Using Montessori 3 Part Cards Correctly

It's become popular to include Montessori 3 part cards in preschool homeschool curriculums and printable bundles.

Three part cards offer an easy way to set up Montessori shelves with materials that tap into your child's interests.

You can buy or create Montessori 3 part cards on just about any topic.

Here are a few examples of 3 part card printables: plants, animals, birds, insects, continents, land forms, shapes, household items, musical instruments, types of buildings, tools, transportation, playground equipment, seasons and weather.

Montessori 3 part cards are appealing to homeschooling parents because they are so versatile and can continue to be used through the elementary years.

It's nice to think that you can prepare a material once and get so many years of use out of it.

You might have second thoughts when you see that your 2-3 year old child is not that interested in Montessori 3 part cards and this material sits on the shelf untouched!

The key is to use Montessori 3 part cards in a way that meets your child's developmental needs in this moment.

If you are new to Montessori homeschooling, you might not realize that this is a spoken language activity with children who are not yet reading. You likely will need to facilitate the activity each time to encourage repetition.

Use only the picture with toddlers them to teach the names of things. With preschoolers, you'll continue to use them for vocabulary building, but you'll now go into more detail.

You can find Montessori 3 part cards that highlight the parts of an object. Use only the picture card with preschoolers to teach the names of each part.

You can also show your preschooler how to sort the pictures into categories or put them in a sequence.

It's only much later that you'll use Montessori 3 part cards to facilitate reading and handwriting practice with children who are developing these skills during the kindergarten and elementary years.

Most blog posts about three part cards, and even online Montessori homeschooling training programs, will suggest that toddlers and preschoolers can match the pictures and labels to the control card.

Montessori 3 part cards shouldn't be used this way with children who are not yet reading!

The problem with matching labels to the control cards is that it encourages pre-readers to recognize and memorize whole words instead of using letter sound knowledge to decode words using phonics.

It's unlikely that 2-3 year old children will be able to read the words on the labels or control cards.

If you buy Montessori 3 part card printables for your toddler or preschooler, don't bother the print and prepare the control card and labels. This will save you a lot of time and money!

This is is an example of how Montessori homeschool is different than what you see in a Montessori classroom that is designed to meet the needs of children who are at different stages on the path to reading.

What if you're also homeschooling an older child who has the skills to read the labels?

Keep the labels and control cards in the tray. You'll just set them aside when you're doing a Montessori 3 part card lesson with your toddler or preschooler.

But isn't matching pictures and labels to the control cards a good visual discrimination activity for pre-readers?

That is what the Montessori sensorial materials are for! They are specifically design to help your 3+ year old child refine the senses. More information is on this topic is in my Montessori homeschooling ebook.

When it comes to toddlers and preschoolers, there are better ways to use Montessori 3 part cards that are developmentally appropriate.

Montessori homeschooling curriculums are designed to meet children where they are at developmentally.

The best way to use Montessori 3 part cards with 2 year old children is to invite them to match objects to the picture cards (not the control cards).

Toddlers can match objects to pictures after they have had some time with you exploring the objects and hearing you say the names of them.

Ideally toddlers will have already had some real life experience with subject of the objects and cards.

For example, you would introduce flower replicas after your toddler has explored several real flowers.

An easy way to set up an object to picture matching activity is with real fruits, vegetables or herbs and coordinating pictures from a Montessori 3 part card set.

Or, keep it really simple and just cut out pictures from the grocery store flyer to use as the pictures.

Do you have any Safari Ltd TOOBS figurines at home?

You'll find coordinating Montessori 3 part cards on Etsy for animals, insects, birds, flowers, instruments, tools, vehicles, human organs, famous landmarks and more.

Your child should already know the names of the real or replica objects before introducing the object to picture matching activity.

You'll use just the picture, not the control card, to set up an object to picture matching activity for toddlers.

This keeps the focus on object to picture matching without introducing written words that your toddler cannot read.

It's tempting to use the control card if you don't know all of the names of the objects.

It's better to learn the names first so that you can present the match activity with just the picture, not the control card.

The purpose of object to picture matching with toddlers is to help them understand that an object can be represented by a picture, even if the picture isn't exactly the same as the real thing.

Object to picture matching helps toddlers begin to develop abstract thinking and move from the concrete to the abstract.

Let's say you have prepared a tray with Safari Ltd TOOBS flowers and matching photos. Your toddler will make the connection between the tulip growing in the garden, the replica tulip, and the picture of a tulip.

Eventually they will extrapolate their understanding and match the replica tulip to a picture of a tulip that's a different color or an illustration of a tulip instead of a photograph of a real tulip.

As abstract thinking develops, children will create a mental picture of "tulip".

Children who are 3+ years old will likely find object to picture matching too easy.

Preschoolers are continuing to figure out how the world works. Children need to know the specific names of things to be able to communicate clearly.

A child who knows the difference between a boar, sow, piglet has a much more enriched vocabulary than a child who just calls each one a "pig".

Asking for the “right-angled scalene triangle” during a geometry activity is very precise and accurate.

Montessori 3 part cards can be used as a key to unlock interest in a variety of subjects.

Using only the picture cards, start with teaching the names of things.

Once they are familiar, you can encourage language development by asking your preschooler to name the objects and describe them.

Later on you can go into more detail and teach the names of the parts of an object.

Let's say you've got a set of Montessori 3 part cards to teach your preschooler about the different parts of a plant.

Start with pictures of the basic parts like roots, stems, leaves, and flowers, and then move on to more specific parts like petals, sepals, and stamens.

If your child is still interested, then discuss the function of each plant part.

The picture cards can also be used for categorizing and sequencing activities with preschoolers.

For example, you might have a variety of pictures of household items and invite your child to sort them according to what is found in the kitchen versus the bathroom.

This might lead to discussions of how things are used or what tools and appliances are used to bake muffins.

To introduce sequencing, you could gather pictures related to baking muffins and put them in the order that you use them. It's helpful if your preschooler has had real life experience baking muffins with you!

Another way to use picture cards for sequencing is to teach the stages of a life cycle, such as the life cycle of a butterfly or a frog.

Looking to create your own Montessori 3 part cards?

This guide provides step-by-step instructions and helpful tips to make the process easy for those times when the three part cards that you want don't seem to exist.

Creating your own Montessori 3 part cards is a great way to customize your child’s learning experience.

You won't be limited to the more common topics and you'll get to choose the exact style of images and font that you want.

Create Your Template

The first step in making your own Montessori 3 part cards is to create your template using Canva.

You can simplify the template by including only the control card.

Plan to print each sheet a second time so that you can cut out the picture card and label card from the control card.

The image section should be large enough to clearly display the image, while the label section should be small enough to fit the word without overwhelming the image.

Choose Your Topic And Gather Images

The next step in creating your own Montessori 3 part cards is to choose a topic that interests your child and then search for images in Canva.

It’s important to choose clear, high-quality images that are easy to identify and match with the corresponding label.

Copy and paste your images into each image section of the template.

One advantage of creating your own Montessori 3 part cards is that you can choose the image style.

For toddlers, it is best to use photos of real objects that are isolated on a white background.

Photos are more representative of the real thing compared with an illustration. Canva allows you to remove the background from photos if needed.

For children who are 3+ years old, it's ok to use illustrations instead of photos.

Add Text To Create Labels

Use lowercase letters for the label because this is what will be learned first if you're following a Montessori reading program for homeschooling.

An exception is if the pictures are of a specific person or place such as famous landmarks or the continents.

For example, you'll capitalize the first letter of the names of the continents, but not the names of vegetables.

Make sure to proofread your labels carefully to avoid any spelling or grammatical errors.

Print And Laminate Your Montessori 3 Part Cards

Once you have created your Montessori 3 part cards, it’s important to print them out and laminate them for durability.

You can use a high-quality printer and cardstock paper to ensure that the images and labels are clear and vibrant.

Laminating the cards will protect them from wear and tear, making them last longer and allowing children to use them repeatedly.

You can also use a corner rounder to give the cards a professional and polished look.

Consider laying each card or label on cardstock of the same color before laminating them.

That helps to keep your sets of Montessori 3 part cards organized so they don't get mixed up between sets.

Another option is to mark the back of each card in a set with the same colored dot.

It's not necessary to invest in Montessori 3 part cards trays until after your child has learned to read words.

Unless you are also homeschooling an older child who will use Montessori 3 part cards for reading or writing practice, then you only need a container for each set of pictures.

It is always best to introduce the names of things and learn about subjects through real life experiences.

This is especially true for toddlers and preschoolers who are very hands-on learners.

The capacity for abstract thinking isn't there, or it's just beginning to emerge.

A child cannot learn what “sour” or “heavy” is by looking at pictures.

Children need a direct sensorial experience of tasting sour and feeling weight to figure out what "sour" and “heavy” is in a comparative context.

You can buy Montessori 3 part cards about the weather.

But why not just go outside and experience it in real time and introduce new vocabulary that way?

You can buy Montessori 3 part cards to teach the parts of an orange.

But imagine how much more of a rich experience it will be if you name each part while your child peels and eats the real thing.

Save Montessori 3 part cards for teaching about things that are difficult to experience in real life.

Three part cards are a great way to support a preschooler who is obsessed with volcanoes!