These preliminary practical life tray ideas are inspired by Montessori classics. They engage the child in purposeful activity and isolate a single skill – in this case transferring and pouring using a variety of tools, each one with a unique purpose.
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Practical life activities such as these help develop fine motor skills, strengthen hand-eye coordination and build concentration. They require the child to learn a sequence and contribute to the child’s sense of independence and responsibility.
These are just ideas. You can get as creative as you’d like with kitchen utensils.
⋒ These activities can be just as easily done in everyday situations by involving your child in your everyday life. You don’t necessarily need a tray, though it helps define the work area and contain all the materials.
⋒ Make sure you set your child up for success with appropriate tools and the right degree of difficulty to build their confidence- neither too easy nor too difficult. Child-sized tools work best and cause less frustration. If you are looking for child-sized wooden sensory play tools, this set is a great option and comes with all the tools your child needs. For the transfer with eyedropper activity, I also recommend this set.
⋒ I like to provide a big plastic tray for activities involving water so that if any spilling occurs it is contained within. I use wooden trays for dry activities. Be OK with messes. It is about giving the child an opportunity to practice, going through the entire process, from choosing an activity to cleaning it up afterwards.
⋒ We use glass and porcelain items for most activities, instead of plastic. We introduced this gradually when A was around 12 months, always supervised. This teaches children to be gentle and take care of their materials/ respect items. A knows that items can break so she handles them with care. For dry and liquid pouring we use porcelain creamers. These are also great for serving milk for breakfast or water for dinner and let the child practice pouring for themselves. You can get your child started with a small clear glass one like this one so the child can keep track of the liquid pouring.
⋒ Provide a towel/ or sponge to clean up any spills and child-sized broom or small brush for sweeping if needed. Make sure to model the cleaning up part as well when you present the activity.
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