Montessori Practical Life is More Than Chores Joy in the Process

At Greenleaves Montessori International School we use practical life activities to motivate and develop each child’s personal talent.

Practical Life activities are the most important content we can find in the environment of a Children’s house or Kindergarten.

Maria Montessori intended that the children she worked with were as independent as possible and that is why she created activities to train a series of skills related to coordination, precision, self-control, self-concept, discipline, concentration, autonomy, order, discipline and tolerance.

At Greenleaves Montessori International School we are concerned that all the activities carried out by Kindergarten children develop the following objectives:

Coordination, it is necessary for the exploration of the environment and the correct learning of contents. These activities develop:

• Gross motricity.
• Fine motor.
• Eye-hand coordination.
• Motion control

Order: children need external order to build an internal order. That is why the activities have a temporary sequence of steps, the materials are in trays and to use them you must put them on the table or the carpet. And, at the end of an activity, it should be replaced as it was.

Independence: In Greenleaves Montessori we seek that children have autonomy and can learn and enjoy their learning process naturally, for this, we offer the following activities:

• Personal care activities.
• Environment care activities.
• Activities of grace and courtesy.

Concentration: It is a necessary condition for learning. In the Kindergarten environment, we promote that this concentration be motivated by aspects such as order in tasks, attractive materials, the freedom of decision to work with what material and knowing that the adult will be there to help you, without interruptions and without judging him.

The purpose of teaching children lessons in practical life is not to get them to do chores. The purpose is to teach them how to be adults. If we do not teach children how to do something, how and when will they learn?