Top 10 Montessori Practical Life Activities
➜ Movement of objects
➜ Caring for the environment
➜ Grace and courtesy
➜ Caring for one's self
There are so many benefits of Montessori practical life activities. Developing a high level of concentration, pride, developing a sense of order, respect for the environment and others, improving fine motor skills are just a few!
The beauty of practical life activities is that they are suitable for all ages, once the activity and material manipulated are adapted to your child's age.
**Remember to show your child how to do things slowly, allowing them to copy you. Remember to step in when needed and do not force your child to do activities that they don't want, just guide them.
The top 10 practical life activities:
1. Pouring: What comes to mind? Pouring a cup of water. Give your child a small non-breakable pitcher with water and a non-breakable drinking cup. Fill the pitcher with some water and let your child practice pouring themselves water. For this activity, my daughter loves using a bottle of water and pouring the water into a drinking cup herself. #ParentingGoals I no longer have to pour her water to drink. Haha. For this lesson, you can teach your child some simple courteous phrases like "Yes or no please" as a response to someone asking them if they would like something to drink.
2. Transferring: Develop your child's fine motor skills? Yes, please. Transferring can be done for a long time as children stay super concentrated on this activity. It includes things like transferring beans from one bowl to the next or transferring rice from one container to the next. To do the transfers your child could use spoons or other utensils.
3. Tidying up: Order in the house? Order in the class? Order anywhere! Mopping, sweeping, wiping, sorting and arranging are all ways that children can help out at home and learn. These activities are most effective with child-size material if you can get a hold of those. Teach your child responsibility and care for their environment.
4. Food preparation: Super fun! Slicing, cutting, washing and blending fruit and veggies. Make sure to keep an extra eye out on your child especially if the utensils are sharp. You can also purchase kid-friendly cutters instead of knives and protective gloves.
5. Baking: include your child in the process such as finding ingredients, mixing, pouring, measuring and lots more. Teach them recipes and the importance of order when following recipes. This activity is multi-beneficial as in the end, they may have a love for the kitchen too! Keep the recipes simple as to not confuse them, but of course, this depends on age.
6. Self-hygiene: Get this right and you will be on your way to #ParentingGoals. Freedommmmm!! Teach your child the importance of self-hygiene buy introducing a daily routine that includes all the hygiene basics. There are so many in this category such as, potty training, brushing hair, brushing teeth, cleaning their face, body washing during bath time. If your child masters this then they are definitely on the road to self-independence.
7. Getting dressed: Another #ParentingGoals? Yes! Provide your child with either a selection of outfits or have their dresser accessible so that they can choose their outfits. I have a low dresser which is completely accessible to my daughter. I labelled the drawers by coloured knobs that way if needed I can guide her by telling her what clothing is in which draw. Most of her outfits match so I do not really have the problem of her putting on a crazy outfit, but if your child does this you can always explain colours and matching. That's a 2-in-1 lesson! So not only do clothes have to accessible but they also have to be fairly easy to put on. But don't worry, as time goes by your child will learn how to do it.
8. Doing laundry: Fun fun fun! This includes everything from teaching your child to put their dirty clothes in the laundry basket (extra bonus if they have their own designated laundry basket), carrying their basket to the laundry machine, filling up the machine, putting the detergent and starting the machine. Yes, you are literally showing them the ropes! Of course, each step depends on age but you can start when you feel like they are ready. The laundry lesson doesn't stop there though, you can teach them how to fold and put away the clothes. Make up cool games while doing it to keep them engaged, such as who can fold the fastest.
9. Cleaning the floor: This activity is the base of cleaning up after themselves. It teaches them to care for their environment and respect it. Teach your child how to mop and sweep. There are cool mini mops, brooms and dustpans that you can by to facilitate their ability to execute the task alone. But you do not have to go out of your way. For sweeping, I have a dustpan and small brush and a handheld vacuum. My mop is huge so I let my daughter hold the mop as I do the mopping of a small area of the house.
10. Gardening: Whether you have a balcony or a big backyard, gardening can be done anywhere. You just need a pot, dirt, seeds and gardening tools. Want to do DIY gardening? Reuse old containers and get dirt from the park, side of the road or a family members' home. Let your child help you decide what to plant and show them how to plant the seeds and care for the plant. They will enjoy seeing the plant grow.
Most of these you already implement in your daily routine with your child, I'm sure. If you don't then these are things that you can do for free! What? Yes, that's my goal anyway, to show you how to introduce Montessori at home on a budget and hassle-free! I hope that you and your child have fun with these suggestions.
Leave a comment below to let me know what other Montessori practical life lessons that you do at home and the positive developments that you have seen in your child since doing so.
Hope to see you soon on my blog!
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