Montessori practical life exercises are simple everyday tasks that adults perform around the house.
As a Montessori teacher and parent, I often wonder how Dr.Maria Montessori transformed these simple household chores into educational activities for children. One such simple activity is the Montessori cutting practice.
We all know that children possess tremendous energy, and if we know how to guide them and channel their energy properly, they can achieve incredible things.
Montessori practical life exercises are the perfect examples of how a child’s energy can be utilized scientifically.
I have observed that children often find it amusing to cut a strip of paper in two halves, but they struggle to cut it with precision and control.
Thus, Montessori cutting practice activities teach young children how to cut along a marked straight line, using scissors carefully. Furthermore, as the activity advances towards more difficult lines, it helps them plan their next steps.
Montessori Cutting Exercises:
In Montessori practical life exercises children learn two different types of cutting skills –
- Cutting with scissors
- Cutting with a knife.
Since are dealing with scissors and knives, it is essential to first teach children and young students how to handle scissors safely before introducing cutting activities
In my case, I always advise my children and my young students that while carrying scissors, the scissors need to be held with the whole hand bundled up around the closed blades.
In addition, I never forget to show them how to pass the scissors carefully with the handle facing the person.
I also do the same with the knives.
Cutting with scissors:
Learning cutting skills with scissors and knives is a challenging task on the part of a toddler.
Therefore, I started teaching these skills (my children when they were toddlers and my toddler students) with safety scissors and a sheet of Play-Doh.
To a toddler, it becomes comparatively easy to cut a palydoh with safety scissors. After I noticed that my son or daughter had practiced enough, I, then gave them to cut stock strips, sheets of paper, etc for practice purposes.
Moreover, I encouraged them to use scissors thumb-up –exactly like a handshake. Next, once I became satisfied to see that they had practiced enough with Play-Doh, I introduced to them the actual cutting activity with scissors. For this I needed:
- A pair of scissors (appropriate for my children’s hand size).
- Sheet of inflexible paper
- A container
- A marker pen
At first, I asked my children to come and sit down. Then, I cut the inflexible paper into five strips widthwise. Thereafter, with the help of the ruler and the marker pen, I marked a straight line down the center of each strip.
In the following step, I taught them how to hold the scissors properly and also showed them the opening and closing actions of the scissors.
Meanwhile, I took a strip of paper held in one hand and then cut it slowly following the marked line.
Finally, I passed the scissors to one of my children and then encouraged him or her to do the rest.
In this way, I taught them Montessori cutting skills. Moreover, by imitating my demonstration of cutting they developed their unique and creative cutting practice ideas over time which impressed me a lot.
Cutting with a knife:
Learning the skill of cutting objects with a knife is as complex as learning to use scissors. Toddlers need to stabilize an object with one hand and have to move out of the way as the other hand cuts. Furthermore, it requires the right amount of pressure and a sawing motion to cut an object properly.
As a result, it takes continuous practice. However, once a child masters this complex skill, it builds the necessary fine motor control for complex cutting skills.
When my offspring were about 2-3 years old, I introduced this activity in a slightly different way. I gave them a plastic knife with a banana for practice.
They used to cut those bananas in horrible shapes and sizes. As they grew older, I gave them a blunt dinner knife to cut cheese and pickle.
Now they are 5 and 7 (daughter and son ) and are ready to work with a sharper knife. In this stage, I give them the chance to cut vegetables like celery, etc. Here, I would like to say that I always provide plenty of practice opportunities at each step.
Sumanta De is an educator. He has been teaching students for more than 16 years following the principles of Dr.Maria Montessori. He has a 7-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter.
He is nurturing his children abiding by the principles of Dr.Maria Montessori. His passion for Montessori methods goes beyond the classroom.
Hence, he shares his experiences and insights through a dedicated Montessori blog and a YouTube channel under the name “NewChild Montessori”. He aims to offer valuable guidance to both parents and educators.
Education: M.A. English, Masters in Child Psychology & Bachelor’s Degree in Montessori Teachers Training