I am thrilled that my child is finally at an age where we can start doing Practical Life activities. The activities are easy to put together and young children enjoy them so much, but the real value lies in their purpose. It’s important to understand the what, why, and how.
Practical Life in Montessori education is part of the Primary curriculum (3 to 6 years) and consists of daily life tasks performed in a prescribed sequence using child-sized tools and apparatus. These tasks are purposeful in their direct application while imparting abstract concepts indirectly.
I’m sure you can imagine how beneficial these activities are for toddlers but the real purpose will surprise and intrigue you. After I learned about all the finer details I was even more motivated to incorporate more Practical Life activities into my son’s life.
Practical life activities – What you need to know.
It’s great to look at all the ideas for Practical life activities on Pinterest and Instagram, but it is very important to have a good understanding of what Practical life is all about, what the aim is and how to teach the lessons. With the right information, you will feel confident when you introduce these activities to your child. You will also be better equipped to spot when and where you need to make corrections. So let’s dive in!
What are Practical Life activities in Montessori?
Practical life activities are all the tasks that adults put off. They are the things we begrudgingly do because we have to. We have to cook and clean and do laundry but we would much rather spend our time doing other things, right?
Well, children feel quite the opposite. Not only did Maria Montessori recognize this but she also realized the developmental importance of these activities. They deliver on so many different areas that they are considered the soul of Montessori work and the best place to start if you are new to Montessori or have a young toddler.
‘Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed’
Dr Maria Montessori
Practical Life activities are traditionally introduced in the Montessori Primary classroom level (3 to 6-year-olds) after which they essentially fall away in the Elementary classroom (6 to 9-year-olds). This doesn’t mean that older children stop doing Practical Life tasks, only that they don’t need to practice them anymore. They just do the ‘chores’ like you and I do them because they have already mastered them.
Practical Life activities are divided into three categories:
- Care of self
- Care of the environment
- Care of others (social skills, a.k.a Grace and Courtesy)
Each of these categories has specially designed activities with precise steps for the child to follow. As with all Montessori activities, only the essence of what is needed is included and the child will always be provided with everything they need to accomplish the task from start to finish. This includes child-sized equipment to remove any potential frustration while completing the task. The child is set up for success from the start.
Typical Practical life activities in a Montessori classroom include:
- Washing tables
- Arranging flowers
- Setting the table
- Sewing and Weaving
- Polishing mirrors
- Folding clothes
- Food preparation
- Watering plants
- Washing hands
Practical Life activities to do at home
Practical life activities are not reserved for the classroom only. They are even more important at home because that is real life! While we can take our cues from the Montessori classroom in terms of the steps to follow to teach these important lessons, we can offer activities at home that is not possible at school.
To get a good idea of what these activities look like in a home environment, I suggest you watch this wonderful video by Hapa Familly. You will see just how important these activities are for toddlers and how much they enjoy them. This also illustrates how possible it is for anyone to incorporate these activities in their homes regardless of whether they are practicing Montessori or not.
Care of self
- Brushing teeth
- Getting dressed
- Washing hands
- Pouring a glass of water
- Preparing a snack
Care of the environment
- Planting seeds & watering plants (think of any gardening tasks)
- Feeding the cat or dog
- Sweeping/mopping
Care of others (Grace & Courtesey)
- Eating at the table
- Greeting people
- Speaking on the phone
- Closing a door softly
- Walking with a tray
What are Practical Life materials?
As a whole, Practical Life materials are household tools and equipment that are made child-sized to ensure ease of use. These items include cleaning equipment, cooking utensils, gardening tools, and specialty items for sewing and woodwork. They are a crucial component to fulfill the goal of these exercises: for the child to perform the Practical Life activity independently.
There are a couple of basics you can start with to practice Practical Life in your home. These are the things that you might have to go and buy – the rest you probably already have in your home (I’m not listing those)
Kitchen essentials
- Crinkle cutter
- Small milk/cream jug
- Small chopping board
- Large tot glasses for drinking glasses
- Small spreader
- Small tongs
Cleaning essentials
- Small cleaning kit (dustpan & brush, broom, duster & mop) *Melissa & Doug make a great one that includes a stand
- Cleaning mitt
- Small bucket
Care of the environment
- Small watering can
- Small set of gardening equipment
Bathroom essentials
- Self-care items your child can use by themselves (toothbrush, washcloth, towel, hairbrush, soap)
- Low hooks to hang the towel/washcloth
- Low table or shelf to place their items on
What is the purpose of Practical Activities?
As a whole, Practical life activities aim to engage the child in purposeful activity while working on acquiring fine motor skills on the journey towards independence.
All Montessori materials have a direct aim and an indirect aim. The genius however lies in the not-so-obvious. It’s the indirect aim that reveals the amazing forethought that went into the Montessori method and what makes Montessori so special. Some of these benefits really surprised me.
To provide practical purpose
Apart from the fact that children derive pleasure from engaging with activities that they see us do, it is also important to note that our brains are only stimulated by actions that have a purpose.
To find meaning in action
If the purpose is the concrete value then meaning is the abstract, indirect aim. A child becomes aware that their bodies can become engaged with activities that are connected with constructive purpose. This realization is what leads to finding meaning in everything we do and finding joy in even the mundane. This is an invaluable gift we can give our children (and ourselves).
To harness concentration
It is well known that one of the great benefits of Montessori education is the fact that it fosters concentration from a very young age. Contrary to popular belief, young children can concentrate for extended periods and this is evident when you watch a child polishing a mirror or washing a table.
This innate ability to concentrate is nurtured through Practical Life activities, by giving children a goal that they can visualize as well as the exact steps to follow in order to achieve it.
“The great advances of human civilization have come about not so much through knowledge as through concentrated thought.”
Dr Maria Montessori
Through concentration, children recognize also develop a sense of inner calm that they bring to all the other activities in their lives.
It is also interesting to note that inner calm and concentration also helps to minimize problematic behavior. This is referred to as normalization in Montessori and speaks to the fact that children would stop having troublesome behavior while engaging in these activities.
To achieve independence
Maria Montessori viewed a child’s life as a journey towards independence. It’s a gradual but continuous goal to be able to help ourselves. This also happens to be one of the main goals of the Montessori method.
Practical Life activities are incredible at giving young children a taste of true independence and children need to experience this feeling so they can seek it out in every area of their lives. Completing meaningful tasks, independently, feels amazing!
These activities are specifically designed to deliver that feeling of autonomy and it does this by providing simple routines that they can repeat. Repetition is an important factor because this is how mastery is achieved. It seems that the key to mastery is repetition and not the result.
It also helps a child to realize that there’s an order to things which makes it easy to get from point a to z.
To lay the foundation for future learning
The Practical Life curriculum is specifically intended for the primary age group of 3 to 6-year-olds not only to cater to their sensitive periods but also to prepare children for the years of Montessori education to follow. The preparation is in the form of all the abstract concepts that are imparted through these activities. Once a child has absorbed these concepts it is easier to assimilate the future information.
All is not lost if your child has missed this crucial foundation, but it has been noted that children do struggle more in Montessori classrooms when they have missed this stage, which only shows how important these activities are to pave the way for all the lessons to come.
To educate movement
When children engage in Practical Life activities and they start to repeat the routines, their movements become more orderly and precise. Children are drawn to this orderly process because they are in the Sensitive Period for Order which peaks at around 2 years and can last until 6. It is during this time when children crave routine, order, precision, and repetition. This repetition helps to develop their fine motor skills which in turn builds confidence.
Order and precision are also seen as inspirational for young children who already aspire to these ideals. This is what drives them to repeat these activities. They strive for precision. You might have already seen this with your child. They will have certain activities that they keep repeating, like climbing up and down the stairs or saying a word over and over again. They tend to naturally do this when they are working on mastering a skill.
“Order and precision are the keys to spontaneous work in school.”
Dr Maria Montessori
Movement, as a whole, is a central concept in Montessori education because of how movement affects what and how we learn. When we move while we learn, we retain more information for longer.
I’ve written a very detailed post all about Movement & Montessori
that explains why this is such an important concept.
To develop a mathematical mind
Dr. Montessori believed that children can develop a mathematical mind through following precise routines. The order and routines of Practical Life activities are directly responsible for activating the mathematical mind. The idea is that the child will develop an appreciation for precision and order. The same order that can be found in mathematics.
To restore a child’s energy
Practical Life activities have the potential to revive and restore a child’s energy after a period of intense concentration or even after a difficult social encounter.
This is the most interesting concept of all to me. The idea that not all action requires energy but that some actions are actually restful. Wouldn’t we all benefit from having a mindset shift around completing our daily chores? Could we make our tasks more restorative by creating precise routines to accomplish them?
“Making new things does not restore energy, but preserving what is already in the environment, by taking care of it, does.”
Dr Maria Montessori
How do you teach Practical Life skills at home?
Since I am not a qualified Montessori guide, but merely a parent trying to learn as much as I can, here’s my understanding of how to assist your child in developing Practical Life skills.
Notice signs of interest
The first step, before teaching anything in Montessori, is to observe and follow the child. If you get into the habit of observing your child regularly, you will know immediately what skills your child is interested in building or ready to be introduced to. If you are not quite sure, just spend some time observing.
Although I can’t tell you exactly what to look for, there are some clues. As a general rule, you can look for repetitive behavior or questions your child might be asking. You will have to know your child and notice what they are interested or not interested in. You can also introduce a new concept by reading a book together where this activity is depicted or discussed and notice if it piques their interest.
If you need to find out how to do that you can learn more about Observation in Montessori in this article I wrote where I’ve included My Observation Aid – a helpful google sheet you can download.
Adapt the environment
This is just a fancy way to say supply what is needed where it is needed. You will know by now that the Prepared Environment is one of the 5 key principles of the Montessori Method and it is especially important in Practical Life. Think of each activity and what your child will need.
Does it require a piece of adapted furniture to eat at? The best example is setting up a self-care station in a bathroom or providing an accessible shelf in the kitchen where a child can access their own cutlery and crockery. This might also be a hook on the wall to hang an apron or a small broom to sweep up.
After preparing the environment – move your attention to any Practical life materials (special tools) your child might need to complete the activity. A smaller jug to pour water or a small dustpan and brush to help clean up.
Break the activity up into manageable steps
After reading everything about Practical Life activities that I could get my hands on, I have noticed that the most important concept is that of creating routine and logical, sequential steps for building new skills.
If you think about anything challenging you’ve had to learn (driving a car always comes to mind) you can see how breaking the experience up into manageable steps as well as isolating the different skills would go a long way towards learning the new skill while feeling positive about returning to it again.
This is how I think about it when I approach the subject. What are the logical steps and are there perhaps some preliminary skills that my child should master before I introduce this new activity? I start with introducing preliminary skills before I introduce activities with more steps in the sequence. It is important that these basics skills are mastered before moving on to more complex tasks that involve implementing more than one skill.
Let’s take toilet learning as an example. Before your child can even attempt to learn how to use the toilet, they will have to know how to pull down their pants. It will take a lot of the frustration out of this new (already frustrating) experience and hopefully give your child a more positive attitude about the entire process.
Model the activity to the child
Demonstrating an activity is sometimes even more impactful than ‘presenting a lesson’. Children watch us and learn from everything we do so we can take advantage of this when we want to teach them a new skill. Slow down your actions and make them slightly more exaggerated so your child can see how it’s done. This is especially important when there are multiple steps or a specific technique like handling a knife or scissors.
This could be anything from brushing teeth or washing hands to tying shoes and pouring a glass of water. Literally, everything we do on a daily basis serves as an opportunity to model the correct way of completing the activity.