Montessori education encourages real work in nature whenever possible. When there aren’t leaves outdoors to be raked or when the weather doesn’t allow for outdoor leaf raking, United Montessori Association (UMA) has a great alternative. Raking leaves indoors is a popular activity with children that can be used at home or school.
This activity was designed by UMA graduate Kit Li for her UMA original project. It included variations of hay or pinecones. UPDATE: The older blog is no longer available, but United Montessori Association has a new blog with some great practical life activities.
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You can purchase a child-sized rake at Montessori Services or from Amazon as part of a child-sized garden tool set. Montessori Services even has a heavy-duty garden tool set for ages 6-9. Colorful silk leaves can be used rather than real leaves. I would definitely recommend the silk leaves to avoid the mess of crumbling leaves indoors.
Let your child have fun and develop numerous skills by raking leaves, whether indoors or outdoors!
What a lovely and fun idea! We lived in condos for several years, even with kids for while, before moving out to the burbs. This would have been perfect and still would be fun in our new home too:-) I’m pleased to say that we do have one childsized rake and we’ve already been out twice to rake up some leaves:-) I love silk leaves though, they would be very fun for indoor play, thanks for sharing this great idea!
Thanks, Michelle! I hadn’t thought about this for condos – thanks for the idea! It really would be perfect when there isn’t a lawn to rake. I have to go check out your post on Shutterfly Christmas cards. I think they’re great, too!
We did this activity right before Halloween with a kid’s rake and silk leaves. The girls loved it — but didn’t like taking turns with the rake. Mental note – find a 2nd rake! 😉
It’s great that you tried that activity already, Jennifer! In Montessori scools, there is just one of each activity so that children can learn to take turns. But it can be more difficult with just two when they both are excited to use something at the same time! For raking leaves outdoors, a 2nd rake could make for lots of leaf-raking fun – and help for you! Collaborative activities are awesome, too.
And, if you don’t mind me asking..how do they encourage the children to take turns exactly?! I’d love some advice on this topic.
It’s typically not a problem in Montessori schools because the rules are explained clearly from the beginning. In Montessori, the child’s ability to complete the work cycle and develop concentration is considered extremely important. Because of that, children aren’t allowed to disturb another child’s work. Whoever is working with a material has a right to work with it alone until finished. A child has to be invited to join in someone else’s work. The children get used to the rule, and there doesn’t tend to be a problem.
Fun, especially if that’s a roll of carpet to protect the floors from the rake. 🙂
Thanks for your comment, Serene! Yes, you can use a roll of carpet or an area rug. In Montessori schools, rugs are used to define the child’s work space. In this case, the rug also protects the floor from the rake!
I love Montessori teaching. Visiting from Hip Homeschool Hop.
Thanks, Candi! I think I love Montessori education more the longer I’m involved in it – and I loved it a lot in 1975!
This looks like so much fun! Almost better than the real thing 🙂 Keep your ideas coming Deb..you’re awesome!
Thanks so much for your very kind words, Leah!
I love the idea about useing the silk leaves. We are in a very allergy area of Texas and the silk leaves would work much better for us. We have gone outside and collected leaves and children have brought leaves from home. This is a wondreful activity to view all the different kind of leaves and their beautiful colors this time of the year. Thanks for dropping by waddleeahchaa and commenting on Ms. Trisha’s actvity on the “Season’s” and the change a tree goes through during these different times of the year. 🙂 joyce
Thanks for your comment, Joyce! I hadn’t thought about the non-allergenic benefit of using silk leaves. Good point!
great idea! I also wanted to do raking with my daughter but did not come across any child size rakes, and living in an apartment with no backyard doesn’t help either. Thanks for sharing this, this is such a great alternative.
Thanks for your comment, Eva! I hope your daughter enjoys raking leaves indoors!