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The ideas in this workshop are geared for all of you to make your daily life together harmonious. This

harmonious relationship develops when you look at your home through your child's eyes.

Children need a sense of belonging and of being needed.

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The U.S. Department of Education has reported that the first five years of a child’s life are a time of tremendous physical, emotional, social, and cognitive growth. 90% of the brain’s growth occurs from zero to age five.

Families who involve their children in activities that allow the children to talk, explore, experiment, and wonder show that learning is both enjoyable and important.

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Practical life is about teaching your child how to take care of the environment and him or herself. Children learn by doing.Some of the best learning experiences come from the ordinary efforts of life and by giving children the opportunity to exercise their mind and their motor skills. Examples: folding small clothes, polishing, setting up the dinner table, and sorting objects.

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Jars and lidsSorting objectsApple cutting with apple cutterPolishingSpooningEyedropperPouringClothes pinsWhole hand grasping beans

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Go for nature walks in the woods with your children to collect findingsin the forest.

Provide opportunities for your children to take care of the outdoorenvironment such as raking leaves, sweeping, shoveling snow.

Encourage children to observe insects or animals in the wild.

Grow plants starting from seeds and allow children to be involved in the whole gardening process from start to finish. Provide child size tools.

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•Ask your children to describe a leaf shape, texture, as well as color.

•Show your child how to use binoculars to bird watch. Take a guide book with you to help identify what you see.

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Being scientific involves being curious, observing, asking how things happen, and learning how to find the answers.

Curiosity is natural to children, but they need help understanding how to make sense of what they see and to relate their observations to their existing ideas and thoughts.

This is why parental involvement is so important in children’s science education. The key is to encourage children to ask, explain, and explore.

Sandia National Laboratories

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Through play, children try out new skills, explore their imagination and creativity, and develop relationships with other people in their lives. Play can be an especially powerful bonding time for you as a parent. Playtime with your child also brings out the best in you.

When children participate in self created play it is an essential mode of learning.

When children see themselves as problem solvers, they develop curiosity about their world and confidence in their ability to figure things out for themselves.

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“When the child is given freedom to move about in a world of objects, he is naturally inclined to perform the task necessary for his development entirely on his own. Let us say it straight out - the child wants to do everything all by himself. But the adult does not understand this and a blind struggle begins.”

Maria Montessori

The Montessori School Greater Hartford Community Newsletter, Issue 4, August, 2009. 12.

Let your child do things for himself or herself whenever he or she shows an interest.

Observe when your child is ready for independent tasks.

You can set your child up for success, not failure.

They learn self-reliance and self-confidence.

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• Help me do it by myself! Children find their sense of belonging through helping the adult and participating in every day tasks and activities of life.

• Allow your child to be a part of what you do in the house.Examples: cooking, cleaning, etc.

• Have a full length mirror nearby so that your child can see how to get dressed.

• Have a place in each room for your child’s belongings.

Oriti, Patricia. At Home With Montessori. (1994) North American Montessori Teachers Association. 1-15.

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• Rotate toys and books. Do not put everything out all at once.

• Everything should be child size and proportionate for he or she to reach.

• Place a stool by the front door to sit on and a place to hang coats and keep shoes.

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Low shelves are a good place for storing toys but avoid big toy boxes. Toy boxes can quickly become disorganized dumping grounds.

Dresser drawers can be labeled with fun pictures or photos of underwear, shirts, socks, etc. You may also print or type the names of the items next to the images.

Have rugs available so children can define their play spaces.

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1.) Department of Education” Prepare My Child For School Helping Your Preschool Child”. 2005.http://www.ed.gov/parents/earlychild/ready/preschool/part_pg8.html#p8 2.) Hehrer, J. (2009). “The Secret Of Self-Control”, New York: The New

Yorker. 26-32. 3.) Landsmann, L. (2009) Child Development Specialist. Early childhood

Developmental Reference Guide. Public Relations and Communications. 9.

4.) The Montessori School Greater Hartford Community Newsletter, Issue 4, August, 2009. 12.

5.) Oriti, Patricia. At Home With Montessori. (1994) North American Montessori Teachers Association. 1-15.

6.) Sandia National Laboratories. (2009) Early childhood Development Reference Guide. Public Relations and Communications. 1-18.

7.) http://images.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi (Google Images).8.) http://store.platinumgalleria.com/little-partners-the-learning-tower-step-stool-guidecraft.html9.)http://www.ababy.com/itempage.asp?CategoryID=182&itemid=15924&tracking=fgle8&utm_source=fgle8&utm_medium=fr&utm_campaign=datafeed