The Practical Life Curriculum Area in a Montessori classroom defines the education for the skills required in everyday life. The reason Maria Montessori introduced this curriculum area in the education
of young children was that her method aimed at preparing children for life rather than for school.
Thus
she considered it very important to assist development in young children according
to their respective stage
(physiological
and mental) as they come through what
she referred to as sensitive periods.
Montessori Dressing Frames 
Gulf
Montessori Nursery
According
to the Montessori method the activities
in the Practical Life Curriculum Area should be real activities which meet the
needs of the child in the respective stage of his growth, normalize him, and lead
him to independence from the adult. The basic components of this curriculum
area are as follows:
Care
of the Self, Care of the Environment, Discipline and Deportment, Grace and
Courtesy.
As
they are meant to normalize the child for a Montessori environment, as well as
for life at large, these exercises and activities should be introduced to the
child in the beginning, as soon as he comes in a Montessori classroom.
In
the child’s natural effort towards independence and success the Practical Life
curriculum area has four aims:
ORDER
in time and space (meets the needs of the child in the sensitive period between
2-4 years of age);
“Repetition is the
secret of perfection, and this is why the exercises are connected with the
common activities of daily life. If a child does not set a table for a
group of people who are really going to eat, if he does not have real
brushes for cleaning, and real carpets to sweep whenever they are used, if
does not himself have to wash and dry dishes and glasses he will never
attain any real ability”. Maria Montessori-The Discovery of
the Child, Ch.5, Education in Movement.
CONCENTRATION
(helps the child to be focus
on a
purposeful activity);
COORDINATION
(refers to a coordinated large
and
small muscle movement as well as hand-eye
Coordination
that reflect the respective
development
of child’s mental life);
INDEPENDENCE
(“The
essence of independence
is to be able to do something for one’s self.”
Maria
Montessori – The Absorbent Mind, ch.14,
Intelligence
and the Hand).
In a
Montessori classroom and school (Children’s House) the child moves about in an
environment made
upon
his size, yet all things are real and not make-believe. Materials in this area
should be attractive,
child-size
and breakable (glass, porcelain, pottery). Among practical basic skills like
spooning, pouring,
cutting,
folding, the Practical Life activities develop a sense for social relations,
grace and courtesy.
