The Power and Joy of the Silence Game in Montessori Education
“One day I had the idea of using silence to test the children’s keenness of hearing, so I thought of calling them by name, in a low whisper.... This exercise in patient waiting demanded a patience that I thought impossible.”
To Maria Montessori's surprise, when she experimented with this very first Silence Game, the group of over 40 children waited quietly and patiently to hear their names whispered. After they refused the sweets she thought they might need as a reward, Montessori reflected, "They seemed to say, 'Don't spoil our lovely experience, we are still filled with delight of the spirit, don't distract us.'" Thus the Silence Game came into being.
Playing the Silence Game can give children a sense of joy, achievement, and social spirit as the group works together for a common goal. It also helps children develop a higher level of self-control, which in turn contributes to the normalization of the classroom. In 1930 Montessori wrote that the Silence Game brings "little by little a discipline composed of calmness and inner beatitude." ("The Importance and the Nature of the Silence Game," AMI Communications, 1976)
Playing the Silence Game
Many teachers first introduce the Silence Game when the whole class is gathered, in order to explain and practice the game. Older children can model how to get up, ever so quietly, and go to the teacher once their name is called. Some teachers choose to hold up a card during the work period that reads "Silence" and then wait, as one-by-one, the children notice, stop working, and become still and silent. Some teachers encourage the children to close their eyes then the teacher goes to a far corner or walks out of the room to whisper the children's names. When a child hears her name, she goes over to the teacher and sits near her. When all of the children have heard their whispered names and come to you, teachers might take the students outside for a celebratory walk in the garden.
Today we live in a noisy world, filled with the sounds of the television, electronics, phone conversations, leaf blowers, sirens, and traffic. Many of us rarely have the opportunity to experience silence or to savor the quieter sounds of bees buzzing, wind rustling the leaves, or a fire crackling in the fireplace. The Silence Game can give children a precious gift that could last a lifetime: the ability to cultivate and appreciate silence.
— by Irene Baker, MEd, Montessori Institute of Advanced Studies
“When the children have become acquainted with silence...[they] go on to perfect themselves; they walk lightly, take care not to knock against the furniture, move their chairs without noise, and place things upon the table with great care.... These children are serving their spirits.”