DMT 104 Practical Life Essay December 2014
Student Number - T/11/14/0118 December 11, 2014
DMT 104
Practical Life
ASSIGNMENT:
According to Montessori, Practical life exercises are seen as the cornerstone of the Montessori Method.
Why are Practical Life exercises so important to a child?
Maria Montessori said that ‘an adult works to perfect the environment, but a child works to perfect himself’ (Maria Montessori, Absorbent Mind). She illustrated it by a boy on the beach. The child clings to the shovel. No one tells the child he has to shovel sand; the child follows the ‘horme’, this energy for life and inner guide that allows him to direct his own growth. By constant repetition of the motions, he is strengthening his muscles, perfecting his coordination, and gaining confidence in a particular skill. Maria Montessori used the natural inclination of the child as a point of departure. She structured several practical life exercises to help the child satisfy the need for meaningful activities.
Practical life exercises consist of simple, daily activities using objects that are familiar and recognizable to the child. These are those every day activities performed by adults in their environments to restore and maintain proper conditions. The child is attracted to them as, almost from the time of birth, he has observed and been in contact with these materials every day; he knows them and he is used to them.
Thanks to this familiarity, Practical Life exercises are attractive to children. It links the activities that the child is familiar with at home to the school environment, which explains it is the first area to begin with in the Montessori prepared environment. The material must correspond to the child’s inner needs and so be presented by the directress at the right moment of the child’s development. It sets the child to work and makes him like to work. These exercises help through the process of normalization of the infant from 2.5 years old and then it pushes him to go to the four other
DMT 104
Practical Life
ASSIGNMENT:
According to Montessori, Practical life exercises are seen as the cornerstone of the Montessori Method.
Why are Practical Life exercises so important to a child?
Maria Montessori said that ‘an adult works to perfect the environment, but a child works to perfect himself’ (Maria Montessori, Absorbent Mind). She illustrated it by a boy on the beach. The child clings to the shovel. No one tells the child he has to shovel sand; the child follows the ‘horme’, this energy for life and inner guide that allows him to direct his own growth. By constant repetition of the motions, he is strengthening his muscles, perfecting his coordination, and gaining confidence in a particular skill. Maria Montessori used the natural inclination of the child as a point of departure. She structured several practical life exercises to help the child satisfy the need for meaningful activities.
Practical life exercises consist of simple, daily activities using objects that are familiar and recognizable to the child. These are those every day activities performed by adults in their environments to restore and maintain proper conditions. The child is attracted to them as, almost from the time of birth, he has observed and been in contact with these materials every day; he knows them and he is used to them.
Thanks to this familiarity, Practical Life exercises are attractive to children. It links the activities that the child is familiar with at home to the school environment, which explains it is the first area to begin with in the Montessori prepared environment. The material must correspond to the child’s inner needs and so be presented by the directress at the right moment of the child’s development. It sets the child to work and makes him like to work. These exercises help through the process of normalization of the infant from 2.5 years old and then it pushes him to go to the four other