How does a Montessori education view fantasy? Does Montessori encourage creativity? What about imagination? Don’t children love make-believe? 

Many of the questions we hear like this often emerge due to misconceptions about the relationship between Montessori philosophy and concepts of fantasy, imagination, and creativity. Montessori fosters creativity and imagination through real-world exploration, encouraging self-generated pretend play over adult-imposed fantasy.

What is imagination? 

Imagination allows us to visualize things that aren’t present or haven’t been experienced directly. We use our imagination to be creative, solve problems, generate ideas, and explore possibilities. Our imagination allows us to take in information and organize it in new and creative ways. Imagination is a central aspect of childhood. As children shift from early childhood into their elementary years, they begin to use their imagination almost like a superpower to explore ideas and concepts throughout time and space.

What is creativity?

Creativity is how we generate innovative ideas, sometimes in artistic ways. It allows us to devise original concepts or solutions, often because we are thinking about something new or unique. Creativity also helps us transform ideas and approach problems from a unique perspective. It is cultivated over time through exposure to diverse kinds of sensory input and appropriate freedom and support for creative expression.

What is fantasy?

Fantasy is a diversion from reality. It is the realm of make-believe. We use our imagination to create fantasy because it involves impossible or improbable things. But unlike imagination, which can encompass a wide range of ideas, fantasy is focused on the extraordinary and the fantastical. We can become disconnected from reality when thinking about or immersed in fantasy.

One misconception is that Montessori doesn’t allow fantasy. To explore this, we should also recognize that there is self-generated fantasy and imposed fantasy.

Pretend Play vs. Adult-Generated Fantasy

Children love to engage in pretend play, a self-generated form of fantasy. In pretend play, children often explore roles they see in real life by pretending to be in those roles. It’s pretended for them, but they are working out what distinct roles mean. Whether pretending to play school or house or creating a construction scene with excavators, this is young children’s way of processing the world around them. 

Pretending play can become confusing for young children when they see fantastical things that seem real, such as Superman jumping off a building or a normal boy turning into Spider-Man after being bitten by a spider. 

Young children are still distinguishing the line between fantasy and reality. It’s worth noting that even if our young children can repeat that they know something is real or pretend, a true cognitive understanding of the difference doesn’t fully form until children developmentally shift into their elementary years. This is why we sometimes see children attempting to get bitten by a spider to become Spiderman or trying to jump off the top of the stairs so they can fly like Superman. 

As adults, we have a tremendous responsibility to allow children to create their own fantasy rather than imposing fantasy on them. For example, superheroes, fairy tales, and fictitious animated characters are adult-created fantasies. When we impose fantasy on our children, even if they like it, we inadvertently deprive them of the opportunity to develop their imagination. If children are in awe of adult-created fantasy, their creative expression often becomes more limited because they try to recreate something others have imagined.

The Real World is Amazing

From birth to about age six, children effortlessly absorb everything about the world. They are like sponges! This is the time when we want to introduce children to all sorts of exciting information. The options are almost limitless: species of mammals, names of flowers, land and water forms, countries in all the continents, types of clouds, pollinators, geometric solids, types of triangles, and so on. 

Children are fascinated by the natural world. They gain inspiration from their sensory explorations and interactions in their environment. Neurologically, young children develop mental order and categorization for their future understanding. We want to give them factual information so that they have a solid foundation for their imagination and creativity to truly soar. 

If we introduce children to fantastical, unreal things during the early years of their development, we divert their learning from what is amazing and wondrous about the world. In the process, we also create unnecessary confusion. For children who are still learning to discern the difference, the world of fantasy can be disorienting and even, at times, frightening.

As adults, we understand the difference between reality and fantasy, and sometimes, we enjoy the diversion into the world of fantasy. For our youngest children, let’s give them the gift of building their understanding of the truly remarkable world around them. Doing so, we help them lay the foundation for a rich, imaginative, and creative life.