Maria Montessori was an Italian physician and pioneer in child development. She observed that children have a natural, progressive aptitude for acquiring knowledge about their world. Her child-centred philosophy is founded on the belief that the goal of early childhood education should be to cultivate the child’s natural desire to learn.

Children in a Montessori environment learn in their own way at their own pace, and according to their own choice of activities. One child might paint as another places beads in groups of ten, while the teacher works with a small group, forming words using sandpaper letters, for instance.