Practical life (daily living) exercises are extremely important in Montessori education as they develop the child’s order, concentration, coordination, and independence. Because practical life is the starting point in Montessori education, I’m using a practical life activity as the first activity of the week.
This week’s activity is a preliminary exercise on spooning grains from Montessori Primary Guide. There’s a helpful YouTube video of how to demonstrate the activity. You’ll notice that the teacher slows down her movements to isolate the difficulty and make the demonstration as clear as possible.
Here’s the link to the photos and written directions for spooning grains. Montessori Primary Guide is a great source for other practical life activities as well as videos and directions on how to introduce many Montessori exercises.
I'm Deb Chitwood. My header photo models are my children, Christina, at 1 1/2, my son, Will, at 3, and Christina again at 16. Christina is now 22, and Will is 27. Please see the 
