Teaching Practical Life Skills to Toddlers & Preschoolers through Montessori Self-Service Stations

Joshua is growing up so fast and everyday he can do more and more things for himself. I started Montessori Practical Life activities (pouring, screwing and unscrewing lids, etc.) when he was two years old. It has been a few months now, and he is slowly mastering the practical life skills and getting familiarized with the functions and concepts. Time to for me to stop serving the Little Emperor, and focus more on the Big Emperor (I mean Florian) :-)

He is also entering a sensitive period, whereby the child wants to copy and mimic adults such as parents. Thus, I think it is a good time now to go on to the next stage of setting up kid’s friendly Self-Service Stations for him.

What’s a Self-Service Station?

Basically Self-Service Stations provide an efficient and effective means to allow your child to help himself with the daily routine tasks. A well-designed Self-Service Station thus provides a conducive environment that allows your child to copy and imitate your tasks using kid’s friendly set up (think low and horizontal) and aids your child in his growth towards independence.

It is not difficult at all to design a Self-Service Station. The key here is to keep it simple. You don’t need to have a big room in order to accommodate these Self-Service Stations. You can place them in different locations in the home. With a bit of creativity, you could squeeze in one in a little space or a corner of the kitchen, the toilet, the entrance, etc.

Here is a list of sample design of Self-Service Stations you may like to include in your home:

1. Self-Service Work Station
2. Self-Service Drinking-Water Station
3. Self-Service Snack Bar
4. Self-Service Pantry Station
5. Self-Service Closet Station
6. Self-Service Entrance Station
7. Self-Service Washroom Station
8. Self-Service Cleaning Station

It takes a little effort, planning and thinking to set up the Self-Service Stations, but in the long run, once your preschooler mastered the skills and become very good at these tasks, it would be less work for you, as you do not have to serve him or clean up after him.

Montessori Activity: Self-Service Washroom Station for Toddlers

Low shelves for toothbrush, tooth paste, comb and bath toys

Portable kid's size toilet seat

Stool to reach the sink from IKEA

Age: From 2 years old

Objective(s):
1. To help the child to develop independence skills and self-confidence.
2. To help the child to develop the good habit of doing things himself.

Items:
1. Portable kid’s size toilet seat
2. Low shelf for tooth brush, tooth paste and comb.
3. Low shelf for bath toys
4. Stool to reach the sink and the hand towel

Additional Information:
Joshua fetches his own tooth brush since he was 18 months old. Now, Joshua (then 2Y3M) was inspired by Yang Li’s daughter (who is 8 months older and she puts the toilet seat by herself, climbs up the stairs to the seat by herself, flushes the toilet and folds the toilet seat back to its place), is also doing it by himself, with some guidance from me. Actually, I can already stop guiding him, but I have this weakness of always interrupting his work!

Montessori Activity: Self-Service Entrance Station for Toddlers



Our entrance with low hooks for Joshua for hanging jackets and bags

Close up: The floor space below the hooks are designated to place the shoes in a line, when entering the entrance

 

We designated to lowest shoes shelves for Joshua's shoes

Age: From 2 years old

Objective(s):
1. To help the child to develop independence skills and self-confidence.
2. To help the child to develop the good habit of doing things himself.

Items:
1. Low hooks for hanging jackets and bags
2. Low shelf or designated space on the floor for shoes

Additional Information:
Joshua has been trained from day 1 that he has to take of his shoes, before entering the home from the entrance. When he is younger, I used to take off his shoes, but two weeks ago, we began to encourage Joshua (2Y4M) to take off his sandals himself and line it neatly on the floor. Since then, he has been doing this by himself now.

When arriving home, it is our house rule that we first take off our jackets and shoes here. This is different from Danish tradition, where Danes wear their shoes into the home - not home shoes but outdoor shoes. When I first arrived Denmark and visited Florian, I had a rude shock - he wears his out-door shoes at home. So what is the point of cleaning, when the floor, which covers the biggest area at home is always dirty? This is a Danish tradition that I do not understand and I am NOT going to pass down to Joshua. When it comes to shoes, we are following strictly the Asian tradition of no shoes in door. Interestingly, next door neighbour country Sweden does not have such a tradition, and more and more younger generation of Danes are also adopting the policy of no out-door shoes at home. But it can sometimes become a point of tension, when we have Danish guests, to request them to take off their shoes, but we are sticking to our guns. I am a neat and clean freak, and I am just totally distraught when people wear shoes into our home. Similarly, when we visit other Danes, we become the weird guests, as we are the only one that take off our shoes, although the host do not require us to do that.

What about you? How is it like in your country? Do you wear out-door shoes at home too? I know when in Rome, you are supposed to do as the Romans. When it comes to acquiring cross-cultural skills gracefully, this is one of those that I fail terribly. I hope God and the Danes will forgive me.

Montessori Activity: Self-Service Closet Station for Toddlers




Low bar for hanging shirts and baskets or storage boxes on the floor to put clothes for re-use



Low drawers for folded clothes and label them clearly

Laundry baskets for whites, light coloured clothes and dark coloured clothes

Age: From 2 years old

Objective(s):
1. To help the child to develop independence skills and self-confidence.
2. To help the child to develop the good habit of doing things himself.

Items:
1. 1 Low bar for hanging shirts
2. 5 low drawers for folded clothes as follows from top to bottom: T-shirts, Sweaters, pants, pyjamas & underwear, and socks & accessories and label them.
3. 2 baskets or transparent boxes for clothes to be re-used on the floor: one for tops and one for bottoms
4. 3 laundry baskets for clothes for washing on the floor in the bathroom: one for whites, one for light coloured clothes and one for dark coloured clothes.
5. Kid-size hangers

Tips:
Ever feel overwhelmed with organizing and sorting those clothes that your child out-grown? I think I have finally found a method that helps me to manage it efficiently and in a least amount of time. First, prepare in advance transparent storage boxes for storing the clothes that your child is soon going to out-grow and label the sizes clearly. For me, I place the transparent storage boxes on the shelf above the hanging bar. Whenever, I notice that Joshua’s clothes are getting too small for him, I will fold it and put it into the respective storage boxes, after they have been washed and is dry. Once the last clothes of that size is out-grown, I simply close the lid of that box and move it to the storage room.




The storage boxes above the hanging bar are for clothes that Joshua is soon going to out-grow

Additional Information:
I used to crack my brain on how I could store things as high up as possible, so that Joshua could not reach it, but did not have the time to design such a high lofty place. Thank God, I didn't have the time! After reading the book "How to Raise Brighter Kids*" and since I started Montessori, I went on an about turn. The Montessori concept advocates the reverse. Now I began to crack my brain on how to design a system as low as possible for Joshua. Montessori is about allowing your child to do things themselves. When designing a dressing closet station for toddlers, think LOW and HORIZONTAL as much as possible – low bar, low shelves, baskets on the floor – all on floor to at child’s eye level. Save the middle shelves for me (er… I am short) and the higher shelves for Florian (he is tall).

Although it takes effort to label the drawers, but I find that it saves time in the long run as it gives an easy and quick overview to the content of the drawers. Since Florian also puts in Joshua's clothes, the label really helps to keep it neat and reduce the mistakes of putting the clothes in the wrong drawer, making it less confusing for Joshua, when he opens the drawers.

As Denmark is a cold country, we find many of the clothes are still very clean after one or two use. Thus, it is helpful for us to have a basket or storage boxes to put the clothes for re-use. We put them on the floor so that Joshua can access it easily and pick out what he wishes to wear.

The laundry baskets are useful for Montessori sorting exercises. Your child can learn to put the right colour clothes into the right baskets, instead of piling them up.

* This book talked about the importance of designing your home at kid's friendly height, but does not tell you how to. I got inspired from other mommy bloggers, but some of the ideas are my own.

References:
http://hapalab.blogspot.com/2011/01/lab-work-zos-closet.html

Montessori Activity: Self-Service Work Station for Toddlers

Objective(s):

1. To help the child to develop independence skills and self-confidence.
2. To help the child to develop the good habit of doing things himself.

Items:

1. Kid-size table
2. Kid-size chair(s)
3. Low shelf or basket of books within reach
4. A container with coloured pencils or crayons
5. Paper supplies

Additional Information:

This is basically a kid’s size table and chair. It gives your toddler a place to call his own and at the same time saves yourself from backaches by always having to carry your child up on the high chair or adult chair. I consider this a must have. For now, the aim is for the child to go to the desk and help himself to the paper and the crayon and draw. I believe it will give the child a good habit of sitting on a writing desk, and motivate him to go to his work desk to do his homework, when he is older and starts formal schooling. Notice that I also place books on a nearby shelf that is easily within his reach from his table.

Montessori Activity: Self-Service Pantry Station for Toddlers

Joshua's Pantry & Snack Bar Self-Service Station

Age: From 2.5 years old

Objective(s):
1. To help the child to develop independence skills and self-confidence.
2. To help the child to develop the good habit of doing things himself.

Items:
1. Big plates (for daddy & mommy)
2. Small plastic plates
3. Big bowls
4. Small rice bowls
5. Container containing forks, spoons and knives (for daddy & mommy)
6. Container containing kid-size forks, spoons and knives
7. Cups
8. Disposable placemats

Additional Information:
I set this up today, and Joshua was very proud and started using it straight away after coming home from daycare by pouring himself a cup of water, setting the table, opening the jars of snacks, and tearing a piece of the toilet roll for wiping.

Joshua is entering a sensitive period (from around 3 - 6 years old), whereby he wants to copy and mimic adults' work. I think it is a good time to set up Self-Service Station for him now.

Montessori Activity: Self-Service Snack Bar for Toddlers

Age: From 2.5 years old

Items:
1. A few recycled jars or containers filled with raisins, dried crane berries, nuts, biscuits and seaweeds
2. Small basket containing fruits such as apple, pear, orange, banana, etc.
3. 1 Jug with drinking water
4. 1 cup
5. 1 towel for wiping hands or toilet roll
6. Bibs

Additional Information:
There are two schools of thoughts – the first school of thought believes that having the snack within reach will encourage the toddler to eat non-stop, while the other school of thought believes that having the snack within easy reach would make snack loses its novelty appeal, and stop the child from always wanting to eat snack. I am testing this out by putting the self-service snack bar within reach and see which school of thought Joshua would be leaning towards.

Notice that I use toilet roll in place of kitchen roll. I know it is not so elegant, but it is very practical and has the following benefits:

1. It is in a kid-friendly size and much easier for a child to handle than a kitchen roll.

2. It gives practice to the child how to tear a piece of toilet paper nicely. In fact, Joshua can tear a piece out nicely almost all the time now.

3. It is much cheaper than kitchen roll- during training, there will be inevitable wastage, and your child is going to use a lot of this, thus why not save money, after all it is made of the same material.

I will revert to the nicer and more proper paper napkins when he is older :-)

Montessori Activity: Self-Service Drinking Water Station for Toddlers

Adapted from Hapalab

Age: From 2.5 years old

Objective(s):

1. To teach independence skills
2. To train eye-hand coordination skills with pouring

Items:

1. 1 water jug filled with drinking water
2. 1 cup
3. 1 small towel for wiping
4. 1 tray

Additional Information:

J drinks only water and he has developed this habit of drinking lots of water during bedtime (ya, right, wish me well when I have to start night diaper-free training!!). I have been getting him cups and cups of water all the time. Today, I thought why not let him pour himself a cup of water to drink? J started Montessori Practical Life pouring lessons when he was two years old, so I think he is ready to have a self-service drinking station now. Time to stop serving the little Emperor :-).

I found a spot in a corner of his bedroom and place this self-service drinking water station on low bedside table, so it is kid's size and very kid's friendly :-) J (2Y4M1D) poured himself the first cup of water this evening. He is good at pouring, but not so good at stopping. I had to stop him from overflowing the water. Ya, I know I should have just let him learn from his mistake, and interupt less. Afterall, I have provided him the wiping towel.

So from this evening onwards, there will be less work for me (hmmm... maybe not yet, I would still probably have to help him with the wiping off the water), and more fun for him, hurray! It sure does get easier, as he grows older and can do more and more things on his own :-)

I intend to introduce another self-service water station in his playroom or near our kitchen soon.

References:

http://hapalab.blogspot.com/2011/02/agua.html

Montessori Activity: Preschooler's Cleaning Kit

Inspired by Hapa Lab

Age: From 2.5 years old

Activity Duration: 10 minutes

Materials:

1. 1 kid-size bucket
2. 1 handheld dust pan and brush or broom
3. 1-2 spray bottle(s) (to share with visitor) containing water or disinfection solution
4. 1 sponge
5. 1 rag

Additional Information:

I saw this 2.5 year old boy Zo doing a fabulous job cleaning, and got inspired. I have now set up the cleaning kit for J, and it would be interesting to see, if J would be keen to start to do some real cleaning.

After the making colored ice-cubes on 2.7.2011 taught J (2Y3M27D) to clean up and wipe his table using the cleaning kit I set up for him. It was a challenge for him to be able to use the spray, as his fingers could not reach the knob, but he enjoyed it.

What's in the Closet? Fun & Educational Surprises for your Child from Monday to Sunday

Montessori-style shelf space for activity trays and boxes from Monday to Sunday + Room Time activity tray/box

http://nurturingthetenderyears.blogspot.com/2010/04/montessori-inspired-workboxes.html

http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2010/11/whats-in-box-wednesday-tot-school.html

http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/search/label/Teeny%20Tiny%20Tot%20School

I have started Montessori activities with J (2Y21D) two weeks ago and I have now found an efficient and effective way (inspiration from other bloggers, see references below) to organize my thoughts and the materials that fits into the life-style of a working mom so as to stay on top of things.

The golden rule is to organize the physical space to make such planning possible and then plan the activities a week ahead. So each morning, I would just go to the activity box for the day and take out the materials that I have planned for J to carry out the activity.

Here are some tips from my experience:

1. Organize the closet into 8 or 10 shelves (1 shelf for each of the 7 days + 1 shelf for Room Time activity) at kid's level as follows:

Shelf 1-7: 1 shelf for each activity from Monday to Sunday
Shelf 9: Family Time Activity
Shelf 10: Daddy Time Activity

We have an IKEA Pax closet 50 x 35 cm in J's playroom, which suits us better to find way to use it, rather than buying plastic drawers as the others do.

2. Label each shelf from Monday to Sunday + Room Time (I wrote the label in 3 languages - English, Danish and Chinese, so that J gets to learn the names in all 3 languages).

3. Because we are using shelves, we have the flexibility of using either a tray, basket or box to contain the materials for the activity, whichever is the most suitable.

4. Come Monday morning, just ask your child to go to the Monday shelf to take out the tray or box, and there you have the material and the activity all ready :-)

5. At the end of the week, re-fill the shelves with new activities ready to start the next week :-)

6. Later on, in order to ensure all learning areas are covered, you may want to designate a specific subject area for the activity for each day as follows:

Day 1: Practical Life
Day 2: Sensory
Day 3: Music
Day 4: Language
Day 5: Numeracy
Day 6: Science and
Day 7: God

Benefits:
1. Your child will know what to expect, and it creates a sense of excitement to find out what's inside the box or shelf that you have planned for him.

2. I get a better overview of the activities and can adjust accordingly.

3. During an emergency, I will not run out of activities to occupy your child meaningfully. This will reduce the temptation of turning to the TV or video to baby-sit the child.

4. I don't have the headache of always having to think of what to do with the child on a daily basis.

5. It helps me to build a good routine into activity time for J.

6. Breaks down the challenge of learning into smaller bit-size chunk that is easier to digest by your child.

7. Builds in your child the joy of learning.

References:

Labelling of shelf in English, Danish and Chinese