This post includes 10 Outdoor Practical Life Activities for the Montessori classroom. Bringing Practical Life Outside is simple! Enjoy!

Learn ideas behind Montessori outdoor activities. This post includes thoughts on connecting indoor and outdoor Montessori classrooms!

Explore the wisdom of Maria Montessori through her best quotes on educating children. Unlock the power of Montessori!

Rather than punish a child, give students the opportunity for movement in the Montessori classroom and a change of scenery to come back settled and ready to work.

Montessori flower arranging can develop many practical life skills for preschoolers & advanced toddlers. Post includes video, resources, & Montessori Monday linky.

Teach children how to arrange flowers with this Montessori flower arranging practical life activity for kids.

Pinay Homeschooler is a blog that shares homeschool and afterschool activity of kids from babies to elementary level.

I put together several new Practical Life exercises which are out on the shelves this week. You can see them below along with a description for each one. This is a transfer activity. The wooden tray holds two ceramic leaf...

I have found that exploring nature items is very calming for my little ones.Our newest rhythm is really focusing on calming activities for kids (Speaking of which, have you discovered Clever's New Trick? It's a social story I wrote about helping little ones learn to calm down. You can read more about it by clicking

The concept of money is often presented in the Montessori classroom starting with the early childhood program with Practical Life activities and Mathematics.

Recently I started thinking about what activities have really worked for us and what haven't. I love threading, lacing and sewing activities but they have been a bit hit and miss at our house. This one (above) stayed on our shelves for over a year, yes a year! I first set it up when my son was around eighteen months old and it was well used until he was around two and a half years old. Highly recommended. At various times I have set up and demonstrated the lacing shapes, threading beads and threading cotton reels (all below) but they...

This Montessori-inspired autumn leaf unit is a roundup with a huge variety of leaf activities for toddlers through early elementary.

I write a lot about outdoor classroom ideas. This post includes 75 fun and intriguing activities for the Montessori Outdoor Classroom. Enjoy!

A blog devoted to Montessori education with a little bit of this and that thrown in.

Care of the environment, including care of plants and animals, is part of the practical life curriculum and an important part of Montessori education.

Direct purpose is to develop hand-eye coordination, and muscular control. Indirect preparation for writing. PREPARATION OF THE ENVIRONMENT: Traditionally the sewing material has been stored on the practical life shelf layed out in baskets (which takes up lots of room). I have stored each step in drawers such as those made of plastic (ikea no longer makes the FERA wooden drawers :( you'll have to score them second hand). The drawers serve as a storage unit for the materials. The children use a flat basket or small tray to gather the tools and materials from the drawer they are qualified to use. Here is an example of what I mean:    pin cushion practice Practicing pushing pins into a pin cushion is an absorbing fine motor activity appropriate for the mature child that is interested in sewing. This job is also perfect for children who are not quite ready for the multiple steps required in most sewing activities. Materials: extreme caution, watchful and attentive adult, 12-18 pins varying colors to be sorted, small dish for pins, pin cushion, dish for pin cushion, tray to hold all materials. Presentation: Invite the child to do the exercise. Show them where the material is located on the shelf. Carry the tray carefully to the table. Sit on the child's dominant side. Talk about the precaution needed in using this material. 'These pins are only for the pin cushion' , 'Always make sure the pins stay with the job', etc. Remove a pin from the dish using your dominant hand holding it between the index finger and thumb. With your sub dominant hand, hold the pin cushion in place so it doesn't get away from you while you are pushing the pin in to it. Finish the task of pushing each pin into the pin cushion. Remove the pin from the pin cushion before replacing the job on the shelf. Allow the child to do this job if they have had a lesson. Use your best judgment in placing this material in you classroom. The intent is to teach children how to the sewing materials responsibly.   oil cloth / embroidery practice stitch practice 1. This would be considered drawer (1) of your storage unit if you are choosing to consolidate this unit. This is an extension to the lacing boards we are all accustomed to. This activity is SUPER easy to make yourself and with the varieties of oil cloth these days, the possibilities are endless! Just make sure to pre punch the holes with a hole punch. Materials: small wood embroidery hoop, oil cloth of your choice & shoe lace (one side stiff / one side knotted). Presentation: Invite the child to the lesson. "We are going to practice stitching." Show the child where the material is located on the shelf. Show them where the baskets for gathering the materials are located. Get a basket, hold it firmly in one hand and open the top drawer with the other hand gather one lace, one embroidery hoop with oil cloth attached. Take your materials back to the table. Place the basket in the upper left hand corner of your work area. Place the hoop with oil cloth attached to the right of the basket. Begin by unwinding the lace and placing it across the table in front of you. Place the stiff side to the left and knotted side to the right. 3 finger pincer grasp the left side of the lace with your dominant hand. Pick up the hoop with oil cloth attached with your sub dominant hand. Flip the hoop over and thread your lace through one of the holes. Gently pull until you can pull no further - the knot at the end of the lace should stop you from threading any further. Flip the hoop over and continue the over and under motion until there are no more holes to be stitched. Before returning the material to the drawer make sure your remove the gently remove the lace from the oil cloth. Oil cloth can tear if it is pulled to hard so to preserve the integrity of the material make sure that you are gentle when removing the lace. Once you have removed the lace from the holes in the oil cloth, you can begin winding up the lace. Use the middle and index fingers of your sub dominant hand to wind the lace. Finished!      The oil cross stitch practice is also stored in the first drawer. It is one step up from the stitch practice above. The challenge in this job is that the holes for stitching are smaller and the child is expected to cross stitch. Assume the lesson plan for stitching but be aware that you are to continue your stitches diagonally so as to create the cross stitch design.  oil cross stitch practice You will want to make this material too. It is a little more detail oriented to make. I bought gingham oil cloth for this. I imagine you can use whatever oil cloth you can find for this. You will notice with this material that the holes for practice are much smaller than the holes made by a hole puncher. The way that I did this was by burning the holes with a heated extra large safety pin. I made this material in a well ventilated area away from children. I pre marked the holes with a permanent marker before I began making the holes. I used a lighter and an extra large safety pin. First, I heated the safety pin and while it was hot, punctured the places I marked. I had to heat the pin every time I punctured and there was a tiny bit of smoke. Allow the melted oil cloth to completely dry before working with it, I suggest overnight. The type of lace I used for this was slightly smaller in width only because I had some extra laying around.  2. running stitch on burlap This activity is another stitching activity except the children can take this one home. Burlap can be found in many colors. I myself have found colors for every season. Can you guess what month this picture was taken in? Drawer (2) Materials: extra small embroidery hoop, squares of burlap with one line pulled out, extra large needles and yarn/embroidery floss. Presentation: Invite the child to the lesson. Show the child where the material is located in the shelf. Show the child where the baskets are located to gather the material from the drawer. Hold the basket with you sub dominant hand while using your dominant hand to pull open the drawer and gather your material. For this activity you will gather one embroidery hoop, one piece of burlap, one large needle and yarn/or embroidery floss. Go to the table. Sit on the dominant side of the child. Place your basket in the upper left hand corner of your work area. Show the child how to open the embroidery hoop by unscrewing the clasp and opening the hoop. Place your burlap over your small hoop and then place your larger hoop over that. Screw the clasp to the hoop shut. Next you will need a pair of scissors from the art shelf. Bring the scissors back to the table on a small scissor tray. Place the scissors just below the basket of materials. Take the yarn/ or floss from the basket and measure one arm length and cut it at that length. Thread the yarn/or floss through the extra large needle and tie off the end. Place your threaded needle through the far left side of the hoop and pull. Stitch up and down through the burlap where you had pulled the burlap string out before. Make sure you stitch through each opening in the burlap so that the stitches are real close. When you have reached the other end of the burlap, you can stop and tie off the yarn or floss. Show the child how to take the burlap out of the embroidery hoop and how to carefully put the hoops back together without splitting the wood. Return the material to the drawer and the scissors back to the art shelf. Note: due to the size of the needles I stored them in a left over piece of burlap instead of a pin cushion, you can also store the needles in an extra small tin box. Also you do not need an embroidery hoop for this lesson, I use it initially for control of movement. Good Luck!   3. embroidery prep on thick grid plastic  Drawer (3) materials: embroidery patterns, large needles, variety of colored floss. Assume the lesson plan for the lesson for the burlap stitch lesson. This activity is a more direct preparation for embroidery while still using the regular stitch. Prepare this activity by purchasing stiff embroidery material and/ or plastic shapes from your local craft store. Children can stitch in and out of the open spaces filling all of them until there are no more to fill. I like to give the children a choice of embroidery floss color. Children love this activity because they get to use the stitching skills they have learned to fill in interesting shapes.  4. Button sewing can be fun for you, the children and the community. Ask parents in one of your school newsletter for button donations. If you end up with more buttons then you can sew, you can always use them in other areas of practical life such as pouring, sorting, spooning, whole hand transfer, etc. This would be Drawer (4) and you will need: 1 embroidery hoop, cloth, variety of buttons, medium needle, pin cushion, and thread/floss. button sewing Invite the child to the lesson. Show the child where the material is located. Retrieve a basket to hold the materials you will be gathering: 1 arms length of embroidery floss/thread, one needle in pin cushion, scissors (on tray from art shelf), small box of buttons, 1 small piece of cloth, and 1 small embroidery hoop. Begin by pulling out one arms length of floss/thread, cut it, thread it, and knot it. Place it back into the pin cushion for safe keeping for now. Open the embroidery hoop carefully so as not to split the wood. Place the piece of cloth onto the small embroidery hoop and close the larger hoop over it, clasp it shut and place it to the left. All the while choose a button you would like to sew to the cloth. Begin sewing the button to the cloth by pushing the needle through the bottom part of the embroidery hoop and pulling it through. String the button you have chosen on to the needle and thread. Push the needle through the cloth close to where the initial thread was pushed through and pull. Now the button is held in place by this one stitch. Continue as before 2 or 3 more times until you end up on the bottom side of the embroidery hoop. Tie a knot and cut the string. Start sewing another button but remember to tie the end of your string first! Let the child sew to their hearts desire. Help them as needed, like when they accidentally go around with the needle and get all tangled up. Go slow when you are showing them and over emphasize the up and down motion of the button sewing. Note: in the past I have used heavy fabric like canvas, when you go into the craft store this material can be pricey. If it is not with in your budget to pay for the going price of a heavier cloth consider second hand cloth napkins. I have bought stacks of cloth napkins from goodwill with the sole intention of cutting them up and using them in the sewing drawers. 5. finger puppet This possibly the climax of the child's whole sewing experience. As with all the jobs on the shelf there are lessons that must come before others. In this case, drawers 1-4. In this picture the templates have been pre cut for the children. I have seen it where the child gets a piece of felt and is supposed to trace and cut the finger puppet template themselves. I would love to that. I made the tiny pin cushion for this job because I needed a pin cushion. Here are the materials needed for this drawer: various colors of cut felt small enough to fit a child's finger (1.5'' x 2''), thread, needle, 2 pins, pin cushion, tacky glue, googly eyes, cotton balls (or balls of wool), and scissors from the scissor shelf.  Presentation: Invite the child to the lesson. Show them where the material is located, they should already be familiar with gathering the materials. Instruct them on what to get. Let them choose two alternate pieces of felt or matching. Alternating patterns help them control the pattern of movements needed for the proper stitch. In order for there to be consistency and so that the edges of the pattern don't crinkle, keep with the same stitch we've been using all along - up and down stitch (not the round about stitch). The thread is not shown in the picture because by this time I was using the thread station shown below. This station is aesthetically pleasing, a curiosity to the children, and incorporates movement! Place the basket in the upper left hand corner of your work area. Lay out your materials in the order in which they will be used: pin cushion, thread, two pieces of the puppet, one cotton ball, and two eye balls. They should already know how to thread the needle, they may need help tieing. Pin the two pieces of felt together and begin stitching in the lower left hand side of the puppet. STOP before you sew the puppet shut. Stuff the puppet with the cotton and glue on the eye balls. You may choose to draw a face with a permanent marker. Finished! LINKS: tiny pin cushion tutorial from "How About Orange" blog printable finger puppet templates from "free kids crafts" 6.  dolls and pillows Drawer (6) follows the same lesson as the drawer prior except, before you sew it all the way shut you stuff it with filler. you can buy filler at the fabric store or you can buy a pillow for under $5 at a store that sells home stuffs. Again, you could have the children trace and cut their own patterns or you could prep them. You'll need more than two pins depending on the size of your pillow. This a really fun activity because you can tailor it to the seasons and holidays.   thread station made from a wooden paper towel holder ;)

Here are some posts with lots of Montessori-inspired Thanksgiving activities and ideas to use throughout November.

Look what I found in my draft files! I am so excited to share this especially after my recent post about Montessori Floor Scrubbing, which you can find here. The exercises of Practical Life are so essential to the harmony of the classroom and I find it inspiring that even now, at the end of the school year, these lessons play a vital role in the children's days at school. __________________________________________________________________________________ I often get the feeling while speaking about my Montessori classroom, that generally, people need to know more about the Practical Life activities. Too many times, it appears to be glossed over in parent discussion while topics of Language and Math materials generate more interest. For this reason, I wish to share additional information regarding the critical significance of the Montessori Practical Life exercises. The Montessori classroom is a meticulously prepared environment designed specifically to meet the needs of the child both physically and emotionally. One aspect of the prepared environment includes the Practical Life activities. Many Practical Life activities are tasks the child sees routinely performed in the home. They each serve a meaningful purpose as the child masters each piece of work such as tying shoes, pouring water, sweeping, or sewing and cooking. Through Practical Life activities, a child will also develop and refine social skills. These skills developed through Practical Life build self-esteem, determination and independence. The student learns to take care of himself and the surrounding environment. Maria Montessori explains in, The Discovery of the Child, “Through practical life exercises of this sort the children develop a true ‘social feeling,’ for they are working in the environment of the community in which they live” (5, pg. 97). Additionally, fine motor skills are improved through use of the Practical Life materials. Through repeated tasks which enable a child to refine concentration, coordination, independence, and order, a child’s sense of self-worth grows. The Practical Life skills are an essential component in the Montessori classroom. Not only do they provide a link between home and school for the new Montessori student, but they provide a foundation for life-long love of learning. While appearing quite simple and repetitive, Practical Life activities are highly purposeful. A child engaged in such activities demonstrates high levels of concentration, sense of order, and refinement of fine motor skills. Also, they show a sense of independence through caring for oneself and the environment. Furthermore, they show respect for classmates and teachers and develop a sense of pride. Not only are these skills and qualities necessary to progress in the Montessori classroom, but they are also needed as an individual develops into adulthood. Practical Life activities can be divided into six main categories. First, are Preliminary Exercises which assist in creating routine and order in the environment and are prerequisites for other activities. How to a roll a mat, carry a chair, or how to open and close a door are examples of Preliminary Exercises. Practical life exercises also include Fundamental Skills such as pouring, spooning, or tonging. As with all lessons in the Montessori classroom, these activities follow a sequential order and ideally, each lesson builds upon the last. Another category is Care of Self. Activities such as washing hands, buttoning, or tying shoelaces assist the child to become physically independent. Care of Environment is another category involving activities such as sweeping, watering, cleaning, etc. Control of Movement is an area of Practical Life which encompasses lessons such as Walking the Line and the Silence Game. Additionally, social Grace and Courtesy lessons are introduced to the child. These may include lessons on how to say please and thank you, interrupting someone, or introducing friends and acquaintances. Montessori stressed the relationship of these exercises to the general happiness and well being of the child. “A child who becomes a master of his acts through long and repeated exercises [of practical life], and who has been encouraged by the pleasant and interesting activities in which he has been engaged, is a child filled with health and joy and remarkable for his calmness and discipline” (The Discovery the Child, 5, pg. 93). Varying types of presentations can be used by the teacher to introduce Practical Life activities. First is a collective introduction given the children at once. This could include proper table manners, how to interrupt someone, how to speak with an inside voice, or how to turn the page of a book. Another method is a group presentation given to a small gathering of children. The last method of introduction is Individual, given only to one child at a time. Montessori believed the prepared environment is directly correlated to the child’s development. The classroom is a specifically designed area arranged solely for the children. There should be a variety of movement and activity and all work operates together through the disciplines. Montessori also believed in the importance of aesthetically pleasing classrooms. Children respond well to beauty, order, and quality in their environment. Through the Practical Life activities in the Montessori classroom, a child not only learns concentration, coordination, independence and order, but also how to interact with others and gain an understanding and appreciation of the environment. The child begins to build himself from within while learning to treat himself and others with respect and dignity. These understandings ultimately prepare the child for entry into society and a lifetime of self-respect and self-worthiness. Practical Life activities in the Montessori classroom ultimately provide the foundation for success in all areas of life. Below are some photos of the Practical Life areas in my classroom:  Handwashing Table  Dry Transferring (set up with a Winter theme).  Wet Transferring (set up with a Fall theme).   Polishing Materials - top: Leather Polishing; middle: replenishables (cotton balls, q-tips, polishing cloths); bottom from left to right: Metal Polishing (red), Glass Polishing (blue), and Wood Polishing (yellow).  Care of Environment supplies - top: Cleaning up a spill (orange); Window Washing (green); bottom: Washing the Easel (blue) which can also be for table and chair washing...

We've been in full on Montessori mode over here and my 3 year old daughter couldn't be loving it more. It's been a while since my last ...

Learn ideas behind Montessori outdoor activities. This post includes thoughts on connecting indoor and outdoor Montessori classrooms!

Learning about Spring Bulbs

Welcome to Part 2 of the tour of Lauren’s class at Creo Montessori in Arizona. Last week we saw pictures of her outdoor environment. Today, we get to see the inside! Thank you, Lauren, for sharing your lovely space with the rest of us. Practical Life Sensorial Language Math Cultural About Lauren Marques My name is […]

Spring weather has beckoned us to get outside and explore! Here are the best hands-on botany lessons.

This Montessori Fall Fun - Scrub the Pumpkin activity is wonderful for teaching a child to care for their environment and the objects in their environment.

9 free patterns and instructions for simple embroidery designs that are absolutely perfect for kids and beginners.

I have always had a soft spot for sewing in the classroom. I love the serenity such activity evokes and appreciate the fine motor and concentration skills it develops. Last year, the children in my class were introduced to a set of Sewing Drawers which have since become very popular in our classroom. When I first made the drawers, I never suspected we would have so much interest and so many eager sewers! In recent weeks, our class has seen an even bigger increase in sewing activities - what better time to introduce a second set of sewing drawers? The next set of drawers is housed in identical three-sectioned bins. The first drawer contains necessary materials to sew a button, the second drawer is for making a bracelet (with a button), and the last drawer is for making a small pillow. Sewing Drawers: The left side contains the first set of drawers; the right set contains the latest additions: Top drawer: Sewing a Button The drawer contains one hoop with felt, extra felt pieces in the back, small box with buttons, a needle, small scissors, and thread (wrapped around the clothespin). Middle Drawer: Making a Bracelet This drawer contains strips of prepared felt (see below) for the bracelets, various wooden buttons, a needle, scissors, and thread. I cut a small opening for a button hole toward the top of each strip... …and placed a small dot with marker toward the bottom for button placement. The materials are brought to a workspace on this tray. And, here is the bracelet! Bottom Drawer: Making a Small Pillow The drawer contains squares of fabric, a box of batting, and needle, scissors, and thread. Here is the small pillow my son made as I was setting up the classroom. The children will be excited to see these new additions to their sewing options and I am looking forward to watching their skills expand. Call me old fashioned, but knowing how to sew a button has got to one life's most practical skills and I am proud my students will have this knowledge! :-)

Here are links to the Montessori Services materials I've reviewed (updated in 2015).

Who invented the sandwich? Acknowledging the fact that combinations of bread/pastry filled with meat or cheese and dressed with condiments have been enjoyed since ancient times, Food historians gen…

A blog devoted to Montessori education with a little bit of this and that thrown in.