The Montessori directress at our school was a child psychologist. She believed that children are burned out by adult voices by the time they start preschool, she called it “mother deafness.” Instead of talking, we used different tunes on the piano to indicate clean up time, quiet time, and story time. When dismissing children from school we used little games to help keep the students’ interest. One day children wearing a certain color, such as blue, could get their coats on first. Each day we would use different groupings such as boys, girls, ages, shoes, dresses, sweaters, and so on.
For older children you can use fun games such as a count off and the odd or even children can be dismissed. This method encourages listening and grouping skills.

Kids Talk has some more ideas for getting a child’s attention.

Here are some simple things to do during your next vacation or outing:

This summer take some simple photos for your reading card collection. You can make nomenclature cards or 3 part cards. Collect or buy small objects for more Montessori Reading Exercises. Collect pine cones, sea shells, nuts, rocks, or minatures from souvenir shops.
This is a kid friendly activity. Let your child pick out objects or pictures of words they want to learn to read. This a great way to motivate your child to learn new words and read more.

I’m guilty of a Montessori faux pas. I let my preschool son use a computer when he was four. My husband’s job has required using computers for several decades, so a computer has been a part of our household for many years. Let’s just say it was almost impossible to keep my kids away from it. Our first computer, the Adam, had great software call Logo Turtle. My kids loved it.
My son is now a computer engineer who has a real knack for computer languages. He is sure this talent is from learning a computer language during his preschool years.
Montessori schools introduce a second language during the formative years of preschool, why not introduce a computer language too? The world of language has changed!