The lessons of Practical Life engage the child in meaningful activity or “work.” These activities allow children to imitate adult activities while assisting fine motor development, eye-hand coordination, concentration, attention span and independence, preparing students for academic work ahead.
Areas of Practical Life include: Grace & Courtesy, Perceptual Motor Development, Visual Motor Coordination, Care of the Person, Care of the Environment, Food Preparation and Art.
Practical Life lessons incorporate concepts such as classification, volume, equivalency, similarity, less than and greater than, pairing, balance and Geometry. Activities such as folding cloths and bead stringing, in which the child crosses the midline of the body, facilitate the development of neuro-pathways across the left and right sides of the brain. Below are examples of how Perceptual Motor Skills assist the child's learning:
These activities help the child internalize social and problem-solving skills and assist students in becoming successful members of their classroom and school communities. Lessons include greetings, asking permission, table manners, waiting for one's turn and showing appreciation. These lessons also help develop a student's confidence and ability to have appropriate behavior in public places such as restaurants, museums and airplanes. Another goal is to assist the child in the ability to internalize discipline to make appropriate choices.
Perceptual Motor Development refers to one's ability to receive, interpret and respond successfully to sensory information. Children receive information primarily through the visual, auditory, tactile, vestibular and kinesthetic senses. All conscious and controlled movement depends on one's ability to interpret sensory information.
Perceptual Motor abilities to be promoted include body image, balance, spatial awareness, eye-hand and eye-foot coordination, laterality, directionality, proprioception and form discrimination. Attributes of movement such as rhythm, loco-motor coordination, agility, strength and flexibility are also developed within various aspects of our program.
These activities help increase the child's independence in hand washing, button sewing, dressing and grooming. Lessons include Washing Hands, Shoe Polishing and Dressing Frames such as Buttons, Snaps, Zipper, Bow Tying, Buckling and Lacing.
These activities support the young learners' drive to imitate activities they see parents perform at home. Lessons include Dusting, Sweeping, Washing a Table, Polishing Wood, Silver or a Mirror, Flower Arranging and Setting a Table for meal time.
Nutrition, Pouring Water or Milk, Tea Party, Baking and Serving Snack are lessons that build the child's independence, coordination and concentration.
Integrated into Practical Life and available during class times, a variety of art activities and projects are offered such as use of scissors, crayons, glue, paint and easel. Many art acitivities are related to curriculum; examples are: seasonal activities, map-making and tracing and labeling the parts of the tree and animals.
Because the lessons of Practical Life form the foundation for all future learning, they are considered to be among the most important for young children.
“There is in a child a special kind of sensitivity which leads him to absorb everything about him, and it is this work of observing and absorbing that enables him to adapt himself to life.” —Maria Montessori