Independence at 3

I'd like to introduce you to E. She is one of our youngest and is in her first year of our Primary program.  Her parents are eager to help her become as independent as possible and have made many changes in their home to accommodate her burgeoning abilities.  They have kindly shared some pictures with us.
 

 "Here she is at 21 months, making banana bread. The bananas were soft enough for her to cut with her knife. She managed this task very well and now cuts up her own bananas for breakfast all the time."

 "At 24 months, E. loved to make Ginger Bread. We have since found child size tools for E to use in the kitchen which has made it easier for her."

 
                                                 

"Making her favourite, Chinese Dumplings. E focused so well to make sure the edges of the dough were wet enough to fold in half and stick them together so the filling does not come out when cooked.  She mastered this so well the first time she was shown that we make it a family tradition for Chinese festivals and celebrations. A great way to talk and teach her about some of her Chinese culture."

"E at 34 months, loves to Vacuum so we found a smaller attachment for the stairs that is just her size."

I love this picture of E.'s dress up clothes.  Her father cobbled it together from a store bought clothes rack meant for adults.  He simple left out the higher tier of vertical poles so that it was just E.'s height.  Now she can easily see the clothes without having to dig everything out and gets to practise using a hanger at the same time.  :)

E.'s mother is an early childhood educator and says "I am always ready to learn more about Early Childhood and to become a better parent and listen to Emily's needs."

Wise words.  Thanks, Julie.

When Practical Life is internalized it often comes home to roost.

When a child is allowed to spend as much time as needed in the Practical Life area of the classroom, over time the lessons learned are internalized.  Very often, those internalized skills show up at home.

This happened to G's mother the other day when he announced that he wanted to make dinner.  I will let her tell the rest of the story.


"G. made dinner for the family tonight - in 23 steps! So I took some pictures for you.

He decided to make Pan Fried Herring (local from Port Alberni), with broccoli and snap peas, with stuffing (yuck - stuffing!! whatever... it was his choice).  It was cool because it was a bit of a science lesson - looking at the fish eyes, the gills, chopping the head off and gutting it - are those eggs inside? Wow. Ewwww, the blood, bladder, and guts!

Cleaning the fish. 

All clean.

Chopping up the veg.

Preparing a dredge for the fish.

Cutting up and arranging lemon pieces on a plate.

Preparing the pan for frying the fish.

Frying the fish.

Preparing the stuffing.

 Setting the table......

...and Voila! dinner is served!

It was fun and he was so proud of himself. He even washed & dried some dishes. Our little chef! Practical Life seems to be approached differently now by G., not so much a learning of skills as a perfecting and contributing to the family that makes it so wonderful for him (and us!)."

By the way, G. is 5 and a half!

Wow!

Lunch boxes and containers

     Helping our children to be as independent as possible is the goal of all Montessori parents and teachers.  So it was with some surprise that I realized, while talking about "child & earth friendly" food containers at orientation last month, that I'd never stopped to look at this issue from a parent's perspective.

      I decided to take a closer look at the choices parents have in the way of boxes and containers and came to this conclusion.  There are many food containers that  a 5 year old can handle but there are very few that are easy for a 3 year old. 

     The child in the picture below, is 5 and he is taking the lid off a kind of plastic container that can be found in most department stores.  As you can see, he turns the box sideways to get a better grip on the box.  Most children do this and, if they aren't holding the box over the table, end up with their food on the floor. 

    Here, a girl is opening a larger, glass container.  She is also tilting the box to get a better grip.  This is fine as long as the food inside is not something with a sauce or liquid. 

The next picture is of a lunch box that was purchased in Hong Kong and reminds me of a Bento Box.

It has separate compartments which hold several different sizes of containers.

The lid snaps onto the rim of the box.  I have found that this kind of lid is the easiest for the young children to undo and close as long as the rim is one continuous lip.... 

instead of a prong lock as in the next picture.  These are just too difficult for most 3 & 4 year olds to line up and snap closed.

There are some mass produced boxes on the market now with built in compartments to separate foods.  Watching the children opening these, I concluded that they are not any easier than their glass counterparts.

The very best solution I've seen for helping a child with lunchtime independence is in  this next picture - each item had been carefully folded in wax paper.  The folding was such that it did not come apart in the boy's lunch box yet it was easy for him to get apart.  In our neck of the woods, wax paper can be thrown into the city compost so this is also a very 'green' solution and much better than plastic sandwich bags.

     While discussing this topic with another teacher at our school, she pointed out that when a child does need help with a container, we help that child in the form of a presentation.  In other words, we hold the container in front of the child, making sure that our hands and arms aren't blocking his view, and open the container very slowly.  Presented this way, the child can see what is involved in opening the container and, after a few more tries, may be able to open it himself.  At home, a parent can do the same thing with their child.  This gives the child an opportunity to open the container for the first time at home, rather than at school.