Practical Life: Living in the Real World

Practical Life: Starting Off Strong

Practical life is the most important area of the Montessori primary prepared environment.  Based on the universal needs and tendencies of man and the sensitive periods of the absorbent mind, practical life exercises form a basis for all that follows in the classroom and in life.

The exercises are not an end in themselves, that is, their purpose is not “cleaning a table” but are designed as an aide to life and to help the child in the process of creating a fully functioning person adapted to his time, culture and environment.  Practical life will lead the child to independence, both physical and intellectual. It will increase concentration, the ability to take a task from start to completion, and will reinforce left to right orientation, if properly presented. 

Practical life does not end with bridging to elementary.  . The Montessori elementary Practical Life curriculum is a continuation of the practical life skills presented and practiced in the primary classroom. Skills pertaining to care of self, care of environment and living things, along with grace and courtesy are still important; however, these activities now begin to take the children outside of the classroom and into the greater community. While the activities may change, these skills are just as important in the lower and upper elementary, middle school, and even high school years.

The exercises in Practical Life also serve an important social purpose. Children become more self aware which helps them develop empathy and sensitivity to others. It is because of this greater sensitivity to others that community service projects are a big part of the upper elementary Practical Life curriculum. Additionally, Practical Life activities help foster self-discipline, self-reliance as well as teaching children how to concentrate and cooperate.
Some of the following information applies more to the 3-6 year old student, however the basic concepts remain consistent throughout childhood and even into teen and adult years.  

There are several essential points at the base of the practical life work.  Every child has a need to adapt and orient himself to his culture and environment.  Practical life exercises are everyday activities, which the child may see at home.  Properly prepared and presented they become a bridge between home and school.  The work must be based on reality, for it is only through reality that the child can be secure and become oriented to his world.  Practical life activities must be pertinent to the child’s own culture in order for them to function as an aide to adaptation.  All practical life lessons involve movement. The four areas of practical life are:  care of the person, care of the environment, grace and courtesy and control of movement.  The child needs opportunities to work in all four segments of practical life.

Another basic need of the child is to develop and coordinate his movements.  In order to achieve this goal he must be free to move and to repeat his work.  Respect for the child’s own developmental timetable and providing opportunities to repeat and prefect are essential.

The work must be in absolute order, color coordinated, without flaws, and perfectly clean at the beginning of each day.  This presentation of beautiful work calls the child to use the materials with care and interest.    Only then can the child benefit from the work. 

Care must be taken to use natural materials as much as possible.  Glass, wood, lovely fabrics, pictures and items from nature speak to the soul of the child in a way that artificial materials cannot.  Honor the life of the child by bringing beauty into his life.

Every child has an innate need to achieve independence.  This acquisition begins at home and continues in the Montessori classroom.

To foster this development the child must have certain freedoms in his school.  He must have the right to choose his own work, based on knowledge, the right to work at his own pace, to repeat as often and as long as he wishes, and to move and speak as long as he does not interfere with others.  Objects and furniture must be child sized to allow in independence to move them about.  Pictures are at the child’s eye level.  Exercises are set up to allow success (clean, complete, attractive, color coded).

Every child has a need for order, which is one of the longest sensitive periods, from birth to age 6.  Order in the physical environment creates internal order in the mind.  Order is essential for logical, sequential thought, so all practical life work is based on order with sequence.  Materials are set out in order of use, from left to right.  The work is always in the same place in the environment.

Other basic needs of all children are movement and repetition to achieve perfection.  All practical life exercises must allow for motor activity and repetition.  For example, a teacher should not limit how many times a child can feed the birds, or scrub a table.

There are four types of exercises concerning movement in the practical life environment:

1.    Preliminary exercises:  this work prepares the child for life in the class by giving the necessary skills to move without      disturbing others or the environment.  All exercises must allow for repetition so the child may perfect the skills.  Each lesson is an isolation of one difficulty, for example, carrying a tray.  Remember that these lessons are removed from the environment when every child has mastered the skill. 

2.    Exercises for control of movement:  This work involves the whole body.  Many of these gross motor exercises are done while walking on the line.

3.    Exercises for movement of hands.  This work always progresses from very simple to complex.  For example the dressing frames are presented easiest (large buttons) to most complex (pinning).

4.    Exercises for inhibition of movement:  this work is a point of arrival for the child.  When he can do the silence game he becomes aware of this control over his own body and that he can consciously inhibit (control) his movements.

The environment is critical in the fulfilling of these needs.  Chipped, dirty and incomplete work distracts the child from the purpose of the work, and in fact, he will usually not even attempt to use it. Water must be readily available and supplies ready for cleaning up spills and preparing work for the next person.  The child should not need to ask an adult for supplies.

Adults in the environment must present lessons in a quiet, consistent manner, must monitor the classroom for flaws, and must be continually observant of the child and focus on him as a whole being with mind and body growing together.  The teacher’s delight in the practical life area of the Montessori classroom will result in children who are adapted to the environment, are growing toward independence, have a strong sense of order and are cooperative members of the school community.  Without this essential base, the work of the child to create himself cannot go forward. 

During parent conferences and meetings, encouraging families to incorporate these activities into their daily life will help the child to have a sense of belonging and worth.  True self esteem does not come from praise but from meaningful work done with a sense of joy and purpose.  This is a good time to talk to parents about phrases such as "I have to go wash the car."  or "I wish I didn't have to work."  How often we express dislike for our jobs and how seldom we talk about the pleasure of making our homes beautiful and a haven for our families.  Our different the message is when we say: "Work is going to be hard today, but I am excited about the challenge."  or "The car will look so beautiful after we wash it." 

Our own attitude toward work is important as we model the characteristics we hope to instill in our students!