• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Trillium Montessori

  • HOME
  • BLOG
  • FREE
  • COURSES
  • SHOP
MENUMENU
  • Activities
    • Montessori
      • Practical Life
      • Language
      • Math
      • Sensorial
      • Elementary
    • Geography
      • Africa
      • Antarctica
      • Asia
      • Australasia & Oceania
      • Europe
      • North America
      • South America
    • Seasonal
      • Beginning of School
      • Autumn
      • Winter
      • Spring
      • Summer
    • Science
      • Animals
      • Plants
      • Science- All
    • Art
    • DIY Materials
    • Music and Movement
  • Printables
  • Parents
  • Teachers (3-6)
  • Teachers (6-12)
    • Elementary Articles
    • Elementary Courses
  • Leaders
  • Podcast
  • More
    • Entrepreneurs
      • Entrepreneurs Discussion Group
    • Discuss
      • Facebook Groups
  • Search
You are here: Home / Activities / Practical Life / Preliminary Practical Life Exercises

Preliminary Practical Life Exercises

October 3, 2014 By Seemi

The Practical Life activities in a Montessori classroom are designed to be purposeful work that lead the child to an understanding of his environment and how it works.  These activities are appealing to the young child as they resemble everyday activities the child has seen adults complete.  The Practical Life Area of the classroom encompasses: Care of the Environment, Care of the Person, Grace and Courtesy, and Control of Movement activities (fine and gross motor).

Montessori Preliminary Practical Life Activities

At Trillium, we spend a great deal of time, at the beginning of the year, on the introduction of fine motor work.   Built in to these activities are the additional goals of helping the child increase his attention span and follow a sequence of steps.  These indirect goals help prepare the child to handle more complex activities in other areas of the classroom.

Our fine motor shelves focus on three basic skills: pouring, squeezing and spooning, each increasing in complexity as the year progresses.

Beginning Large Pouring With Handles

Beginning large pouring with handles

Beginning Squeezing Grasping Q Tips

Beginning squeezing: grasping q-tips

Beginning Small Spooning

Beginning small spooning

 

At first, each skill is taught in isolation until the child has become proficient at it. Then the skills can be combined to lead to more advanced, longer sequenced work.

Advanced Practical Life Baking

Making Corn Bread involves spooning, squeezing, and pouring

 

Due to the importance of learning these tasks, we have designed a sequence that allows for natural repetition to occur.  Weekly we change the color theme of the shelf, drawing the child back to these exercises to refine his movements.

Fine Motor Shelf Red

Fine Motor Shelf – Red

Fine Motor Shelf Green

Fine Motor Shelf – Green

Fine Motor Shelf Yellow

Fine Motor Shelf – Yellow

Fine Motor Shelf Blue

Fine Motor Shelf – Blue

The aesthetic appeal draws the child back to the shelf with the purpose of developing order, concentration, and coordination of movements during these first few weeks of school.

Because these activities resemble those that the child has seen in his environment it is important that they contain items that are real, breakable and functional.   We gradually introduce glass into the environment, as the child becomes more proficient with his movements.

Spooning and Pouring Rice with Ceramic Bowl and Pitcher

Spooning and pouring rice with ceramic bowl/pitcher

Spooning Pasta with Ceramic Bowls

Spooning pasta with ceramic bowls

Focus is also placed on the practical/authentic nature of these exercises as well.  We take time to help the child understand the real purpose of each activity to sustain his interest.  The child takes great pride in accomplishing these activities while building his fine motor skills as well as learning to keep his environment beautiful.

Filed Under: Practical Life Tagged With: Beginning of School, Fine Motor

Primary Sidebar

MENUMENU
  • About
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • Privacy Policy
  • Shop Amazon

Copyright © 2023 Trillium Montessori LLC