little one’s natural learning process, you need to know what kind of play schemas they’re interested in. But as long as you follow Montessori teachings and put your focus on hands-on, child-led exploration, you won’t have any problems.


As a parent, it’s your job to create play spaces at home that aren’t only fun, but also support your child’s growth and development. With the right toys and attitude, you will be able to send your little one on a journey of discovery through their unique play schemas.

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