Practical Life is a phenomenal way to develop independence in young children. It also helps children acquire a sense of responsibility.

Activities in Practical Life develop children’s fine motor skills, independence, and concentration, teaching children basic activities important for daily living.

Practical Life activities include: spooning and pouring beans from one bowl to another, pegging clothes onto a washing line, and tweezing beads onto a soap pad, among many others. Practical Life skills for kids in Montessori also include washing a table, washing their hands, and getting dressed independently. For dressing, we practice using The Dressing Frames.

The whole time during Practical Life, we are indirectly teaching children to do things for themselves, developing confidence in themselves and self-reliance. Everything in Montessori classrooms is child size and child friendly, making learning practical life skills safe and easy for children.

Sensorial is used in a Montessori classroom to develop the five senses: sight, listening, touch, taste, and smell. Montessori Sensorial activities help children to think cognitively, helping them in their future learning and also their personal and interpersonal development.

Children learn through experiences, and by engaging in Montessori Sensorial activities, children are able to differentiate between sizes and order through visual discrimination. Visual discrimination in Montessori Sensorial includes activities such as The Pink Tower, The Red Rods, The Broad Stair, Knobbed Cylinders, etc.

In the Montessori Cultural area, we teach our children Geography, History, Art, Music, and Science. Most importantly we teach children to have a love and respect for nature.

We teach children how to differentiate between living and non-living things, how land, air, and water make up the earth, matching activities such as Botany and Zoology nomenclatures. Our children enjoy working with the Continent puzzles and the Botany and Zoology puzzles. There are many other activities in the Montessori Cultural area to enrich our children’s minds about our world.

Studies have shown that children begin developing language even before birth, whilst still being carried in the mother. Language development is an essential part of early childhood. Children hear and internalize language from a wide variety of sources each and every day from parents, caregivers, other children, and the world around them.

Almost miraculously, children not only internalize this language, but their brains also begin to sort out grammatical structures and slowly piece together what is correct and what is incorrect on their journey towards being native speakers.

Part of the language journey and learning to read is teaching children phonetics. Children need to be able to identify letters of the alphabet, and more importantly, how these are sounded out when reading. This helps the child on their first steps to putting these sounds together into a word.

To teach reading in a Montessori classroom, we use the sense of touch to learn letters, through our Sandpaper letter board. We teach children letters through the phonetical alphabet, just like all materials in a Montessori classroom are all organized accordingly by beginning with the Sandpaper letter board, The Large Movable Alphabet, Pink, Blue, and green reading materials.

Developing mathematical skills and spatial awareness is one of the most important things we can help children with. Children learn to recognize shapes, angles, size, position, and the spaces they live in. Montessori Maths has a wonderful process of working with materials, from concrete forms to the more abstract.

Math materials in every Montessori classroom are all ordered from the simpler to more complex. By working with authentic Montessori Math materials, children are encouraged to develop and bring to life their understanding of mathematical concepts.