Transfer With Spoon

 

This classic Montessori Practical Life activity is great for refining fine motor skills, developing the pincer grasp, hand-eye coordination and building concentration.

 

It is also super easy to set up. All you need is two bowls of similar dimensions, a spoon and a grain of your choice. On this occasion we used colored rice from a previous activity.

 

The child can transfer all the contents of the first bowl – from left to right – and then can dump the second bowl’s contents into the first bowl to start again.

 

Practical Life activities have what is known as a Point of Interest (POI) – a quality or moment in the activity that captivates the child’s attention and makes them want to repeat it over and over again. In this case it was the sound the rice made as it fell in the wooden bowl. So satisfying!

 

I love practical life activities for this reason. They seem to have a way of really peaking a child’s interest in a way that “conventional toys” can’t.

 

Cleaning up is part of the learning process, so make sure to encourage your child to tidy up after they finish. To pick up the rice that will likely fall in the tray we love to use a small table top dust pan and brush set. Model how to do it until your child feels confident enough to initiate the tidying up process independently.