Activities of Everyday Living
The Activities of Everyday Living, which are also known as Practical Life, provides a link between your child’s home life and the Montessori classroom. All of the activities use materials that your child may have used or seen in their own home for example jugs, cups, pasta shapes, beans, clothes buttons and zips. This is the first Montessori learning area your child is introduced to in the preschool by their Key Worker. Children draw comfort from the familiarity of the material and are able to carry out the activity, increasing their confidence, which is why we introduce children to this learning area when they are settling in.
How does your child benefit?
The purpose of Activities of Everyday Living exercises are that children who work on real tasks which involve the hand, eye and the mind together will develop a greater capacity to concentrate. They will also refine hand-eye coordination and this is the best possible preparation for the intellectual work to come.
What are the activities?
The Activities of Everyday Living learning area develops children’s ability to look after themselves and their surroundings. We use scaled down versions of real equipment such as brushes and brooms, wash-up bowls and cloths, shoe cleaning and polishing kits. There are also opportunities for pairing socks, hanging, folding and sorting clothes as well as plaiting and sewing.
The Activities of Everyday Living skills consists of physical activities that help your child to grow and refine hand and eye coordination skills, cognitive development, self confidence and development of their own personality, and most importantly independence. Any controlled movement of hands, arms, legs, feet, eyes, etc. helps your child achieve independence and mastery of their environment. The good practice that children establish at an early age, through regular repetition, paves the way for the development of maturity and self-discipline later.
