Nido
Delivering on our Mission
Connection + Love
MAC’s Nido program nurtures infants through connection and trust, supporting secure attachment and early independence in a calm environment.
Nido Outcomes
Connection + Love
Academic: Development of independent movement, the foundation of the mathematical mind, and receptive and expressive language to empower the child to move from dependency to collaboration with their caregiver.
Social Emotional: Healthy and secure attachment with caregivers results in a child who innately maintains a sense of self-worth throughout their lifetime, has trust in the world, and believes that the world is a safe place.
Experiential: Classroom provides a home-like environment with materials that encourage exploration and freedom of choice while neighborhood walks meet the child’s need to go beyond their classroom and see the world in a different view.
The simplicity and aesthetic order of our Nido Montessori environment supports safe discovery of the world as the child sensorially explores the environment.
Our classrooms are comforting, warm and inviting with care being taken to provide nurturing, calm stimulation to enhance the development of the young child. The simplicity and aesthetic order of our Nido Montessori environment supports safe discovery of the world as the child sensorially explores the environment. These spaces are then thoroughly enhanced by the tender care and developmental support offered by our staff.
Trust is a basic need that must be nurtured in the young child. Our trained staff care for and respectfully respond to the needs of each infant and in so doing encourage the development of that trust and convey a message of unconditional love and acceptance. As the child develops, this trust will serve to foster risk-taking and learning.
Why the Nido Program at MAC?
Innovative Academics
In our Montessori Nido program, infants learn through what Dr. Maria Montessori called the absorbent mind. In this critical period of development, infants absorb, learning from their environment without conscious effort, naturally and spontaneously. MAC's Nido program strives to foster independence, physical development, and language development for infants through an open and safe classroom. Our Nido classrooms are language rich environments where every interaction is an opportunity for language development. Sign language is also used in all Nido classrooms in order to help the young child communicate effectively.
Exploration of Character
Our classrooms are comforting, warm, and inviting; the simplicity and order support discovery of the world. Infants learn not only from their teachers but also from one another. This is through observation, opportunities to explore their independence in a safe environment, and social interaction. Self-feeding is one of the early ways that babies practice independence. When they are able to do so, children sit in a chair at a table just their size. They are introduced to child-sized utensils, plates and glasses to teach them how to do things on their own, giving them a sense of pride and setting a foundation for confidence and continued curiosity.
Fearless, Forward Learners
In the Nido classroom infants continue to grow physically and it is through purposeful movement that a child is perfecting and refining basic coordination of the body. They learn to roll over, sit, crawl, and walk within an environment that builds their confidence and supports their innate desire for independence. The children also leave the classroom for daily walks both inside the school as well as around the neighborhood in buggies to further promote interest in exploring their world.
Our Montessori Nido community focuses on two basic needs of the infant— a safe bonded relationship between adult and child and the development of the child’s growing sense of self and independence.
Program Highlights
As parents who decided to fully embrace Maria Montessori’s practices both at home and at school, we could not be happier with the loving and supportive environment we found for our son within the Nido community at MAC. We have watched him thrive and learn in this beautiful community and we have a peace of mind that he will be well-supported while we are at work.
-Nido Parents
Now accepting applications! To learn more about our admissions process, click below.