Montessori vs. Daycare: 5 Key Differences

Tamara Sevigny • June 13, 2022

Many families rely on childcare while their children are still young. Figuring out the best place to drop your little one off every day is a big decision. Parents want to ensure their child spends their days safe, comfortable, and happy, and under the watchful eye of well-trained and competent adults.

 

Daycare is the obvious choice for many folks…that is, until they become aware of other options.

 

If you’re reading this article, it’s likely you are one of those parents who is trying to figure out the best possible placement for your child. Allow us to highlight five key differences between a typical daycare center and a Montessori school.

  1. An Emphasis on Education

Montessori goes beyond the reaches of a typical daycare facility. While daycares focus on watching and caring for children, Montessori schools do this and more by creating an environment focused on children’s learning.

 

We believe education starts at birth. Children’s days should be filled with play, as that is how they learn, but we create space for them to play in ways that enrich their development.

 

We don’t fill our classroom with whatever toys look fun; we carefully prepare an environment with materials that have been developed after careful scientific observation and used for over 100 successful years. These materials are still games and toys from the perspective of the child, but they tend to have much different effects on them from a learning perspective. 

2. A Natural Environment

Most daycare environments are filled with bright colors, plastic toys, and maybe even a cartoon character or two.

 

Montessori environments eschew any type of commercialism or characters. They utilize natural materials like wood, plant fibers, and even glass. Natural tones are favored over bright and loud colors, and soft and natural lighting is evident.

 

Montessori classrooms intentionally bring the natural world inside, with plants, found objects, and pets. Children are directly involved with the care of living things in the classroom.

 

Daycares may have bright posters on the wall, whereas Montessori environments favor a minimalist approach and examples of art displayed at the level of the child’s viewpoint. 

3. Specially-Trained Guides

The training of a Montessori guide goes far beyond the training of a typical daycare worker. To care for young children, both must meet certain requirements such as first aid training, passing a background check, and some knowledge of working with children.

 

Montessori guides, however, continue far beyond the basics. Most have college degrees, with many obtaining advanced degrees. They have completed rigorous Montessori credential training, which includes comprehensive instruction on child development, intensive lessons to help them present Montessori materials correctly, work in Montessori philosophy, and so much more.

 

We encourage you to ask your local daycare facility about their teacher training requirements and compare them to Montessori requirements while you explore your options. 

4.The Sense of Community

When your child is enrolled at a Montessori school, it’s so much more than a place to drop them off each morning. The whole family is welcomed as a part of the school community, and special events and traditions work to solidify this sense of community.

 

Montessori parents are often eager to connect with one another; we all seem to have a sense that a strong community contributes greatly to the wellbeing of our children. It’s helpful to have other parents to ask questions, hear about experiences, and even socialize with.

 

Montessori schools are also unique in that we welcome parents into the classroom. In fact, we encourage regular observation. The children are used to adults sitting quietly in a corner of the room, so the practice is unobtrusive, and really gives adults a clear picture of the type of work we do. Many parents walk away from observations in awe of the engagement of the children and the depth of the work/play they show. 

5. Development of Practical Life Skills

We believe that learning is so much more than academics, which is why Montessori environments intentionally include practical life lessons. Practical life learning is incredibly appealing to young children as well, as they look to adults in their lives and want to emulate the work they see them doing. Some of the types of skills they develop in our environments include:

●    Toilet learning (for infants and toddlers)

●    Food preparation

●    Care of the environment (cleaning skills)

●    Plant and pet care

●    Fastening various types of clothing

●    Tying and lacing

●    Care of self (washing, brushing, etc.)

●    Grace and courtesy lessons: interacting appropriately and politely with others

We hope this article has been helpful and informative. To learn more, we encourage you to visit various types of settings in person and ask to observe in the different classrooms. Not only will you notice stark differences, we think you’ll find yourself impressed with the scope of skills covered in a Montessori class (as well as the absolute joy of the children who you see there).

 

Please reach out to Children’s Tree if you have any questions or would like to schedule a visit. We would love to meet you and your child. Schedule a tour today, click here.

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Unifying Words and Their Meanings: The Quiet Genius of Montessori Vocabulary Lessons

By Danielle Giordano • April 6, 2026
Have you ever watched a Montessori teacher give a lesson and thought, "That seemed...very short!”? If so, you may have witnessed a three-period lesson. What looks almost effortlessly simple is actually one of the most carefully designed teaching techniques. The three-period lesson is the primary way we introduce new vocabulary to young children. We use it constantly for phonetic sounds, geometric shapes, textures, quantities, names of parts of a flower, names of continents, and so much more. Virtually every time children learn a precise new word for something they're experiencing with their senses, we are using a version of this lesson. Why Vocabulary Needs Its Own Method Young children are in what Dr. Montessori called a sensitive period for language. This is a window of time when children’s minds are especially primed to absorb new words and refine their understanding of them. It’s important to keep in mind, though, that absorbing a word isn't the same as truly knowing it. 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What Happens When a Child Gets It Wrong One of the most quietly radical aspects of the three-period lesson is what happens when a child gets it wrong. If a child points to the wrong texture in the second stage, the adult doesn't correct. We don’t say, "no, try again.” Instead, we just end the activity gently, with the understanding that we will try the lesson again another day. Dr. Montessori was clear about this approach. A correction at that moment doesn't help a child learn the word. In fact, a correction only reinforces the feeling of having failed. So we simply close the lesson. The child carries no impression of having gotten something wrong, and when we revisit the lesson, the child comes to it fresh. As Dr. Montessori wrote, an error in the second period is simply a sign that the child "was not at that instant ready for the psychic association.” Nothing is wrong with the child. The teaching hasn’t failed. It just wasn’t the right moment. 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Any time you want to help a young child connect a precise word to something they're experiencing (the names of spices by smell, the names of fabrics by touch, the names of tools in the garden), the same three-step structure applies. Name it clearly. Ask them to show you. Ask them to tell you. Keep it brief, keep it joyful, and if they get stuck, simply set it aside and try again tomorrow. The lesson works because it respects how young minds learn. New connections need space, simplicity, and the freedom to form without pressure. To see this vocabulary tool in action, schedule a visit here in [Your Location]

Our Montessori Bookshelf: Water Connects Us

By Danielle Giordano • March 30, 2026
Rivers are so important to our human story. They are sources of nourishment, transportation, and connection. We see how children are naturally drawn to water, and rivers offer a powerful way to understand ecology, interdependence, and our place within the natural world. With this in mind, we want to share some of our favorite books about water, rivers, and watersheds. Through story and illustration, children can trace the journey of a single drop of water, observe how land and water shape one another, and begin to understand how human choices affect the health of our planet. We’ve grouped the following collection of river and water-focused books by developmental stage. Each title offers language, beauty, and meaningful context for deeper exploration. Whether you are reading with a toddler, a younger elementary child, or an emerging researcher, these books invite wonder, responsibility, and reverence for one of Earth’s most essential elements. For the Youngest Hey, Water! By Antoinette Portis This picture book takes us on a journey of how water is part of our lives in so many ways: from sprinkler spray to a teardrop trickling. The clean-lined illustrations transition between bird’s-eye views and close-up images. This is a great transition book for toddlers moving from pages with one word labeling a picture to a narrative that connects to daily experience. A Place for Rain By Michelle Schaub, Illustrated by Blanca Gómez A lovely introduction to the concept of rain gardens, this picture book follows a simple story of children witnessing how rain runoff can be transformed from being problematic into something stunning and special for everyone. The sweet, slightly geometric illustrations highlight how even simple actions can have a big impact. Water Is Water By Miranda Paul, Illustrated by Jason Chin Although a picture book about the changing states of water, the lyrical text and charming illustrations make this a delightful and fun-filled page-turner! It’s a great way to introduce young children to the water cycle and the importance of water in our lives. Water Cycle: For Younger Elementary Drop: An Adventure through the Water Cycle By Emily Kate Moon Bridging between comic style and traditional picture book, the story follows the character, Drop, as she travels through the water cycle. Delightful and engaging, this is a great book for younger elementary children and can serve as an easy-to-access resource for understanding the states of water. A Drop Around the World By Barbara Shaw McKinney, Illustrated by Michael S. Maydak Written in rhyming verse, this story follows Drop from a cloud near Maine around the world and back to Cape Cod Bay. A map inside the cover shows the journey, and emoji-style images accompany the text, linking to more detailed descriptions of the amazing science at each step along Drop’s path. Watersheds If the Rivers Run Free By Andrea Debunk, Illustrated by Nicole Wong This captivating picture book takes readers through the human story of rivers’ importance in our lives, the mistakes we’ve made, and how we can make things right and help rivers run free again. The rhythm of the text is accentuated by moments of human realization, with bold statements that step out of the rhyming pattern and gently jar us into a sense of action. The illustrations take readers on a journey, too! One Well: The Story of Water on Earth By Rochelle Strauss, Illustrated by Rosemary Woods Through its clear text and lush illustrations, One Well emphasizes the interconnectedness of water on our planet. It offers an array of interesting information that will appeal to children in elementary years, both through narrative text and short snippets overlaid on the images that fill each page. The fact that this picture book has an index is an indicator of how just how much its 32 pages contains! River Story By Meredith Hooper, Illustrated by Bee Willey Rich in realistic content yet engaging and accessible, this lushly illustrated picture book takes readers on a journey from the source of the river to where it empties into the sea. Watersheds: A Practical Handbook for Healthy Water By Gregor Gilpin Beck, Illustrations by Clive Dobson Best for older readers, this book offers helpful and non-technical information about watershed concepts and environmental concerns. This is an excellent resource for older elementary or younger adolescents engaged in ecology research. The illustrations are beautiful, too! We’d love to hear what you think about these books! You can also download a printable list for the next time you visit your local bookstore or library! Also, feel free to schedule a visit here in [Your Town/Location] to learn more about how the story of water flows through children’s lives!

How Montessori Makes Long Division Make Sense

By Danielle Giordano • March 23, 2026
For many of us, we remember learning long division as a confusing sequence of steps to memorize and repeat (bring down, divide, multiply, subtract), often without a real sense of why it works. In Montessori classrooms, long division unfolds very differently. Through the Racks and Tubes material, children get to experience what division actually is. Two Ways to Divide: Sharing and Grouping Before introducing the material, we first clarify an important idea: there are two different kinds of division problems in real life. One asks, “If I share this equally, how much does each person get?” This is partitive division, or division by sharing. The other asks, “If I make groups of a certain size, how many groups can I make?” This is measurement division, or division by grouping. The Racks and Tubes material focuses on partitive division. Children physically share quantities equally and discover what one share receives. Materials like the Stamp Game emphasize division of measurement. Together, these approaches give children a complete understanding of division and help them choose the strategy that best fits a given problem. What Are Racks and Tubes? At first glance, the material is impressive and a little mysterious. Children are often drawn to the material, both for its beauty and its seeming complexity. Racks hold test tubes filled with beads, carefully color-coded by place value: units, tens, hundreds, thousands, all the way up to millions. Matching cups hold the dividend (the number being divided). Boards and skittles represent the divisor (the number doing the dividing). Every detail of the material reinforces place value. Each time children need to make an exchange, they trade in one bead of one category for ten of the next category (e.g. one hundred becomes ten 10’s). This process is visible and incredibly concrete. This material takes intentional focus. It takes time. And it makes the steps of long division clear. How Long Division Becomes Concrete When children solve a division problem with Racks and Tubes, they follow a logical, embodied process: They build the dividend using the racks and cups. They represent the divisor with individual figures on boards. They share beads one at a time, equally, to each part of the divisor. They stop when sharing is no longer possible and then see what remains from that category. They then bring down the next category of beads to continue the sharing process. Each step answers a real question: What does one unit get? What happens when we run out? What do we do with what’s left? Instead of being told “bring down the next digit,” children literally bring down the next category of beads. When exchanges are needed, they perform them physically by trading beads. Remainders are not mysterious leftovers. They are beads still sitting in the cup. Long division becomes a story children can follow. From Material to Abstraction One of the most beautiful aspects of this work is how naturally it leads into abstraction. At first, children record only the quotient. Later, they begin recording intermediate remainders. Eventually, they discover that multiplying the quotient by the divisor tells them how much has been used at each step. This is the very heart of the traditional algorithm. We don’t give abstract shortcuts. Instead we help children discover the pattern. This allows them to own the process. By the time children are working abstractly on paper, the algorithm already makes sense. It matches what their hands have done again and again. Why This Matters The Racks and Tubes material does more than teach division. It teaches: Deep place value understanding Logical sequencing Patience and precision Trust in one’s own reasoning Most importantly, it gives children confidence. Division is no longer something done to them. Instead, they can think through the process, step by step, with meaning and understanding. In Montessori, math is not about getting the answer quickly. It’s about building an understanding of why the process and answer makes sense. And with Racks and Tubes, long division finally does! Schedule a visit to our classrooms in Old Saybrook, CT to see for yourself!
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