Meaningful Tasks that Young Children Can Do Independently at Home.
1. Dressing up To help children dress themselves, it is best to provide only a few clothing choices at a time. Clothing options can be stored in a low dresser or shelf that the child can access. When choosing clothes, it is best to select items that the child can put on without too much complication.
2. Self-care Young children often enjoy carrying out their own hygiene routines, including: brushing their teeth and hair, washing their face and hands, blowing their noses, applying lotion and lip balm, etc. Adults can show how to use grooming tools and products on themselves before offering them to the child.
3. Meal prep With a little guidance, young children can prepare simple and healthy snacks for themselves. Some ideas include: hardboiled eggs, celery sticks with peanut butter, crackers and hummus, personal pizzas, bagels with cream cheese, yogurt and sliced fruit, smoothies, tacos, and so many more! Simple baking recipes are always a hit too!
4. Caring for the environment From dusting, to vacuuming, to sweeping, to folding towels, your child can do it all on his or her own! Young children are typically quite interested in taking part in every-day household chores and tasks. Children may also enjoy watering plants, tending a garden, caring for family pets, washing dishes, and other common household activities.
In a Montessori environment , you will see children lovingly taking care of themselves and their classroom. These activities are deeply meaningful in many ways of the child’s physical, intellectual, and emotional development. We as an adults donot force children to take part in these tasks, so they are not referred to as chores in the classroom. Children are self motivated to take part. When children engage in meaningful and interesting activities, they naturally experience joy of work.Dr. Maria Montessori often taught those around her to teach by this principle, “Help me to do it myself”. This can be achieved through the prepared environment where space is given to be independent and self-sufficient. It is often seen that when kids have become even more dependent on their parents to do things for them (which sometimes even carries on into young adulthood), it becomes increasingly important that we teach our children help myself- skills. One of the main goals of Montessori preschools is to raise a generation of independent and self-made individuals.
This is important because success in life because we achieve success to the degree in which people perceive themselves as independent. The way we achieve this independence and subsequent success is by starting at an early age. We prepare the environment to foster their best development. Then child strive to be independent, grow, and learn. Hence, early childhood is the perfect time to start learning the skills that are necessary to be self satisfaction and begin practicing them until the children can act on their own without help.
Basics of how to take care of oneself is one of the achievements that a child makes in the Montessori journey of becoming Independent . In Montessori all is achieved with care of balancing a child's life and enriching his mental and physical growth.
