An infant’s perception of sound, sight, touch, taste and smell is fresh, new and acute. Montessori parents turn a cold shoulder to the commercial manufacturers of infant toys that flash, erupt in electronic sound, and are made of lifeless plastic and other synthetics. These objects are simply overwhelming for a new baby’s sensory experience of the world. Keeping things calm and quiet, keeping manufactured stimuli to a minimum, and giving priority to a newborns’ most important connection to their human parents is key.

Even before birth, many babies react to sounds they perceive going on in the outside world. Often, Montessori parents take care to sing, talk and read to their children before their ‘arrival’. After birth, babies find themselves in a world of sounds and often, their greatest interest is in the sounds of human speech coming from their parents. Infants intently watch the mouths of the people around them and begin moving their own lips in imitation. Soon, they begin to explore their own ability to create different kinds of sounds and develop a fascinating repertoire of syllables that they will repeat over and over, trying to perfect the control of their throat, tongue and lips.

To explain this concept simply, newborns start to gain a feeling of security by making sense of all of the things they perceive in their surroundings, be this people or furnishings. Their own place in the scheme of things feels safe when they wake up from a nap and discover that everything is in its rightful location. Obviously, some changes are necessary, but optional changes in the environment should be made with care.