Practical Life

We have some practical life activities set up on the shelf but BabyEbi doesn't bother with them much, the exception being the pouring and spooning activities. That said, he does get his fair share of practical life experiences by helping me around the house, he sorts the socks when I am hanging out the laundry and puts away most of his own clothes (he can't quite manage getting his T-shirts in the draw yet), he also puts away some of my laundry in the draws he can reach. He helps with the dusting and cleaning and just started to lay the table ready for lunch.

In the morning he helps unload the dishwasher putting the dishes away and sorting the cutlery.

He also folds all the napkins and puts them away, yet he won't touch the folding exercise on the shelf.

Whenever I am in the kitchen he wants to help so yesterday I had him grating the peel off some yuzu, my mother-in-law had sent me a dozen and I have no idea how to use them so we made yuzu cookies using this basic dough they are lovely, I think it would work well with lemon or orange too.

So, what I think I am try to say is that although at Montessori schools 'practical life' activities are important and sometimes the only way for a child to practice is by doing a shelf type activity, I think at home they should be off the shelf and put into context, folding napkins that are used everyday at the table and putting them in the draw has more meaning that folding some towels and putting them in a basket on a shelf where they only get used as a folding activity. Sorting cutlery and putting it away in the kitchen draw is more interesting than doing it at a little table then putting it back on the shelf. As is preparing a snack, actually pouring milk rather than coloured water and spooning sweet beans into a dish for dinner rather than dry beans as a table activity.

He is also my recycling buddy, the recycling in this town is quite strict, I'm not sure how many actual catagories there are but it includes...

• plastics
• tins and cans
• milk cartons
• polysterene food trays
• clear glass
• coloured glass
• burnable (stuff like food waste or things that don't go in any other bin)
• garden waste
• paper/newspapers
• card
• plastic PET bottles

Then there are days when they collect things like batteries and light bulbs, big objects under a certain size can be left once a month, really big items need to be collected at a small cost, it is quite complicated and I have a chart up on the fridge so I know what needs to go out on what day. BabyEbi is learning what goes in which bin at the moment and sometimes gets it wrong but he is getting there. When he is a bit older we will do a project or something on recycling but for now we will stick to trying to get the right thing in the right bin!

Oh yes, and don't forget to sign up for the counting object swap

My Montessori corner of the world...

I have had a lot of emails recently, thank you to everyone who is reading and your kind words, I appreciate every mail and comment you send.

Some of the questions asked has led me to photo our Montessori set-up, since we have moved we have more space which makes things easier, but not THAT much more space. Most of the equipment is in the spare room which is also the Montessori room and the hobby room - has to work hard that poor room!

This is the Montessori corner

the shelves are actually for CDs so they are actually quite narrow, the white draws under the desk are on casters and have different storage systems on each side so I will use these too as I collect more equipment. I also have the metal insets set up on the desk, I only have 5 shapes out and swap them around with the others to save a bit of space.

Shelf One - has a few Mathematics things and Sensorial items, if you want to know exactly what everything is on the shelves check the Flickr picture, if you roll your mouse over the picture you can see the notes that I have added.

Shelf Two - has a couple of practical life exercises, most of the PL things are downstairs, science and culture, I am still working on this bit and the language section. Again, if you want to know exactly what everything is on the shelves check the Flickr shelf 2 picture.

Here is the small table and stool we use for work upstairs, although BabyEbi prefers to work on a mat on the floor except for the metal insets exercise.

This is the small shelf in the kitchen, the top shelf is kept for snack preperation, the lower shelves for practical life which I try to rotate often. He also has his apron, bib (for dinner time) and brush and pan here. We havent had chance to sort out the pantry yet but when we do I will have a section for his cleaning things. The 100yen shop is a great place to find mini versions of things, brush and pan; floor sweeper; buckets etc. If you want to know exactly what everything is on the shelves check the kitchen shelf picture on Flickr

This is a Ikea small table and chair, he uses this for snack time, to do crafts, PL activites such as pouring or spooning and drawing. It also comes in handy as a side table for adults when a little boy has gone to bed!

When we had the house built we had the light switch in his bedroom placed lower so he can already reach it, we have a small step in each toilet and at the sink so he can go to the toilet by himself and wash his hands. In the living room we have a small shelf with a selection of books and a few toys, these get rotated too. Sometimes he will want to play downstairs so I will bring his Lego box or train set down if that is what he wants to play with. I dont know if Maria Montessori would approve of lego but I personally thing it is a great toy and BabyEbi loves his, in fact I believe Santa will bring him some for Christmas, we wanted to get him the Dino set, it turns out it is classed as educational lego so we had to ordered from a specialised education shop, not even the Lego shop stocked it!

His closet is all set up so he can easiely take out and put away his clothes and he can reach all his toys on the shelves, he also has some more shelves at the end of his bed with books and his train set. I think that sums it all up, hope this answers any questions, feel free to ask more and if you are a more experienced Montessorian and have any advice, that would be lovely too.