Exercises of practical life

1. Physical Materials
and Their
Importance
Session 2

2. The main focus of allowing the children to use physical materials is to enable them to
observe, explore, and manipulate these objects. Dr. Maria Montessori also cited this
purpose. She said
“The hand is the instrument of intelligence. The child needs to manipulate objects
and to gain experience by touching and handling.”
Physical materials stimulate children’s minds and encourage them to explore their
environments. They are made to augment the children in their development and
learning. In a Montessori environment, a child is made to learn only one skill at a
time. Their teachers allow them to master that skill using these Montessori materials
by performing that task repetitively. Again, using hands in these activities is to help
children get familiar with the use of different objects they have to use in their later
lives. As Dr. Montessori said:
“Nothing goes into the mind that does not first go through the hands.”
Maria Montessori

3. Presenting Montessori
Materials to the
Children
In a Montessori environment, the children’s
instructor presents them with the Montessori
materials in two simple steps

4. Once done with the material, the children have to return the
material to its already allocated place.
Another important thing to remember here is that the instructor
presents the material in the easiest to most complex sequence
according to the developmental needs and interests of the child.

5. Montessori
Material
Activities

6. Mirror Polishing
This activity allows children to learn
to clean different items in their
surroundings. This polishing activity also
helps children enhance their hand-eye
coordination, motor muscle skills,
independence, and concentration.

7. Moveable
Alphabets
The activities revolve around moveable
alphabets and help children recognize
various letters and word construction.
Instructors also use language cards
with these movable alphabets. These
materials help children with the
recognition of reading and writing
materials.

8. Constructive
Triangles
Constructive triangles tell children that the
construction of every plane geometrical
figure is possible with triangles. This
activity uses triangles of different sizes
and colors. The triangles also differ in
shape, with some being equilateral while
others being isosceles and right-angled.

9. Sandpaper
Materials
The sandpaper letters teach the children
how to sound letters using muscular and
visual memory. These sandpaper letters
allow the children to trace the symbols
until they start recognizing the shape of
the letter, and it becomes part of their
muscle memory.

10. Numbers and
Counters
These materials help children understand
numbers, sequencing, and quantities. The
children’s trainer teaches them that each
number is made up of separate quantities
through this material.

11. Puzzle Map
Puzzle Maps introduce children to the
names and presence of the continents,
oceans, and different hemispheres. These
materials also teach them the relationship
between all of them.

12. How Do Physical
Materials Work?

13. They Help with Hands-On Learning
Montessori materials provide the children
with hands-on learning opportunities and
allow them to learn through continuous
repetition and practice. The Montessori
materials disintegrate the key learning
concepts into understandable and
straightforward ideas that the children
master through hands-on learning
experiences. Thus, it can be said that
Montessori teaching involves the hands
and the children's minds

14. They Help with Error Control
Montessori materials allow the children
to witness their mistakes and cascade all
the pre-defined learning outcomes
through continuous repetition. For
example, a knobbed cylinder is a
Montessori material that needs to fit
into the correct hole. If the child tries to
work in the wrong spot, he won’t be able
to do so, and water will spill on the table,
thus indicating that he has committed a
mistake.

15. They are Auto-Instructional
Montessori materials are designed such that children can learn from them
without adult supervision. By practicing thoroughly and repetitively,
children can gain expertise in all the desired learning outcomes.

16. How Do
Montessori
Materials
Work?

17. Every Montessori classroom has materials arranged in its curriculum
area. They are displayed in the order of left to right, with the
difficulty level being easiest to hardest (i.e., the most accessible
material is on the left while the hardest is on the right). This sequence
helps the child progress orderly throughout the Montessori
curriculum.
They are laid in order of
progression

18. Montessori materials are a great way to enhance children’s fine motor
muscle movements from a very young age. By manipulating these
materials with their hands, children learn to concentrate, become
independent, and prepare themselves for the challenge in their
upcoming practical life.
They Develop Motor Muscle Skills

19. The Montessori teaching method is to equip p the child with only one
concept or skill at a time. Because of this, children get the chance to
engage deeply with the learning material. By allowing them to continue
at their own pace, children learn the art of discovering and exploration
of the Montessori objects, which, in turn, connect them to the real
world. The unique thing about these Montessori materials is that they
allow the children to build their knowledge base progressively
They Allow Children to Learn One
Skill at a Time

20. A picture is worth a
thousand words