Montessori Pick of the Day

Practical Life-Beads & Soap Holder

Make simple practical life lessons for your child.  Save time and gather your materials during your shopping trips for future practical life skills fun.

Here is a an advanced transferring activity:

You can use a simple soap dish with suction cups, seed pearls or plastic beads and tweezers for your next practical life lesson. It helps with pincher grip, coordination and spatial refinement.

Presentation

Put the soap dish, beads in shallow, small dish and tweezers on a tray or container. Show how to take the tray off your shelf area. Put the soap dish down, the end suction helps secure it to the table. Next, place the bead dish and tweezer to the right of the soap dish if your child is right handed. Grasp tweezer and pick up a bead and place in an indentation of the soap dish. Usually your child will want to do this right away!

Here is an example of materials you need. You can find these items at dollar or craft stores too.

Sorting Colors

Montessori preschools use sorting different colored beads into compartments before introducing concrete academic toys. Sorting is not only a practical life activity that helps withs coordination, but introduces order, sequencing, math subsets and concepts of same and different.

Here is an advanced sorting activity.

Montessori Practical Life-Cutting

You can introduce prepping food in several steps. Cutting fruits and vegetables is an exciting activity for children. I start with a plastic knife, next, a serrated butter knife and finally, a serrated paring knife that only cuts with a sawing action.

This wooden set is a good first cutting activity. It's a safe way for preschoolers to practice cutting skills.

Montessori Nut Cracker

This nut cracker is perfect for the Montessori practical life skill of cracking nuts. This is a great activity starting at ages 3 or 4.

This activity helps develop strong wrists and grip. Here is how to do this activity.

Button Practical Life

Practical life skills can be exciting and fun to do. You can use buttons for sorting by size, shape or color, lace them together in a pattern necklace.

Here is a great idea-

Stacking Practical Life Skills

Stacking games are a great way for more advanced Montessori practical life skills. This game is fun to play, but develops great hand control and eye to hand coordination.

Kids Shoveling Snow

We've had three blizzards pretty much back to back. Kids love snow! You can shovel it, play in it, taste it and make snow forts and snowmen.

Here is how to teach your child to shovel snow. Think Snow!