Practical Life

This is typically the first area children are interested in when they enter the classroom. Practical Life is the area where children practice self-help skills such as dressing, cleaning, cooking, etc. In traditional preschool classrooms this is sometimes called the “Housekeeping” area. Children are naturally drawn to this area because they want to imitate adult actions from home. Children want to learn to tie their shoes, help set the table, and how to pour their drinks because this is what mommy and daddy can do. This area is filled with lacing, buttoning, pouring, sorting, bead stringing and various other self-help and fine motor activities. The Practical Life area also includes drawing, painting, coloring, cutting, and other art activities essential to a preschool program. Hope Montessori Academy uses a “process” approach to art. We continuously have art materials available for children and place the emphasis of their works on the process and not their finished products.