Reality vs. Fantasy in Early Childhood

If you’ve visited a Montessori classroom for children ages two-and-a-half to six, you may have noticed (and maybe even been amused that) everything is sized just for them, from the wooden tables and chairs to the restrooms and their kitchen spaces. 

But did you also see those dishes are breakable? They are not plastic, but instead are glass, porcelain, and metal. And other items are all child-sized, not imitations of adult-sized objects, including washing bins, dust pans, aprons, and more. 

Why is that? Why prepare a real meal instead of playing pretend with plastic food and a plastic knife? We want children to learn to use their imagination, so what’s the difference?

“The most important period of life is not the age of university studies, but the first one, the period from birth to the age of six.” —Dr. Maria Montessori

Birth to age six are formative years—there’s no other developmental period like it. A child’s mind is like a sponge. Filling it with a natural and tangible world builds a foundation for mathematics, language, and the sciences. In Montessori Early Childhood classrooms (through age six), we focus on the reality of life versus fantasy worlds.

What does reality mean in Montessori?

We try to make an environment based on what’s concrete—based on the physical and tangible in our world. Children can pick up objects, move them around, and feel and see and measure that one is shorter, and one is longer because it’s physically in front of them. Reality includes what we can sense—we can put a word to the thing to make the item real. We can say to a child, “Did you hear that? It was loud.” That’s something that’s based on reality. 

What do we mean by fantasy?

Fantasy includes ideas and concepts that are not plausible in our world, including talking animals, people with impossible powers, and anthropomorphized inanimate objects. When we speak about fantasy for Early Childhood students, it can be seen through books, TV, and technology with superheroes and things not real and tangible to children. 

Why is this distinction important?

A young child is absorbing the world around them, and when introduced to fantasy, they cannot yet make the distinction between what is considered real and unreal in our world. Once children understand and comprehend reality, they have a solid foundation for other phases of life—as they go into Elementary and build on the work in Primary. Their mind has developed a robust sensorial vocabulary. And if it’s been based on reality, understanding fantasy—understanding what’s real and not real—is much easier for them.

“What the hand does the mind remembers.” —Dr. Maria Montessori

How does this focus on reality show up in the classroom?

A focus on reality ties into children working with their hands, which Montessori spoke about. When a child doesn’t have this basis, sometimes there’s a piece missing. You can see when they want to do something that’s fantasy-based, often they’re not working with their hands. Working with their hands centers them and brings them back to what we’re trying to do. They can achieve greater focus and concentration for extended periods.

What can parents and caregivers do to incorporate this at home?

1. Think about what your children watch and read.
   It’s so easy to say, here’s a screen; enjoy it while you eat dinner. Here’s the screen; enjoy it while we drive to school. Often, programming and content for children is rooted in fantasy, and we may not even be aware of it. It’s essential to question how your child might understand the content in front of them, and put the screens away and talk to your children. 
2. Explore nature and new environments together.
   Ask your child questions, read them books, and have experiences in your environments together! Visit the science museum or go in the backyard and plant new plants or seeds and talk about how things grow. 
3. Check wardrobes and everyday items for fantasy.
   Take a second look at what imagery is on your child’s clothing, backpacks, and lunchboxes. Fantasy can be so distracting because a child might wear a superhero shirt to school, and that can derail concentration. Save these special items for the weekend because instead of doing their writing—their beautiful cursive writing work—or their number work, a child will look up at another person wearing a superhero shirt, and the work stops. Then they start talking about superheroes when they could be focusing on their work instead. 

What are the benefits?

When you have a child who is very well versed in reality and they’re ready to move out of Primary and into an Elementary environment, they have a deeper understanding of those big stories they tell within Elementary. They understand history and science in different ways. We also know that Montessori children are able to be even more creative and imaginative with their foundation in reality. 

In Primary, we center the children’s work with using their hands, exploring and experiencing the world. When they have that base, it opens many more doors. Children are curious; let’s teach them about the real world we live in first.

Learn about Primary at Post Oak