The Importance of Practical Life

Yesterday, we had our first parent education workshop of the year. It was entitled, “The Importance of Practical Life.” For those who were unable to attend, we’ve posted the bullet points below. A special thanks to our wonderful and growing Montessori community! We reached maximum capacity for this particular event, and had a series of productive discussions.

• Though the child’s work in the Montessori classroom begins in the Practical Life area, and this is where the youngest members of our community spend most of their time, it is a vital part of the experience for all children throughout their time in the classroom.

• Any need in the environment can be met through carefully analyzing the criteria and creating a Practical Life material.

• Younger children work with Practical Life to gain necessary preliminary skills, to have an initial experience of concentration and the pattern of work, to work on controlling their body.

• Older children work with Practical Life because they need something familiar and repetitive to process a more academic work, because there is something out of place in the classroom and (as the older helpers) they are internally compelled to tidy it to maintain the beauty of their space, because they have mastered whole body movement and need to hone manual dexterity or fine motor control.

• The Practical Life materials are what make further work in the classroom possible; they are unique to the Montessori pedagogy.

• “Truly the brilliance, the colors, the beauty of gaily decorated objects are no other than voices, which call the attention of the child to themselves and urge him to do something.  These objects possess an eloquence which no mistress can ever attain to.  ‘Take me,’ they say, ‘see that I am not damaged, put me in my place.’  And the action carried out at the instigation of the things gives the child that lively satisfaction, that access of energy, which prepares him for the more difficult work of intellectual discovery.”  Maria Montessori, The Discovery of the Child, page 110.