Introduction to Practical Life

General Introduction to the Practical Life Area

It may be said that the sensorial exercises have their obvious value but the exercises of
practical life are mere imitations of adult life. It must be remembered that most of the
activities of the child, including
including play activity, are inspired by observation. The exercises of
Practical Life are formative activities. They involve inspiration, repetition, and concentration
on precise details. They take into account the natural impulses of the special periods of
childhood. Though for the moment the exercises have no merely practical aims, they are a
work of adaptation to the environment. Such adaptation to the environment and efficient
functioning therein is the very essence of a useful education.
Maria Montessori What You Should Know About Your Child p. 77
The History of the Practical Life Area
The Practical Life area of the Montessori Childrens House is unique among Early Childhood
Education environments. It evolved during the early years of Montessori work, i n response to
observed needs as well as in response to unexpected manifestations among the children. The
organization of the Practical Life area emerged as Montessoris response to many observations and
spontaneous revelations during her early work with children. These include:

Recognition of the childs essential development of internal order through the external
order of the environment, and the childs natural interest in perfecting logical
sequencing through imitation of everyday activities observed in the environment

Recognition of the importance of physical activity in childrens daily life, reflecting the
childs natural work of perfecting the coordination of movement movement of the
whole body (locomotion and equilibrium) and movement of the hand (fine motor, eyehand, and manual dexterity)

Montessoris own priorities as a modern Physician who was interested in issues of
hygiene, nutrition, and the phenomena of physical growth

Observation of spontaneous interests of the children, such as their expressed desire to
accomplish the tasks of the adults who care for the environment of the Casa tasks of
housekeeping, food preparation, and gardening; and childrens desire to independently
carry out tasks of selfself- care

Observation of the childrens emergent
emerg ent appreciation of the environment and their
spontaneous impulse to keep its objects in order, to clean up after a spill or when
something was broken

Observation of the childrens spontaneous interest in how to conduct the simple
exchanges of social life

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Introduction to Practical Life

In responding to her observations, Montessori realized that there were two significant obstacles
to children following these spontaneous needs and interests. One type of obstacle emerged
because children did not know how to accomplish the activity that interested them. The other type
of obstacle came from the adult size and scale of the tools and objects used to accomplish specific
tasks.
Montessori realized that both of these obstacles could be addressed to the benefit of the children.
Activities could be modeled in such a way that a child could clearly see how to do an activity and
be successful in doing it for themselves. And the objects and implements in use could be scaled to
the size and the capacities of the children. By adapting the activities and materials available in
the general culture, Montessori was able to offer the children the means of taking care of
themselves; the means of taking care of their environment; the means of coordinating their own
movements in orderly, logical sequences; and the means to conduct their own social relations.
Particularly in terms of the tasks specific to care of self and care of the environment, Montessori
was at first motivated as an adult with an outward goal or purpose in mind; and so she offered
these activities to the children assuming that they, too, had only utilitarian or at most imitative
interests in these activities.
There was, however, an unexpected outcome once such activities of daily life became accessible
to the children. Standing at the little wash basins provided for the purpose of hand washing, for
example, the children did not simply wash their hands until they were clean; they repeated the
sequence of movements, or aspects of the sequence, over and over seemingly oblivious to their
hygienic purpose but with great interest and great concentrated effort. In fact, she observed that
children pursued this activity whether their hands were dirty or not. Clearly, for the young child
this simple exercise so recently discovered to have such a great importance for personal and
public health had another purpose entirely for the children themselves.
themselves And this observation
was repeated with all of the activities she made accessible to the children.
Such observations were made over and over around these simple activities of housekeeping and
personal care, coordinated movement and social life. More importantly, a picture of the childs
work of self-construction motivated by powers of internal development also began to emerge.
Montessori thereby recognized the significance of practical, everyday activities as motives of
activity for the childs selfself- construction as guided by natural laws of development.
development This
recognition led to Montessoris significant discovery of normalization in first plane children and its
extreme importance for individual and social life. We now understand and offer the entire practical
life area as the foundation of normalization in a Casa community.
The area of Practical Life thus evolved from such revelations, taking on a pedagogical significance
in the Casa which far exceeded any apparent utility or function in its specific activities.

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Introduction to Practical Life

General Organization of the Practical Life Area
Practical Life activities are typically organized into five sections or aspects:
aspects
Social Relations (also known as Grace and Courtesy)
Control and Coordination of Movement
Preliminary Activities
Care of the Person
Care of the Environment
(Individual Introductions to each section follow at the end of this General Introduction)
These are for the most part parallel aspects. However, each section has different degrees of
importance according to the childs experience in the Prepared Environment. All of the sections
represent essential exercises, calling to the childs inner guide and offered as motives of activity
for the childs inner work of self-construction.
It is important to realize that not all Practical Life Exercises appear as materials arranged on the
shelves. In fact, what we see on the shelves represents only about one-half of the activities of the
area. Those which cannot be seen are of as great, if not greater, significance as those so beautifully
displayed in the environment. These essential yet invisible activities of Practical Life are found in
the sections for Social Relations, Control and Coordination of Movement, and to some extent
Preliminary Activities. All are components of a vital range of opportunities for development
offered to children of every age in the Casa.
The materials we do find on the shelves represent particular examples of Preliminary Activities,
and all of the activities for Care of the Person and Care of the Environment. These materials on
the shelves all adhere to the general characteristics of Montessori materials, as found in the
Theory Album. We can recapitulate some of these characteristics as organizational principles to
keep in mind when preparing the Practical Life Area, remembering that external order is of
particular importance in the Practical Life area:

Materials for one section or aspect of Practical Life are kept together

Within each section, exercises that relate to each other are kept together such as various
activities for dusting, or plant care; where relevant, these will be further organized in
developmental progressions according to the levels of challenge or complexity in each
activity

Color-coding is an essential ingredient of this external order on the shelves, visually uniting
each object used for a specific activity; the goal should be that each exercise on the shelf
at any one time has a color or shade of color distinct from any other exercise

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Introduction to Practical Life

Many activities have objects in common such as aprons and mats (also known as
underlays); these may be organized in one of two ways: either communally, as found in our
demonstration environments; or specifically color-coded and included with each exercise
which requires them

The objects used to accomplish a task are displayed separately from the objects of that
task: e.g., metal objects to be polished are cultural items displayed around the room or are
useful items which can be found throughout the environment; soiled laundry is
accumulated in a laundry basket away from the materials used to clean that dirty laundry;
children clean their own or each others shoes; etc.

Supplies needed for these exercises are available to the children for re-supply: e.g., the
child places wet towels, used polishing cloths, etc. in designated spots and replaces them
before she returns the materials to their place on the shelf

Practical Life in general follows the rule of having only one exercise of a type available at a
time; occasional exceptions would include multiple sets of dusting cloths, several different
ways to care for shoes; or two types of metal polishing (such as brass and silver)

Exercises can be rotated in and out of the area over time: this can be for the sake of
variety and to spark new interest; but can also be more developmentally significant for
example, preliminary exercises such as pouring or folding, which have been generally
mastered can be removed and replaced by more challenging or complex activities, such as
liquid measuring of folding child-sized clothing

The Practical Life area is not a fixed set of exercises such as we see in the Sensorial and
Mathematics areas; and this area can look very different from classroom to classroom and
from culture to culture. Some of this difference reflects the personality and interests of
the Montessori guide who prepares the environment; however, by its nature, Practical Life
activities also reflect the material and cultural environment of the childs society.
Specifically, Care of the Person reflects that societys customary practices regarding
grooming and garments; and Care of the Environment reflects the actual conditions found
in the particular environment.
Concerning the Practical Life materials found on the Casas shelves, Montessori says:
Truly the brilliancy, the colours, the beauty of gaily decorated objects are no other
than voices which call the attention of the child to themselves
themselve s and urge him to do
something. Those objects possess an eloquence which no mistress can ever attain to.
Take me, they say, see that I am not damaged, put me in my place.
The Discovery of
of The Child,
Child, p. 118

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Introduction to Practical Life

Age and Readiness

An interesting object,
object, a series of movements revolving around this object, and the fixing of
attention by the action being done, is the most effective manner of calling the wandering
mind of the child.
Creative Development in the Child Vol. 1 p. 59
Practical Life exercises are a point of entry for every child, no matter the age when she first joins
the Casa. Similarly, the work of Practical Life should be available to children of every age,
age
regardless of how long they have been part of the community; and practical life activities should
be available at all times of the day. There will be exercises of differing levels of challenge, and
there will be different degrees of challenge within exercises, so as to attract and satisfy children of
all ages and at all levels of development.
Activities from Social Relations, Control and Coordination of Movement, and Preliminary
Activities will be of great interest to the newest, youngest children who are orienting and adapting
to the environment under the influence of their Human Tendencies, Absorbent Minds, and
Sensitive Periods. New older children will also find these activities interesting, but the teacher will
want to adapt them for older children. These activities offer a treasure trove of possibilities for the
Collective Stage and can readily open the door to concentration.
The question is one of enticement how to arouse and attract this natural interest; but also of
observation of individual capacities for readiness and need. As Montessori environments for
children younger than three years old proliferate, we must be particularly careful to meet children
who transition from these toddler or infant communities with appropriately new levels of
challenge; otherwise we risk insulting and/or boring these children with activities that are below
their capacities. On the other hand, older children who are new to the environment might arrive
with poorly developed coordination of movement we will need to provide opportunities to refine
and elevate their coordination while accommodating their more mature minds and interests. This is
a good place to remember Montessoris caution and promise for our own development as
transformed adult educators:
(The teacher) will learn that she must not hold back minds already abnormally
developed by giving
giving to them material less than their individual powers can handle,
which creates boredom; she will learn not to offer objects which are beyond the
capacity of the child, thus discouraging and destroying the first childish enthusiasm.
The Discovery Of The Child,
Child, p. 198

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Introduction to Practical Life

Self--control Emerges
As Self
Add new levels of challenge to Social Relations, Coordination of Movement and Preliminaries; and
expand individual possibilities with specific, individualized activity for Care of the Person and Care
of the Environment.
Meanwhile

Observe for spontaneous interest in any specific activity

Assess levels of coordination and logical sequence already in place the goal continues to
be how to find a balance between not enough challenge (leading to boredom) and too
much challenge (overwhelming and discouraging the child)

Move from simple to complex exercises, building longer sequences onto previous
achievements of sequencing and coordination

Offer progressively complex and purposeful activities to older children so that they apply
their independent skills to meet personal and communal needs

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Introduction to Practical Life

The Two Psychological Stages of the Work
Children respond to two different sets of motivation when freely choosing practical life activities
and these two sets of motivations reflect two different levels of development. The young childs
relationship to Practical Life is grounded in unconscious motivations for self-construction
primarily motivations of the Absorbent Mind, and of the Sensitive Periods for Order and for
Movement. These Sensitive Periods fade around age 4, while the construction of the conscious
mind proceeds apace for the remainder of the First Plane of Development. Constructive
perfectionment becomes an increasingly conscious pursuit as the consolidation and crystallization
of earlier formations results in a capacity to decide to act as a power of the Will.
For this younger child,
it is not the cleaning, it is the action which is attractive to the child
child while the object
is a mere point of crystallization, a point of fixing its activity The action upon the
object is not a purpose, but a means, a means for the child to develop his own
personality!
Creative Development in the Child Vol. 1 p.55
In our developmental context, the childs motivation towards Practical Life activities begins to
change at about the time that the Sensitive Periods for Order and Movement are fading c. age
4. This is part of a much greater change in her development. It reflects the ongoing integration
of separate creations, and therefore a new interest in the relationship among and between these
separate creations. In Practical Life, it is as if she begins to awaken to the relationship between, on
the one hand, her own needs and desires and, on the other hand, her own emergent and practiced
capacities to act effectively in her environment.
We call this transition The Second Psychological Stage of the Work. There are external signs of
this transition which the teacher can observe. For example, a child deliberately seeks out a
tarnished metal object to polish; she dusts a table because she has left it covered with chalk dust;
or scrubs an underlay because it is streaked or dirty from her work. She brushes her hair because
it is tangled; and suddenly exhibits the awareness that, for example, she wants to button her
sweater (because it will keep her warmer or because she likes how a buttoned sweater looks / feels
). The realization which fuels this new awareness is the growing awareness that she has the skill to
do these things for herself.
During this second psychological stage, the utilitarian purposes of the Practical Life Exercises so
readily apparent to the adult become operative for the child, as well. Responding to information
in her environment, and exercising her developing power of Will, she can decide to carry out an
activity because it needs to be done. Acknowledging this, Care of the Environment and Care of
the Person will be found listed last among the Purposes in the text for their relevant activities.

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Introduction to Practical Life

They generally describe the motivation of the older child a choice to act which results from a
deliberate decision.
This older child continues to carry out Practical Life activities at this newly aware level and thereby
begins to establish habits of a life-long, responsible relationship to her own self and to her world.
The teacher must be aware that this represents a new level of self-construction, a new level of
developmental work which it is the teachers work to assist and facilitate through the structure
of the Practical Life activities she has prepared and presented.
This new stage of work for the older child in the Casa has yet another manifestation: she no longer
responds only to her own internal need or a self-recognition; but applies her awareness to
recognizing needs in the environment, needs of other individuals, and needs of the community at
large. This recognition is an expression of normalized Social Cohesion. She waters a plant because
it is dry; she scrubs a table because it is dirty (no matter who has dirtied it); or she washes all of the
dusty chalkboards which have accumulated over a morning. She hangs an apron, in passing, which
has fallen to the floor from its hook not simply to restore it to order, but out of respect for the
object itself and for those who will use it, as well as to remove a potential obstacle to safe
movement. She spontaneously and generously offers help to a younger child who is struggling with
a task truly beyond him.
The older child chooses these activities not because she has caused these external conditions, but
because she has noticed them and recognizes that she can address them. She has the necessary
skill and applies it not just for her own sake, but as a benefit to her community. This is a highly
evolved and natural (as in normalized) human achievement in the First Plane of Development: a
willed awareness, grounded in empathy and altruism.
The practical skills themselves were built up in the child while she was busy with the inner
formations that were motivated by her developmental powers. Then, when the recognition of
need matured, the skills were there as if by magic. Empathy and altruism can also be seen as
skills, and the child has constructed these skills or capacities while busy with her prior
developmental pursuits not so much in pursuits contained in material exercises displayed on the
shelf, but through the invisible motives of activity contained in the Exercises of Silence and in the
conduct of Courtesy modeled in the presentations of Social Relations.
All of this occurs within the context of a First Plane Society by Cohesion (or Social Cohesion) a
society united by The Absorbent Mind. This is not, as yet, a society consciously organized
according to external leadership, rules and expectations, as found in 2nd Plane. The older First
Plane child in this Second Psychological Stage of the Work continues to practice Practical Life
activities according to her own motivations, as and when she freely chooses, and not according to
external direction or an organized schedule. It is the teachers responsibility to understand this

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Introduction to Practical Life

as he understands that the younger child is following the internal motivations of unconscious
Powers; and it is the responsibility of the teacher to normalize the conditions in the Casa to
facilitate this emergent experience for the older child. The conditions of the environment of the
Casa must be such that

Opportunities exist for the child to act spontaneously according to her new internal
motivations

Limits and consequences function to facilitate and encourage decisions to act in this way
And so, throughout the childs time in the Casa, the same principles operate: that the adults work
is to initiate the child into the activities, and then leave her at liberty to practice these activities as
and when she chooses according to her internal motivations. Montessori tells us
the new education consists not only in supplying the means of development for
separate actions but in leaving the child at liberty to make use of them.
The Discovery of the Child,
Child, p. 108
Some ways to support the natural emergence of the second psychological stage of work:

No adult should ever clean in front of the children (this includes teachers and
assistants)

If an adult addresses a need in the environment, always invite at least one child to
participate and help

At any time of the day, tidy the room by gathering a group of available children and
using the technique of command games to send children out into the environment
with a specific task, such as
You can make sure all of the rugs are in the rug rack, (childs name)
You can check that all of the dressing frames are fastened, (childs name)
You can put empty chairs into tables, (childs name)
You can look for puddles on the floor and mop them, (childs name)
Etc

Initiate periodic big clean of the entire environment: all of the children participate in
cleaning and beautifying the environment, choosing sections within areas or tasks that
are needed according to their skills

When the children leave for the day, the environment looks as good or better than
when they arrived eliminate the impression that children may leave the environment
in disorder and that adults magically restore it to order after they leave
In supporting the natural emergence of the second psychological stage, we are following
Montessoris own directive that the teacher must
understand that the environment belongs to the children. It is not hers, because she
is the teacher. It is the environment in which she helps the little child to become
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Introduction to Practical Life

master of it. The teacher must help the children to be independent, to keep the
environment in order by themselves. She must take great pride in seeing all these
children become normalized. The teacher can be proudest of all when she is no longer
necessary She is an enormously successful teacher when she can
can say The children
can do everything by themselves, they didnt need me.
The Child, Society and the World,
World, To Teachers p. 15
By supporting the Second Psychological Stage of the Work, we also support each childs future
relationship of responsible stewardship towards both the natural and built environments a toooften suppressed natural harmony and collaboration with nature and within human society, which
is the normalized birthright of human beings.
Guiding and nurturing the Second Psychological Stage of the Work is another test of our vision for
the child we meet in the Casa. It is also the test of our new role as educators in relation to this
child: to offer the possibility of activity without commandeering the childs liberty through our
own (adult) direction. This is yet another pattern established through the activities of Practical Life
a pattern which will distinguish all aspects of our relationship with the child and her work, but
which is most clearly marked in this area. Montessori offers us a confident assurance of the
limitless possibilities which lead from this relation:
The final object of such exercises is the perfecting of the individual who practises
them. But the ways which open up and lead to new possibilities are multitudinous;
multitud inous; the
individual who has gone far forward along the path leading to perfection becomes
capable of many things and perfection is not barren of practical results.
The Discovery of the Child,
Child, p. 105

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Introduction to Practical Life

Introduction to Social Relations
Grace and Courtesy Montessori Classroom Management
These are activities which isolate and model appropriate movements which affect others in the
community. These activities will include movements involving objects, as well as appropriate
language (a specialized control of movement).
This is also Montessori classroom management how we help children change undesirable
behaviors; how we help children adopt desirable behaviors; how we promote positive, pro-social
behaviors for individuals and the group. Any observed need in the social relations of the
environment can be analyzed through the lens of Grace and Courtesy and be addressed positively
through its techniques.
Definitions:
Grace
Courtesy

Efficiency and economy of movement

Efficiency and economy of movement directed towards others

Grace and Courtesy is an excellent example of effective practice in a Montessori Casa effective
because it is so well matched to the developmental needs and interests of the conscious worker,
the child in the second half of the first plane who is perfecting and crystallizing developmental
creations with awareness and effortless engagement, the child who is more concerned with what
to do than with why she should do it. The First Plane developmental connections for Grace and
Courtesy are as follows:

The Absorbent Mind for its ability to take in the totality image of an activity

The Absorbent Mind for cultural adaptation the child wants to be like the people around her
and to become a fully adapted person of her time and place

The Conscious Absorbent Mind in 3rd embryonic period for development of character and
society: Grace and Courtesy supports the development of
o Positive character traits of the individual
o Social Cohesion identification with the group and the desire to promote the good of
the group

The Mathematical Mind for the discernment of patterns of cultural behaviors

Montessori saw the Mathematical Mind at work in the childs unconscious cultural
adaptation.
adaptation As the Absorbent Mind is taking in the language, customs, morals, and beliefs
of her culture, the child is essentially absorbing the patterns of that culture: the basic or
summarized part, the precise part, which is repeated in the habitual life of the
people in short, what Montessori identified as the mathematical part. She writes that
Imaginative and spiritual impressions are captured and crystallized by the
mathematical powers of the directing mind. These crystallized cultural patterns are

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Introduction to Practical Life

potent and creative,
creative and give form to the personality in the same way that genetic
patterns shape physical characteristics of the body. And, she reminds us, once these
patterns are established, they become fixed characteristics of the personality.
The Absorbent Mind Further Elaborations through Culture pp. 187187- 189

Grace and Courtesy provides Motives of Activity for three Sensitive Periods in the second
half of the first plane:
o Order:
Order providing the consistency and security of dependable routines, thereby
supporting the emergence of a well oriented child with an orderly mind
o Movement:
Movement providing models of self-control and self-discipline supporting the
emergent Will and the Integration of the Personality (Mind-Body Integration)
o Language:
Language providing opportunities for the exploration of spoken language as
communication as well as the exploration of language as a power to affect others

Grace and Courtesy supports the social aspect of functional independence I can control my
own social interactions by myself for myself without being a burden to others

Grace and Courtesy appeals to a young childs intrinsic interest,

interest sense of dignity,
dignity and desire
for respect

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Introduction to Practical Life

Introduction to Control and Coordination of Movement
... To perfect any given activity, movement will be needed as the last stage of the cycle.
In other words, a higher
higher spirituality can only be reached through action.
The Absorbent Mind,
Mind , p. 140
Montessori tells us that the development of movement is "duplex": there are two lines to its
development, both of which are dependent upon the muscles. One line is connected to the inner
life and accomplishes the development of the hand which works. The other line is biologically
driven and accomplishes the coordination of walking and balance. ( The Absorbent Mind,
Mind , p. 153).
This section of the Practical Life area offers many opportunities to coordinate and refine those
movements related to locomotion and to equilibrium while moving through the space. They also
offer opportunities to build on these coordinations by bringing the movement of the whole body
under the control of the emergent Will;
Will and by supporting the spontaneous development of
Social Cohesion in the group.
Montessori clearly states the importance of this self-mastery the coordination of movement
under the control of ones own mind or will in The Secret of Childhood,
Childhood , (p. 98):
98)
.. the fundamental problem of human life and hence of education is that the ego
should be able to animate and master its own instruments of motion, in order that in
its actions it should be
b e guided by something higher than material objects or the
functions of vegetative life, something which is generally clothed in instinct, but
which in man is openly a creative spirit, clothed with intelligence. If the ego cannot
attain this essential condition
cond ition its unity will be shattered. It will be as though an
instinct were to go about the world separated from the body it should animate.
The activities of this section are organized into two categories: Walking on the Line and the Silence
Game.
Walking on the Line
... man's legs, which are his natural means of transport, carry him to the places where
he can work, but his work he does with his hands ...
The Absorbent Mind,
Mind , p. 153
We have constant, everyday evidence of childrens spontaneous activity towards mastery of this
natural means of transport. For example:
A young child, walking along an urban sidewalk, arrives at a section with a curb raised
several inches above it: the child spontaneously steps up onto this curb and walks along its
straight and narrow course; when it abruptly ends, she stops and hops back down.
Suddenly, there is a network of cracks in the surface of the sidewalk: with many footsteps
the child meticulously follows their meandering course; a fallen log parallels a forest trail

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Introduction to Practical Life

the child finds this, too, an irresistible challenge, perhaps seeking an adult hand to help her
climb to the top of its rough curved surface, then struggling for balance to walk its bumpy
length unaided. At the front of my old house, there is a staircase of 14 cement steps. On
one side is a railing offering a secure hand hold; on the other a cement strip separates the
steps from a planted slope. This strip rises in a straight line at the angle of the staircase. I
have never seen a child capable of walking unaided up stairs, who one day didn't turn her
back on the security of the railing, and step off the treads of the staircase to walk this
smooth steep ascent to the house.
With these examples we see that it is not the shortest distance between two points which lures the
young child, nor the conservation of energy in traversing space. If there are tiles creating rightangled corners, her feet will trace their pattern; if a low wall surrounds a fountain in a perfect
circle, she will follow its circuit perfectly. Whenever a natural, fortuitous or precarious path
suddenly presents itself, she will always choose it in preference to that invisible straight line which
guides an adult succinctly from Point A to Point B. And if walking that path should prove too easy,
the child will run it, exuberantly. And so the coordinations of locomotion are perfected, the
muscles of equilibrium are nurtured, and physics is absorbed.
In the Casa, we capture this natural interest of the child in the pursuit of self-development, and
offer it the novel and challenging progress of the Ellipse.
Ellipse Not a straight line which proceeds
unchanged and then stops abruptly. Not a meandering path with random, discontinuous change;
nor the straight lines of a square or rectangle requiring exact, precise, but identical adjustment at
each corner. Nor the perfect circle, which the child may follow round and round and round in one
constant position without any bodily adjustment at all.
The ellipse describes a gradual curve, with a constant rate of change requiring a gradual yet
constant adjustment of the muscles in order to walk its path accurately. There is no radical
stopping, adjusting, then moving on in another position or direction; just a fairly uniform,
somewhat predictable fluidity which is both physically rhythmical and psychologically calming. The
child's attention is constantly engaged to coordinate the movements so that her feet can
successfully follow this curve, yet in a way that is psychically meditative and centering: energies
are gathered and focused, rather than dissipated; and a fluid precision and control is refined over
time through a progression of exercises. Montessori specifically references the advantage of an
ellipse for these exercises in The Discovery of the Child, Education in Movement The Line p.
103. If other lines are available indoors and outdoors, they may also be ellipses or offer other
shapes to follow.
In more contemporary terms, the exercises of Walking on the Line focus the childs attention on
proprioception an awareness of the position of the body in space.

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Introduction to Practical Life

Walking on the Line as a Group Activity
All of the exercises of Walking on the Line are offered as group or collective lessons. Children of
different developmental levels and experience participate at their respective levels at the same
time. The maximum size of a group is determined partly by the size of the ellipse, but also by the
logistics of the room and the experience level of the participants. During presentations as well as
during guided exercises, children may alternately participate and observe, thereby accommodating
many children but allowing a comfortable and variable limit to the number of children on the line
at any one time.
The teacher should have a clear idea as to the organization of these group activities, particularly as
to initiating the work and dismissing children at the end of a cycle. All procedures should be
simple, clear, and consistently followed. Many principles of group lessons are applicable. Walking
on the Line can be organizationally challenging in that individual children pursue the same activity
simultaneously but according to the developmental capacities of each. The teacher must be
responsive both to the dynamic of the group and to the observed needs of each participant. She
must also be aware that a communal achievement is underway, concomitant with individual levels
of accomplishment.
The comments and reflections of Montessoris colleague, Mrs. Rosie Joosten-Chotzen, are
particularly relevant to these collective activities of Walking on the Line:
Those who give lessons ... should never forget that their real value is proved by the
way they appeal to the interest, the imagination and the creative spirit of the
individual or the group who enjoy what then becomes the privilege of receiving a
lesson... A lesson will have the greater constructive value the more it evokes life and
interest and functions as a `key' to individual or collective activity
activity and elaboration.
She continues, noting the necessary "natural rhythm of the work":
By rhythm of work we understand the way in which stimuli given by adults and
subsequent activities of the children overlap and develop. There must be left a great
m easure of elasticity... A timetime- table would go against the manifestation of
spontaneous inner needs. A period of activity (also called an `activity wave') with its
initial growth of intensity and extension, with its culminating period and its point of
saturation
saturation and gradual decline must follow a natural pattern. If not, we cannot
appreciate and classify it as a spontaneous phenomenon which opens our eyes and
our minds to unknown potentialities.
Rosy JoostenJoosten- Chotzen, Group and Collective Lessons in the Montessori
Montessori School,
1959
reprinted in AMI Communications,
Communications, 1983, #4. pp. 7 - 9)

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Introduction to Practical Life

This image of "elasticity" is particularly helpful to characterize the teachers attitude as she
confidently guides the children's activities of Walking on the Line while, with patience and humility,
awaiting her own enlightenment through the revelation of "unknown potentialities".
Walking on the Line is neither optional nor extraneous to the other assistance we give to the
coordination of movement or to the life of the spirit which animates that movement. These
exercises are essential to the life of a child at this stage of development. To ignore or neglect
them is to remove a fundamental assistance to individual development. They are equally important
to the life of the Casa in general and to the achievement of normalization in the Casa community:
to the degree that they are lacking or misapplied, a fundamental piece in the creation of the
Children's House community is also eliminated.
Ideally the Line should be available for use at all times, with few obstacles to move out of the way.
Its placement is one of the first considerations to be made in preparing the environment, along
with the arrangement of shelves, tables and chairs, rug spaces, and areas for gathering. Children
need to be able to walk it with both arms outstretched. In this light that the line is a motivation
for movement it is clear that the line is not itself a place for immobile gathering. The teacher can
establish and support helpful limits that the line is not for sitting and that floor rugs and tables can
be placed beside but not on the line.
These arrangements can be a creative challenge for the Guide, but one well worth solution. As
collective exercises, some aspect of Walking on the Line should be offered frequently on a daily
basis, sometimes even several times in a day, and at a minimum several times a week. The fewer
physical and logistical obstacles to its access the more likely it is that a teacher will do so.
Walking on the Line as an Individual
Individual Activity
As children become familiar with activity on the line, this work can be available at any time for
individual, independent choice as well. For this, it is essential that no furniture straddles the line
and that children place floor rugs so as not to touch it. When first establishing Walking on the Line
as an individual activity, a system can be created for one child to choose the line as his work,
perhaps indicated by wearing a designated necklace; once a choice is indicated (as with any other
material) the line is not available to anyone else until that child had finished. As the group matures,
this limit can expand, until any number of children can spontaneously initiate activities suitable for
the line with, of course, the typical caveat that their activity does not disturb the concentrated
work of others.
The advantages of this arrangement and the unequivocal benefits it offers to the community of
the children over time, are doorways to appreciation and understanding of the importance of
Walking on the Line both for the coordination of individual movement and for the emergence of
social cohesion and group independence.

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Introduction to Practical Life

The Silence Game
.... selfself- control as mastery over self is one of the ingredients of concentration, of
meditation, of objectivity, of detachment. As regard to person, it leads to
clearmindedness and to serenity. Towards others it leads to cooperation and
tolerance. SelfSelf- control is included in all what (sic) I mentioned, but this includes only
a few elements because selfself- control has a vastness few consider. It starts from the
earthy and reaches the mystic, by expanding successive spheres: the physical, the
mental, and the spiritual. Each is separate as successive steps of a ladder and each can
be separately attained
attained through will, effort and repetition. However, once selfself- control
has been acquired at any level, the exercise of will, of effort and repetition is no
longer necessary. SelfSelf-control has become so much part of one as if it had been
innate.
Mario Montessori,
Montessori, "Meditation on Silence"
(AMI Communications,
Communications, 1967 #4, p. 20)
Silence in the Montessori Casa consists of several preliminary exercises and the Silence Game.
These are prepared through other activities of Practical Life; and are cumulative in nature, one
exercise leading to and preparing the next. The mechanics of these exercises are very simple and
straightforward: children, as a group, are led in successive stages to create silence through willed
immobility. This willed immobility is an experience which is offered to the children, and which is
accomplished by them. It is not a command imposed upon or coerced from them.
Montessori describes the origins of the Silence Game in several places, most notably in The Secret
of Childhood, in the section titled What They Showed Me, with her anecdote of bringing a
sleeping infant into the first Casa in San Lorenzo. Silence as an activity is also discussed in sources
as diverse as The Education of the Senses (in The Montessori Method, p. 212); Elevation (in The
Discovery of the Child, p. 184, Silence: Abstractions Materialized); and The Three Levels of
Obedience (in The Absorbent Mind, p. 261).
An excellent source is also found in the collection The Child, Society and the World, pp. 50-58
The Lesson of Silence, from the 1938 Course Lecture in Laren, The Netherlands. Here,
Montessori refers to this lesson as one of two lessons in the method which have become very well
known (the other being the Three Period Lesson). There are, in addition, articles related to the
theory and practice of the Silence exercises by Mr. Joosten; C. A. Claremont; Dr. Mary Black
Verschuur; as well as Mario Montessoris Meditation on Silence. Mr. Joosten particularly tells us
that
... in the history of the revelations
revelations of the children in the first `Casa dei Bambini', the
silence lesson came much later than other fundamental and guiding revelations"
The Silence Lesson, p. 27

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Introduction to Practical Life

Silence in a Montessori
Montessori Context
In Chapter 14 of The Discovery of the Child (Elevation), Dr. Montessori uses the example of the
Silence Game to illustrate a significant and profound difference between our method and more
typical methods of education. In the traditional school, silence defines the normal working order
of the group, necessary for the master to give a lesson. This state, which is externally compelled,
tends frequently to disintegrate into disorder, noise and restlessness, disturbing the working order
which must then be re-established by an energetic call for silence, an energetic call which is
intended to bring affairs back into their normal condition.
In the Casa, however, the normal order is very different, since it results from the individual labors
of the pupils. The normal working order necessarily involves activity, movement, voices, and
sound; and this normal working order ... is a point of departure for climbing to a higher level.
Montessori elaborates:
... the silence of immobility suspends the
the normal life, suspends useful work and has no
practical aim. All its importance, all its fascination, springs from the fact that by
suspending the communal life it raises the individual to a higher level where utility
does not exist but where it is the conquest
conquest of self which calls him.
Mary Black Verschuur provides a wonderful summation of the Montessori concept of Silence as
a state of calmness and stillness willed by the individual and arrived at through selfselfdirection and out of spontaneous interest.
interest.
"The Nature and Theory of Silence Activities in the Children's House"
NAMTA Journal, Vol. 13, #1, 1987, p. 101
Elsewhere, Dr. Montessori writes that
... silence means the suspension of every movement
The Discovery of the Child,
Child, p. 111
and that
... this exercise called for an inhibition of impulse as well as for the control of
movement. The Absorbent Mind,
Mind , p. 262
Calmness . Stillness . Suspension . Inhibition . Control . Self-direction . Spontaneous
interest . Willed .
To examine this juxtaposition of words is to approach the heart of the matter.

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Introduction to Practical Life

Silence: A Collective Achievement
In his essay, Meditation on Silence (AMI Communications, 1967 #4, p. 23), Mario Montessori
highlights the importance of the Silence lesson as one of the most precious items of the
Montessori approach;
approach and concludes:: Ways to prepare the children for it should ever be
present in the minds of those who guide the children in the fulfillment
fulfillme nt of their
potentialities.
potentialities.
He is reminding us that since we cannot and do not command silence we have to prepare and
lead the children towards this experience as a spontaneous and self-directed achievement.
In her 1938 Lecture, Montessori is quite specific on this as well, saying,
if we want silence, we should teach it. And before we teach it we have to
demonstrate it and allow the children to become familiar with it. it really needs an
explanation and a preparation of the surroundings.
surroundings
The Child, Society and the World p. 52; p. 55
To support this preparation, all other activity is temporarily put aside. We must assure the consent
of each member of the group to this activity of Silence, for it cannot happen unless everyone
present agrees: the entire class must want to be silent.
silent There are no observers for this activity
everyone present in the environment must voluntarily suspend all movement for complete
silence to be achieved. Silence then is a profound experience of social cohesion of each child
willingly suspending their own immediate desires for the sake of a communal achievement.
To support this, silence is never externally compelled or ordered by the adults in the environment.
Mr. Joosten (among others) is adamant on this point, and elaborates it succinctly:
The silence lesson is never to be used by the teacher as a disciplinary imposition, i.e.,
the silence lesson may never be given in order to reduce the community to silence
when it is rowdy. If the activities of the children
children should be accompanied by excessive
noise, its reason should be discovered and dealt with (usually lack of real interest and
concentration). The silence lesson presupposes a high capacity of concentration and
inner discipline and can therefore never serve
serv e as a means to remedy the lack of them.
Silence is a point of arrival not a point of departure.
The Silence Lesson, AMI Communications,
Communications, 1967 #4, p. 27

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Introduction to Practical Life

Introduction to Preliminary Activities

tryy and teach so as to approach perfection.

In a word, there is no action which we do not tr
We leave nothing to chance.
quoted in E.M. Standing, Maria Montessori Her Life and Work, p. 216
Preliminary Activities are typically offered as another point of entry for any child in the
environment; as such, they are significant for the childs orientation to the environment. Many
preliminary Activities are offered during a child's first weeks in the group, they can be among the
earliest individual presentations given to a new child, and many preliminary activities are similar to
transitional activities. However, we must distinguish these Preliminary Activities from purely
transitional exercises because Preliminaries relate directly to the child's progression of work with
the Montessori materials and to the child's life as member of the Casa community. Also,
Preliminary Activities can be created and offered to a child at any time that the need for them
arises out of a child's work.
Definition:
Preliminary Activities:
Activities Exercises which present a movement or activity which the child will
apply later in another context.
Preliminary Activities are of two types.
types
1.

Activities which isolate a movement in relation to an object or an action used in the

environment
Here we isolate movements which the child will need for functional independence,
comfort, and confidence in the environment, and which she will use generally in more
involved sequences of work. These are prepared by the Teacher for a specific presentation,
but do not exist in isolation on the shelf. They are typically offered according to the
general technique for a Grace and Courtesy lesson and are very similar to those lessons for
Social Relations.

Examples: moving a chair; laying out a work rug; carrying a pitcher of water; fetching
water; carrying a tray with something on it; walking around a work rug
2. Activities which isolate a particular but significant movement from a more
complicated sequence of work
Particular movements are isolated, analyzed, and presented for the child's practice, so that
their lack does not become an obstacle to the initial presentation of the complete exercise.
These are generally found as exercises within the logical sequence of materials arranged on
the shelves. They are typically offered as an individual presentation.

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Introduction to Practical Life

Examples: opening and closing various containers; exercises in pouring from one container
to another; use of scissors; folding various cloths; bead stringing as a preliminary to sewing;
an exercise to present the technique of handling a safety pin prior to presentation of the
safety pin frame
Preliminary Activities can be offered at any time and can be refreshed frequently. For both types,
each exercise will isolate a single aspect of movement. In the sequence of a complete exercise,
and in the challenges of day to day functioning in the environment, the child uses these separate
skills and combinations of these separate skills constantly to accomplish her work and to
successfully negotiate the challenges of group life. As she matures in her work, the movements
themselves might become quite peripheral to the larger purposes of a particular activity when
pouring water in an exercise for washing, for example; yet the skill or lack thereof will be pivotal in
accomplishing that larger purpose with control and confidence.
All children will need the assistance of Preliminary Activities. However, children who arrive from a
Montessori Infant community must be observed carefully, for many preliminaries will already be
perfected during their previous experience in a Montessori environment. In general, all arriving
children can be observed and evaluated in terms of skills that have already been mastered and
those which would benefit from isolated practice and perfection.
The list of potential Preliminary Activities is long and varied. Many can be predictably prepared
and planned for most children. Others emerge out of the observed needs either of an individual
child or of the group as a whole. We can relate Preliminary Activities to the larger categories of
Isolation of Difficulty and Indirect Preparation which are at work throughout the Prepared
Environment. The Teacher understands these principles and can apply them in whatever specific
circumstance arises. His responsibility is to offer these opportunities in a timely manner, being
sure that the necessary preliminaries are secure before offering activities which further challenge
the childs capacities. In this, he removes obstacles in the childs path of self-perfection. Many
aspects of daily life, social cohesion, self-confidence, functional independence, and issues often
described as classroom management, can actually be isolated and positively addressed through
this simple approach.
To initiate perfection at this time of life is an immensely productive piece of
educational work: the teacher reaps a wonderful harvest after a minimum of trouble
given to sowing the seed.
The Discovery of the Child p.100
p.100

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Introduction to Practical Life

Introduction to Care of the Person
(Materials for Independent Work)

Care of the Person consists of a variety of materials for independent work found on the shelf in
the Casa. These exercises are typically organized around grooming and hygiene,
hygiene as well as care of
clothing and personal items.
items They offer strong support for the development of selfself- confidence,
a positive selfself- image,
image a sense of personal efficacy,
efficacy and skills for functional independence.
independence
Examples:
Examples Combing Hair; Washing Hands; Various Fastenings on Clothing; Cleaning Shoes;
Various Types of Sewing; etc
With Care of the Person activities, it is very important to understand the difference between
doing an activity for developmental purposes and doing the activity for its utilitarian purposes.
purposes
Montessori readily adapted the materials available in her general culture for the children of the
first Casa offering them the means of taking care of themselves independently. As an adult with
a purpose in mind, she provided these activities to the children assuming that they too had only
utilitarian or at most imitative interests in these activities. Here, however, Montessori
observed the famous unexpected outcome (as described in the general introduction). Similarly,
very practical skills of buttoning or zipping are practiced with great interest by very young children
but initially not to develop that skill, but for the pure joy of perfecting their own being; only
later, as the child matures, will there be equal delight in applying the skill effectively and
independently a skill which seems to have been acquired by magic, without the childs
awareness that it was being built. The practical skills themselves are built up in the child while she is
busy with the inner formations motivated by her developmental powers the Human Tendencies,
the Absorbent Mind, the Sensitive Periods for Movement and Order. Montessori also observed
that the activities of Care of the Person are essential invitations to Normalization.
Normalization
Care of the Person will very much reflect the childs family and ethnic cultures, as well as the
material culture and social expectations of the surrounding society. Therefore, there is no fixed
set of Care of the Person activities to be found in every Casa anywhere in the world. We
examine the common practices and expectations of the culture to decide which activities to
provide and how to organize them. The Practical Life album represents examples of the kinds of
activities which can be created and offered to the children and models of how these activities can
be organized and presented to children.
There will be similarities from Casa to Casa: grooming will include hygiene, such as hand washing
and face washing, but perhaps also foot washing in a culture where children go barefoot or wear
open sandals; ways to care for hair, using implements appropriate for the hair types and styles of
the children in the group.

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Introduction to Practical Life

We also show the analyzed movements and sequences for independently putting on and taking off
the garments these children actually wear snow suits and snow boots in cold climates; raincoats
and rain boots in temperate rain forests; sweaters and sweatshirts where cool mornings become
warm afternoons. There will always be some type of dressing frames, but based in the common
fastenings used on the clothing of a particular society. And there will be care for foot wear
polishing leather shoes, for example, if children in that Casa actually wear leather shoes, but
perhaps washing flip flops, if that is the common foot gear.
There can be, as well, a set of social expectations around Personal Care in the Casa, which do not
necessarily match those of the external culture procedures for washing before and after eating,
for example; standards of cleanliness before using materials; ways to clean or repair clothing which
needs attention during the day.
A great guideline for the Casa is that children leave for the day looking as good as or better
than when they arrived.
arrived This will set the standard for nurturing and effective Care of the Person
in the Casa, and also support excellent parent relations. This is not a guideline, however, enforced
or followed by the adults in the Casa; instead, it represents a standard which is transferred
naturally to the responsibility of the children themselves.

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Introduction to Practical Life

Introduction to Care of the Environment
(Materials for Independent
Independent Work)
Care of the Environment consists of a variety of materials for independent work found on the
shelf in the Casa. These exercises are organized around the care and maintenance of the
immediate surroundings both indoors and outdoors. These exercises offer strong support for
the development of personal responsibility and functional independence,
independence the awareness of the
social consequences of individual choices,
choices and a relationship of stewardship and gratitude
towards the environment.
environment
Examples:
Examples Care of various types of furniture; care of floor surfaces and exterior grounds; cleaning
various objects in the environment; indoor plant care; gardening; cleaning and maintaining tools
used for cleaning; etc
The comments contrasting developmental and utilitarian
utilitarian motivations of children, as found in the
Introduction to Care of the Person, also apply here. This area is also particularly significant for the
emergence of the Second Psychological Stage of the Work as children mature into the late first
plane. It is also observed to provide essential experiences supporting Normalization.
Normalization
As with Care of the Person, there is no fixed set of Care of the Environment activities found
uniformly in every Montessori Casa. Instead, the Practical Life album represents examples of the
kinds of activities which can be created and offered to the children and models of how these
activities can be organized and presented to children.
The range and nature of these exercises are determined by the contents and organization of the
particular prepared environment; they also reflect he material culture of the larger society. When
planning for these activities, the teacher explores the possibilities inherent in the physical space
indoors and outdoors and the objects found in the environment these possibilities dictate
whether there will be a broom for sweeping bare floors; a carpet sweeper for rugs; a rake for
leaves; and / or a shovel for snow. Similarly there is brass polishing if brass objects are scattered
about the room as decorative and useful objects; there is table washing if there are tables; and we
will have dish washing and cloth scrubbing if dirty dishes and soiled laundry accumulate from the
daily activities in the environment.
The best guideline for supporting the goals of Care of the Environment in general, and
Montessoris mandate that we transfer care of the environment to the children is that every day
when the children leave the environment looks as good or better than when they arrived.

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