Kindergarten Practical Life

The practical life exercises enhance the development of task organization and cognitive order through care of self, care of the environment, exercises of grace and courtesy, and refinement of physical movement and coordination. This includes daily living tasks such as pouring juice, polishing shoes, sweeping and buttoning a shirt.

To the child, these are meaningful activities that involve caring for himself or herself, other people and the environment. They promote to develop in the very young child a strong and realistic sense of independence and self-reliance. They also help children to concentrate, to expand their attention span and to improve their hand-eye coordination. There is pride and confidence in being able to "do it for myself."

• Working carefully and neatly
• Dressing oneself
• Learning home address and phone number
• Pouring liquids without spilling
• Using knives and scissors with good control
• Putting materials away on the shelves where they belong when finished
• Dusting, polishing and washing just about anything: floors, tables, silver
• Sweeping and vacuuming floors and rugs
• Flower arranging
• Caring for plants and animals
• Table setting-serving yourself-table manners
• Simple use of needle and thread as well as sewing
• Using common tools: tweezers, tongs, eye-droppers, locks, scissors, knives
• Increasingly precise eye-hand coordination
• Simple cooking and food preparation
• Dish washing
• Caring for younger children