Pouring liquid: Your child can pour their own juice or milk - Age:В from 2В years Watering plants: This can also include garden care if you have a garden - Age:В 3 - 5 years and more Washing and drying dishes - Age:В 4В years and more Cleaning: Giving your child a cloth and asking them to clean or polish small objects - Age:В 3 - 5 years and more Some practical life materials that you can use at home Think of your own home as one big practical life area! There are so many opportunities for your child to help around the home. They want to learn new skills they want to practice and perfect them. If you think about the importance of the practical life area of a Montessori classroom, you can see that children naturally are drawn to these tasks. A child who not only knows that they need to put something away when they are finished, but also knows where those things go, will feel more secure, and will happily carry out these duties. This applies not only on a practical level (such as knowing where things should go), but also in terms of knowing boundaries with other people and understanding their routine. A really simple way to encourage this at the beginning is to allow them to put away toys and clothes in the correct place.Д®qually important is that children feel so much more comfortable when they have a feeling of order. Therefore, itвЂ™s natural for a young child to want to take care of their environment as it gives them a sense of independence. Self-care and care of the environment is incredibly important at this stage and is very much linked to the childвЂ™s need for independence. The role of a parent or caretaker in this context, is to allow the child to explore this at their own pace and in their own way. Have you ever noticed how younger children love to role play being an adult in their games with other children? Children have a natural curiosity of the world around them and want to explore this, and their place in it. Very young children already crave independence вЂ“ you have probably already noticed this with your own child(ren). The first thing to understand is just how important this key ethos of Montessori really is: вЂњHelp me to help myselfвЂќ. WeвЂ™ll also talk about how we can approach any issues that you may encounter when encouraging your older children to help you around the home and take care of their environment. In this article, we will focus first on younger children and how we can encourage, direct and engage them. They enjoy copying their parents, they feel satisfied when they help around the house and they feel more secure if they understand their place in the world. Luckily, younger children donвЂ™t feel this way. In fact, many older children do not want to carry out their вЂњchoresвЂќ because they have already made this negative association. The word itself has a very negative connotation, and can conjure up images of boring jobs which вЂњmustвЂќ be done in order to do something more fun. The first thing to do is look at the word вЂњchoreвЂќ. All you need to do is apply the same principles that a Montessori practitioner applies in their classroom to your home. Despite what many parents may think, we donвЂ™t need to вЂњpushвЂќ a child to tidy up after themselves or do chores.

You will also find that your child will enjoy helping you with tasks such as cooking, washing up and dusting. There is, of course, no reason at all that a child shouldnвЂ™t tidy up at home. When parents observe a Montessori classroom, a frequent comment is something like вЂњOh I wish my child would tidy up like this at homeвЂќ or вЂњI can never get my child to do their choresвЂќ.

Tidy up show