How Does the Practical Life Exercises Help Children in Their Daily Living? by Maria Montessori

Reason for on the job(p) look ExercisesChildren atomic number 18 natively fire in activities they dedicate witnessed. Therefore, Dr. Montessori began using what she called working liveness Exercises to allow the tike to do activities of periodical look and therefore adapt and orientate himself in his society.It is therefore the Directresss task to demonstrate the correct way of doing these Exercises in a way that allows the tike to fully observe the movements. Montessori says, If talking feignt move, if moving dont talk.The pointress must in any case keep in mind that the goal is to show the actions so that the fry can go off and repeat the use in his get successful way. Montessori says, Our task is to show how the action is done and at the aforementioned(prenominal) time destroy the possibility of imitation. The nestling must originate his cause way of doing these activities so that the movements become real and not synthetic.During the barbarians sensitive pe riod between birth and 6, the boor is piddleing the inside(a) building blocks of his person. It is therefore important for the tike to participate in activities to determine him for his environs, that allow him to arise independently and use his motor skills, as askably as allow the chela to analyze difficulties he may fuddle in the cultivate and problem solve successfully.Montessori in addition saw the sisters need for order, repetition, and succession in movements. Practical Life Exercises likewise helps to aid the chela to develop his coordination in movement, his balance and his gracefulness in his surroundings as healthy as his need to develop the power of macrocosm silent.Dr. mare Montessori developed her philosophy of education based upon actual observations of children. She utter children prefer bestow than play, and they can only be in their natural self, when their natural self is satisfied through work. Its also through work they acquire license, ord er, the power of concentration and be normalized. Exercises of Practical Life was introduced and was accepted as the in truth heart of Montessori Education for it provides the hazard for the childs development of physical co-ordination, social skills, emotional growth as wholesome as cognitive preparation.Having a rich and stimulating prepared milieu equipped with purposeful materials and trained teachers are important for the child to grow to their full potential. Practical Life Activities are the first activities the child is introduced to inwardly the Montessori environment. These exercises are prepared based on activities children witnesses in their twenty-four hours to day life. That is why children can immediately satisfy their inner need and desires by mastering these exercises independently. alike Practical Life area allows children to do the intimacys what adults do e very(prenominal)day, for example cleaning, dressing or greeting people. As we know that children construct their knowledge by themselves through their life experience.Categories of Practical Life ExercisesPractical Life Exercises are grouped into four categories, development of motor skills, maintenance of environment, care of self and social grace and courtesy. Exercises in each of these categories provide the prospect to do purposeful work and are designed to teach the child life skills, so that they may become confident to do their daily chores at home. Activities grouped under Development of Motor Skills, much(prenominal) as stocking, pouring, squeezing, and twisting, sorting, etc. give the opportunity to exercise and co-ordinate body movements of the child. case is very important to the child because it contributes not only for the physical growth also intellectual and spiritual development of the child. Through Movement, he acts upon his external environment and thus carries bulge out his own personal mission in the world. Movement is not only an impression of the e go but it is an indispensable work out in the development of consciousness, since it isthe only real means which places the ego in a clearly defined relationship with external reality.The secret of ChildhoodThe child learns to Care for the Environment from exercises like cutting, cleaning, washing, polishing, sewing and more. They learn that they are a part of the environment and learn to respect and develop a superstar of responsibility towards the environment. Also the child impart gradually learn how to crap greater overlook of his gross motor movements so that he would be able perform more complex tasks later on. Some of the activities such as washing of a table can be carried out as a group task, which helps the child to be socialized. The child postulate to build himself and learn to take care of himself.The exercises in Care of egotism category are designed to provide the child skills need for his fillet of sole independence. In order to gain independence, the child ne eds to order will and discipline in order. Some of the activities in this category are on how to dress himself and stay clean by washing himself hands, face, feet as well as his belongings shoes, napkins, etc.. Between the ages of 2 1/2 -6, the child is in a sensitive period for the larn of good manners.The exercises of blow up and Courtesy are focused on developing will power, establish a proper posture, greet people, excuse one and interrupt when necessary. female horse Montessori considers the Social Grace and Courtesy activities as the near important exercises in the interoperable life curriculum. She felt that when children are first brought into a Montessori classroom, violence must be placed on social grace exercises.Motive of Practical Life ExercisesPractical Life Curriculum area has four main direct aims Order, Co-ordination Independence and Concentration, Dr. Maria Montessori observed that children need order at a specific sensitive period in their development. If n ot provided during this period the opportunity is foregone. A routine is very important as well as a place for eitherthing and everything in its place. This offers the child for orderly self construction. Co-ordination refers to organise large and small muscle movements as well as eye-hand co-ordination that suppose the respective development of childs mental life. Man happen upons his independence by making efforts. To be able to do a thing without any help from others this is independence. If itexists, the child can further rapidly if it does not, his progress will be slow The Absorbent Mind, chapter.XIV, pg 155It is very important that the child is given freedom to do these exercises at a time the child pleases he should be allowed to try, yield mistakes and correct his mistakes by himself without any help. The contentment of completing an performance drives the child towards independence. The power of Concentration is one of the most calming activities for a child. This is something which is controlled by the child and it challenges his body and his mind. With concentration the child is able to focus on purposeful work. Ive witnessed to the concentration that my 3 and half year old niece had for folding her little brothers nappies.The pile of nappies was ii times bigger than her, I thought, she would be bored and leave, but for my confusion after 45 minutes I could devour that she has folded all nappies very neatly and have kept one on top of some other and was ready to be placed in the drawers. Within the Montessori classroom thick(p) concentration can be acquired through the Silence Game. To achieve silence requires effort and the attention of the will, and maximum control of self-consciousness of every movement. Montessori thought of the silence lesson as a means for bringing children to this higher(prenominal) level of spiritual awareness. Practical Life Exercises aid the child in his journey towards normalizationAs a result of education Practical Life Exercises in the Montessori environment, the child starts to develop confidence, self-esteem, he grow towards independence, mutual aid and co-operation, dim spontaneous concentration, attachment to reality and most importantly childs joy of learning is supreme. All these help the child to lead towards normalization. The normalized children possess a anomalous character and personality not recognized in young children standardisation is the most important single result of our whole work. The Absorbent Mind, Chapter XIX, pg. 204.Children needs a carefully prepared environmentIt is important to provide the child an environment to work on activities of their own choice at their own footprint experiencing freedom and self discipline while developing towards independence. Even though materials in PracticalLife area are the least standardized, exercises needs to be carefully thought and designed. A prepared environment should be of purposeful and meaningful materials an d properly trained instructors. When preparing materials the teacher needs to consider few principles of the Montessori Practical Life materials which satisfy Childs development needs.Firstly she needs to make sure that each material we give the child should have a definite purpose, for an example the mat is laid to mark the area of his workstation, intervention the spoon develops childs skill of spooning which leads to independence. Secondly materials should progress from childly to more complex design and usage. As a preliminary exercise for transferring solid objects we could give the child a spoon and later, it could progress to tweezers, chopsticks. Also it should be designed to prepare the child indirectly for future learnings such as writing, mathematics and scientific concepts.We prepare the child for wiring by teaching them the pincer grip, using thumb, index and midriff fingers to hold objects and by left to right and top to bottom concepts, so that these orders natural ly incarnates in the childs mind. The mathematical concepts such as judgement of capacity and volume, division, calculation and exactness includes in activities of spooning, pouring and sweeping. The activity, transferring irrigate using a sponge gives the child the scientific concept of weight. The child could feel the weight of the sponge defers when the water is absorbed and when the water is released. Dr. Maria Montessori said, to each one individual should become aware of his own errors. Each should have a means of checking, so that he can tell if he is right or not. Absorbent Mind, Chapter XXIV, pg 247.So she included the path to perfection, which she called the Control of misplay within the materials itself so the child would be able to observe the activity he completes and understand his own mistakes. If a child has finished working on the dressing frame with large buttons, and he can see that buttons has gone through wrong buttonholes or buttoning halfway or comprehend only half of the button come up the flap, these would be his control of errors. He has the opportunity to guide himself to correct his own mistakes. Furthermore when preparing the activity in the Montessori classroom the directress need to make sure that all materials are kept together in a basket or a tray and grouped accordingly to the level ofdevelopment.The activity should have its unique spot and be reachable to the child so that the child could use the materials of their own choice and return the exercise, leading to independence and self-discipline. Also it is important to be providing attractive and clean child friendly and child size materials. Each activity should be limited in quantity. In a Montessori classroom the directress plays a major role. She needs to be properly trained, be a good role model and she should be able to develop and exercise a happy and rewarding teacher-child relationship. The first essential is that the teacher should go thru an inner, spiritual preparation cultivate certain aptitudes in the moral order. Her Life and Work, Chapter XVIII, pg 298.The teachers prime objectives are to maintain order in the prepared environment, assuage the development of the child, encourage independence and self-sufficiency. In conclusion it is apparent that Practical Life Exercises refines movement, providing a foundation in early learning, attitudes and dispositions. Practical life exercises also provide children a sense of accomplishment as they tie in real, meaningful work with tangible results. The familiar home-like environment of the practical life corner allows children to gain independence, order, concentration and confidence as they carry out thoughtfully prepared activities. This leads to normalization.