The presentation is the adult’s work. The child’s work is to engage in activity for growth and development. Montessori materials are designed to stimulate such activity and the presentation shows the minimum necessary for the child’s active engagement. While a child might begin by imitating what the teacher did, the goal is to move beyond the teacher’s economical movements to self-directed learning and discovery. Observation, guided by our knowledge of a material’s purpose, our knowledge of universal development, and our understanding of each individual child, will indicate if engagement supports the intended learning. Redirect if the observed activity will damage the material or does not fundamentally support the purpose. As needed, offer a different activity to better match the interest you actually observe. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy the discovery.
![Young child working with Montessori materials](https://montessori-ami.org/sites/default/files/images/questions/working-materials.jpg)