Practical life materials give young children the opportunity to practice real life tasks by imitating experiences they see in their environment while improving eye-hand coordination, order of sequence, and fine motor skills. Here we see the children working on various food prep activities: peeling mandarin oranges, preparing fruit kebabs, and cutting cheese. (Click for more information.)
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Circle time in the Under 2 classroom provides an opportunity for the children and teachers to come together, sing songs, have puppet play, and listen to stories while enhancing language skills, promoting listening and attention, and building a sense of community. (Click for more information.)
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With repetition and intrigue, the child opens a variety of objects such as a box, wallet, jar with a lid or a zipped bag to discover a small surprise hidden inside. As the child works at opening each object, they are strengthening their fine motor skills and understanding of opposites. (Click for more information and full photos.)
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The transferring activities that the children do within the Under 2 classroom help to refine their eye-hand coordination, strengthen the muscles of the hand and wrist, foster concentration, and provide the child with the opportunity to practice daily activities. All of these experiences will help them build the foundation they need to do more complex things as they become more skilled. (Click for more information and full photos.)
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The solar system is a very popular topic within the classroom. The child is invited to work with the solar system activity where they can learn about planets, asteroids, comets, and other interesting facts about space. In this image, the child arranged the planets in order from their distance from the sun, and followed up with their own drawing of the solar system.
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Art is a great way for children to express themselves. It also helps to develop fine motor skills, use of tools, problem solving skills and self-confidence. The Montessori environment provides open-ended art activities to help the children to explore and use their creativity. On the art shelf, watercolour painting, gluing collage materials, playdough, chalk with a chalkboard and various art mediums are accessible and available to the children throughout the day. (Click to read Dr Montessori’s quote and for full photos.)
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Through practical life care of the environment activities such as sweeping the floor, washing the table, and cleaning up spills, children learn to take pride in caring for their classroom and completing a job, develop a high level of concentration, respect for their community, a sense of order, and increase independence and improve fine motor skills. (Click for more information.)
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The children begin with a large-knobbed puzzle and make their way through to multi-piece jigsaw puzzles. Puzzles foster a child’s cognitive and fine motor development and are a great way to encourage hand control and small muscle development. They promote concentration, coordination, problem solving and a sense of order, and support spatial awareness. (Click for full photos and more information.)
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Cutting with a knife is a skill that is necessary in everyday life. The child is shown how to hold the fruit steady and safely with one hand as they use their other hand to cut up the fruit. Gaining experience cutting velcro fruit and vegetables aids the child in using a real knife. (Please click for the full photos and more information.)
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When we explore playdough and focus on manipulating the dough into specific simple shapes, we open an opportunity to develop proprioception: the sense that enables us to know where our body parts are, and what they are doing, without visually observing them. Manipulating the dough and aiming towards specific shapes is a fun way to experiment with pressure control while reinforcing this vital sensory system! (Please click for more information.)
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