Activities of Practical Life
These are real-life activities that children feel a connection to.
The activities are self-contained; everything they need to complete the activity is there—functional and set up for success. Objects are child-sized so the child can control them and coordinate their movements/bodies to be precise. Using real objects brings a particular element of risk, and this is important to the child so they can discern it as a risk, manage it, and avoid it.
Children are very interested in these familiar and daily activities of practical life, often repeating them over and over and concentrating for lengthy periods. Practical life activities often require sustained effort and concentration, indirectly modelling to children the need to persevere through challenges and focus on the task at hand.
For the first three years of life, children are very self-focused. These activities give them a sense of agency.
Why Do We Use Real Objects?
Toddlers are in a critical or sensitive period for sensory-motor integration. Practical life activities strengthen their proprioceptive sense, the body’s ability to sense its position and movement in space. Its input is received through muscles, joints, and tendons.
Motor control is essential for children to develop body awareness, balance, and coordination. It enables smooth movements such as grasping objects, walking and climbing, and spatial awareness.
Interaction with real-world objects helps children to judge force, pressure, and movement, providing accurate sensory feedback.
If a child carries water in a glass cup and drops it, the environment has provided the necessary feedback on what happened. The adult doesn’t need to say anything. Next time, they will negotiate the cup more precisely, strengthening their will, intellect, and motor coordination.
Over time, children naturally become more careful and deliberate in their movements, perfecting motor precision and control.
All this learning would be lost if they carried a plastic cup that dropped to the floor and nothing happened.
Like everything in a Montessori environment, it serves a purpose—to support the child’s development at that age and stage.
Practical Life Key Points
Concentration - developed through interest and repetition.
Language Development - especially verbs as we use words to describe our behaviour whilst doing the activity.
Aids in self-image and self-esteem - the child develops the ability to be successful in these activities and be valued as a contributing member of the family or community. They feel accomplished. They gain an understanding of what they can do and their accomplishments.
Mastery of skills leads to increased self-confidence. When a child experiences accomplishments in a visceral way, their experience is real, internal, and private.
Increases Intellect - gaining a scientific and mathematical understanding of the world.
Develops Will—making choices and understanding what is best for them. Practical life aids in the integration of movement, will, and intellect. As the child moves, they gain an understanding of the power of their actions. This informs future choices. It's a cyclical process.
Mindfulness - Integration; the mind and body working in harmony. It relaxes the brain and is centring. With practical life activities, we are starting this pattern where the child accomplishes something, feels successful, takes a step up - moves on to another skill and is successful at that. It feels good; it is a challenge. The child feels internally secure. It’s not a chore as they perceive it.
Children focus on the task, cultivating a habit of being present and attentive.
Assisting Independence
Activities such as dressing oneself, grooming, and cleaning promote dignity and independence, cultivating the right conditions for children to take care of their own needs and develop a ‘can do’ attitude and self-reliance.
As attuned adults, we are close by to collaborate when need be – just offering the right amount of help before handing control back to the child.
‘I CAN DO IT’ - the mantra of the toddler.
Practical life activities require planning, sequencing, and evaluation, which promote higher-order thinking and executive function.
Children this age are enthusiastic about helping out. Let them.
Collaborate! Take turns with each other.
We set the tone and create the culture of the running of the house. These are life skills. It is usually once the child has reached the second plane of development, around the age of 9 to 12 or even later on into adolescence, that many families will now have the expectation that the child should help around the house, but that intrinsic pull to belong to the family unit and contribute has passed. Now, you might just find a battle on your hands!
If a child absorbs this collaborative behaviour and sense of self-accomplishment under three, it will return even when they seem to have lost interest later on.