Practical Life
Children love to clean! Give them a cloth or sponge and give them some furniture to wash or polish. Table scrubbing is one of the most important Practical Life works as it is actually an important pre-reading activity. It’s the process that’s important rather than the final product. Montessori Pro Tip: Meaningful tasks give children purpose and help them feel that they
are contributing to their home environment.
Language Activity
The Question Game is good fun and great practice! Use who, what, when, where, and why in a conversation with your child. For example, where did
the car go? Who do you think was driving it? What colour was it? When do you think we will see another blue one?
Montessori Pro Tip: use phonetic sounds when working with your children. There is a helpful link below.
Math Activity
Sorting laundry is actually great fun! Who knew! Give your child specific responsibility for one thing – socks for example, or their own clothes. Count
and sort the socks before they go in the washer and drier, and when they come out. You can even show them how to fold them together.
Montessori Pro Tip: Introduce new language – pair, match, single. Talk about the size of the biggest socks compared to the smallest ones.
Sensorial Activity
Create a Mystery Bag. Take a small bag and place some easily identifiable objects in it. Encourage the children to put their hands in the bag and try to identify the object they are feeling without looking. Show the children the objects before putting them in the bag. Objects could include a spoon, toy car etc.
Montessori Pro Tip: don’t put too many objects in the bag at one time. 3-5 is usually enough depending on the age of your child.
Creative Activity
If the weather allows, go on a scavenger hunt. Take a small bucket and fill it with treasures you find along the way, leaves, twigs, stones etc. bring them back home and make a collage. Alternatively, use them to create some outside art. Start building a loose parts kit. This can consist of rocks, twigs, buttons, leaves, pinecones etc. See below for useful links to loose parts art. Having a kit ready to go will increase your child’s independence and they won’t have to keep asking you for help.
Additional Resources
https://extension.psu.edu/programs/betterkidcare/early-care/tip-pages/all/loose-parts-what-doesthis-mean
https://www.redtedart.com/loose-parts-nature-art-for-kids/
Learning at Home Montessori Week 3
Learning at Home Montessori Week 17
