The Absorbent Mind

We, as human beings, treasure the gift of life. A newborn baby brings
with it visions of hope, joy and love. What if we knew that this
newborn had the remarkable ability to absorb impressions and
information from their environment in such a way that they actually
begin to form the person they would eventually become? Would we
change the environment to which the child is exposed? Would it be our
duty as adults to provide the best possible environment for these
children to ensure they begin their life with every possible advantage?

Maria Montessori believed that there is a period of time when a child

has the ability to absorb “knowledge directly into his psychic life.
Impressions do not merely enter his mind, they form it. They incarnate
themselves in him. The child creates his own “mental muscles”, using
for this what he finds in the world around him.” (1) “The child absorbs
these impressions not with his mind, but with life itself.” (2). It is to
this state of mind that she referred to as the Absorbent Mind.

The absorbent mind is the period of development from birth to six years of age. This also encompasses
the first of Maria Montessori’s four planes or stages of development. Within the first stage, there are
two separate sub-stages of development from birth to three and three to six. Birth to three is
considered the unconscious absorbent mind where the child has no control over what he absorbs from
his environment. Age’s three to six is considered the conscious absorbent mind where the child is
aware and has a choice over what he absorbs from his environment. The child has the ability to absorb
information and impressions without effort, without having to try. Their thought processes advance
from concrete thinking to abstract thinking throughout this period.

The absorbent mind is an internal aid to the development of the child. Maria Montessori also coined
the term “Sensitive Periods” to “describe a pattern the child follows in gaining knowledge of his
environment. The phenomenon of the Absorbent Mind explains the special quality and process by
which he accomplishes this knowledge.” (3) From the first year of life, sensitive periods for order,
movement, language, and refinement of senses are all are part of the internal, mental growth of a child.
“Adults have no direct influences on these different states. But if a child has not been able to act
according to the directives of his sensitive period, the opportunity of a natural conquest is lost, and is
lost for good.” (4)

The development of language is a beautiful illustration of the powers of the absorbent mind at work.
An infant from birth is bombarded with a variety of different sensory perceptions daily, yet, the
“sounds of human speech make on him a deeper impression than any other sounds. These impressions
must be so strong, and cause such an intensity of emotion-so deep an enthusiasm as to set in motion
invisible fibers of his body, fibers which start vibrating in the effort to reproduce those sounds.” (5) Of
all the sounds a baby is exposed to the one sound that is imitated universally is that of the mother
tongue. Human beings must be pre-programmed as part of our creation to absorb from our
environment that which is integral to our survival. From three to six, “there still remains this special
sensitiveness (the sensitive period for language, as we have called it) that goes on urging the child to
fix its sounds ever more accurately, and above all to enrich it with an ever greater repertoire of words.
Hence there are two tendencies: one is the extension of consciousness by activities performed on the
environment; the other is for the perfecting and enrichment of those powers already formed.

These show us that the period from three to six is one of “constructive perfectionment” by means of
activity.” (6) Once the child has acquired language, he has an innate instinct to perfect it. He also has
the ability to absorb more than one language if he is exposed to it during the sensitive period for
language and at the peak of the absorbent mind. When we lived in Italy from July 1986 to June 1987,
our children were exposed to Italian language. Célia, who was enrolled in a “Nido” was responding in
Italian to us (we were discouraged); Matthieu and Julien, both enrolled in a Montessori school, were
chatting among themselves in this language. Even Julien was discovered (in Rome and in Pompeii as
well) to converse in Italian with the local accent of Umbria (the Centro Internazionale Montessori was
located in Perugia, Umbria). The boys were bilingual but have since lost what they had learned (No
use= lose). It is so remarkable to witness the beauty of the absorbent mind at work, which also goes
hand in hand with the sensitive periods of development. “Growth and psychic development are
therefore guided by: the absorbent mind, the nebulae (behavior instincts) and the sensitive periods,
with their respective mechanisms. It is these that are hereditary and characteristic of the human
species. But the promise they hold can only be fulfilled through the experience of free activity
conducted on the environment.” (7)

The absorbent mind has no means to sort out the information or impressions it absorbs. Children are
physiologically defined to emulate adults. We as adults, teachers and parents should make an effort to
take great care in our use of language, our actions and our environment. Knowing that children
engross themselves in their environment, we should be encouraged to establish healthy, positive, and
safe learning environments for them to allow them to “absorb” to their heart’s content.

Maria Montessori had a valuable message to make known to the world. She had a divine insight into
child development, unlike any other academic before or beyond. We were born with a mind that had
the ability to educate ourselves with nature as a guide. Now that we have that knowledge, we must
make a difference. “Education, therefore, of little ones is important, especially from three to six years
of age, because this is the embryonic period for the formation of character and of society, (just as the
period from birth to three is that for forming the mind, and the prenatal period that for forming the
body).” (8)

“To influence our society we must turn our attention to childhood. The immense influence that
education can exert through children has the environment for its instrument, for the child absorbs his
environment, takes everything from it, and incarnates it in himself. With his unlimited possibilities, he
can well be the transformer of humanity, just as he is its creator. The child brings us a great hope and a
new vision. There is much that we teachers can do to bring humanity to a deeper understanding, to a
higher well being, and to a greater spirituality.” (9)

In conclusion

From birth to the first six years of life, the

child has a mind, which enables it to literally
absorb the environment around them,
seemingly without any effort. The information
and impressions absorbed by the child create
the person they will become. They also pass
through sensitive periods, which are periods
of internal growth, which a child must pass
through in order for them to reach their full
developmental potential. From birth to three
years of age, children unconsciously absorb
information from their environment. From
three years to six years of age, children
actively participate or consciously absorb
information from their environment.
Education cannot be forced upon a child during this time; the child ideally educates himself from the
impressions received from his environment. This period is referred to as the Absorbent Mind.

References: Bibliography
1. The Absorbent Mind, pp. 25 – 26. Lillard, Paula Polk. Montessori –A Modern Approach.
2. Ibid., p. 24. New York: Schocken Books, 1972.
3. Montessori – A Modern Approach, p. 36.
4. The Secret of Childhood, p. 39. Montessori, Maria. The Absorbent Mind.
5. The Absorbent Mind, p. 24. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1995.
6. Ibid., p66.
7. Ibid., p. 96 Montessori, Maria. The Secret of Childhood. New York
8. Ibid., p. 242 Ballantine Books, 1966.
9. Ibid., p. 66

1- What could be the timeframe in the life of a child in regards to the absorbent mind?

2- In on your own words describe the power of the environment upon the child?

3- Tell me in your words the process of the absorbent mind?

4- What is the effect of the absorbent mind in the life of a child?

5- Give personal relevant examples of the impact of the absorbent mind in the adult book?