Resources for families
Real Montessori tools, made for home.
The same materials Montessori classrooms trust, in plain language for families. Tell us which describes you, or scroll on for what every Montessori family can use.
Free, no strings
The child is the one doing the building.
Everything here rests on one conviction. Your child is the one doing the building. A child constructs their own mind and their own body through their own effort, and the adult’s real work is to prepare the world and then protect that effort from being rushed, performed, or handed off to something else. That is the whole of Montessori, and it is the thread running under every guide below.
These are not tip sheets. Each one carries the same conviction into a different room of your child’s life. They are honest about the research, honest about money and access, and free of the shame that usually rides along with this conversation.
Start where you are. If you are choosing or questioning a school, begin with Is It Actually Montessori, so you can read real practice from good marketing on the tour. If screens are the fight in your house, begin with Screens, Honestly, a research grounded look at what technology does to a developing brain and what you can actually do about it. If you are deep in the early years of sleep, food, movement, and toileting, begin with Learning, Not Training, on your child’s first independence, the body. And if you are worried about AI and what it means to raise a thinker now, begin with Raising a Child Who Thinks.
Give us your name and email and we will send you the one you need first, and the rest whenever you want them. No cost, no spam, and no school or company pays to be recommended here.
What is Montessori actually doing?
The honest one-page answer you can hand to a grandparent, a neighbor, or a pediatrician when they ask what your child’s school is about.
What to expect, age by age
Why your three year old needs to pour their own water, why your nine year old is obsessed with fairness, and why your teenager pulling away is exactly right.
Is It Actually Montessori?
The questions to ask, the flags to watch for, and how to tell real practice from good marketing, before you enroll.
Screens, Honestly
A research honest take on raising a child who thinks. The one question to carry into every screen decision, at every age.
Learning, Not Training
How a child masters the body they are learning to call their own. Sleep, food, movement, and toileting, without the shame.
Raising a Child Who Thinks
A Montessori take on children, AI, and the work of the mind. The sharpened question to carry as AI shows up earlier in your child's life than you expect.
Setting Up Your Home for Independence
A room-by-room Montessori checklist. Small, doable changes that let your child do more for themselves.
Download the PDF →What to Say in the Hard Moments
Calm, honest Montessori language for big feelings, meltdowns, and tough transitions. Keep it on the fridge.
Download the PDF →Free, by email
The Montessori home, set up age by age.
A printable, age-by-age checklist for setting up your home so your child can do more for themselves, from the first year through the teenage years. Tell us where to send it and it is yours.
Decodable books
Books your child can actually read.
The same 96 books Montessori classrooms use to teach reading, ready for your shelf at home. Each one is built so your child sounds out real words and feels the win of reading a whole book on their own. Bead color-coded, and every family is reflected on the page. Buy a single set or bring home the full series.
The complete library
The full series
All 96 books, every set, from first sounds to advanced phonics. The complete library Montessori classrooms use, on your shelf at home.
See the books →
Real, printed books shipped to your door, fulfilled through our learning store. Checkout and shipping are handled securely by Stripe.
Questions
Questions about these resources
What format are the paid resources in?
Print-ready PDFs you download and keep, except the decodable books, which are real printed books shipped to your door.
How long do I have access to a download?
Your download link does not expire. Bookmark the page you land on after buying and you can pull the files again whenever you need them.
Are the free guides really free?
Yes. Two are open with no email at all. The rest ask for a first name and email so we can send the file, and that is the whole exchange.
What if something is not right? Can I get a refund?
Yes. Email info@montessorimakers.org and tell us what happened. Books that arrive damaged, incomplete, or wrong are always replaced or refunded in full, including shipping, and you do not need to ship a damaged book back to us. A file that is corrupted or does not match what the page described is always fixed or refunded. Bought the wrong set or age band? We will swap it. Beyond those, we do not run a fixed refund window, we just look at what happened and sort it out. We reply to every email within two business days.
Do the printables work if my child is not in a Montessori school?
Yes. Every paid resource here is written for home, whether your child attends a Montessori school, a conventional school, or is homeschooled.
Who made this
Hannah Richardson
Founder, Montessori Makers Group
Hannah Richardson has spent 25 years in Montessori education, across independent, public, charter, and justice-centered schools. She is the founder of Montessori Makers Group, and everything here comes from the same curriculum used inside real schools.
More about Hannah →- Board member, Indigo Montessori
- Founding leader, Breakthrough Montessori PCS, Washington DC
- Board member, The Peace Rebellion
- Editor, AMI USA Journal
- ABD, Early Childhood Education