Do you have indoor plants in your home? Do your young children like to help water plants or do they spend time digging them up or playing in the soil more often than not? 😄 Children playing with the indoor plants can be frustrating but we have a solution!

Show your children how to help care for your plants. They will love being involved and they will quickly learn respect for plants and odds are, they will stop playing in them!

Indoor plants are used in Montessori classrooms to teach Care of the Environment to young children. It is a great way to engage little hands in being helpful and developing careful movements. Here is a simple plant watering presentation that you can set up very easily and get your children involved today.

What you will need:

🪴A tray or basket
🪴A small watering can
🪴A sponge or small washcloth for spills
🪴A small potted plant

Set up the materials and invite your child to receive a lesson. Sitting on your child’s dominant side, present watering pouring. Make sure to hold the watering can in your dominant hand and support the spout with your other hand. This will allow for a more steady and controlled pour for your child. Draw attention to how much water should be given and discuss that once you have watered your plant for the day, we don’t need to water it again. Show your child how to clean up any spills using the sponge and then ask them if they would like a turn.

Note: if you want to make sure that only a small amount of water is given to the plant you can either pre-fill the can or you can have a line on the can indicating how far your child can fill up the water too. A pre-filled can is a great option for younger children. As they progress in preparing their own water activities, the fill line is a great option for slightly older children from about 3-6 years.

Allowing for plant watering work in your classrooms and homes is worth considering. The value in teaching responsibility and care are numerous and it helps in the development of a whole range of skills including coordination and fine motor skills. Try it today!

Other Plant Care Extension Ideas

1. Have you tried Leaf Polishing work? Here’s an idea of how to set this work up. You would present it in a very similar manner just drawing attention to the delicate leaves and the care we must take when polishing them. You can include scissors and teach how to remove a leaf that has died.

2. You can also set up a plant misting work as the one here. Allow children to mist the plant or individual leaves then carefully wipe them off.

3. A small duster can be used like this example below as well for a dry dusting.

 

After you have presented each of the above individual works and your child is independent at each work, you can take this idea a step further and create a whole plant care basket. You would keep all of the cleaning materials inside this basket along with a plant care apron for your child to wear while he/she is doing this all important work. Here is an example of what that might look like.

What is in our Plant Care Basket:

•child sized gardening apron
•a child sized watering can
•small pair of blunt scissors
•a small sponge
•a misting bottle
•a small terry cloth dusting mitt or towel
•a small duster
•a bowl for collecting dead leaves or trimmings

We keep our plant care basket on the shelf in our classroom or home studio. We usually remind the children that it is time to care for our plants since they only need to be looked after a few times a week. By bringing down the basket on plant care days, children know it is available work. We also have a similar care basket outside for all of our outdoor plants.

In a Montessori Classroom or home, Grace and Courtesy lessons are continuous and vital building blocks that create a peaceful and cooperative environment. By giving brief grace and courtesy lessons each day, children become mindful of what they are doing in the classroom and at home as they move through their daily routines.

Be an Example

The lessons can be more formal at times but mainly they are just examples of how to do things and are simply stated. For example, a teacher, guide, parent or caregiver might say, “I’m moving the chair quietly” or “I am returning my work where I found it” These simple examples allow a child to observe then practice what you are doing. Without even inviting the child to practice the activity, they begin to practice because children want to copy what they see others doing.

Grace and Courtesy lessons teach everyday social customs and kindness which are vital practical life skills for children to practice daily.

It’s important to show a child by example how to extend an invitation, how to decline an invitation, how to ask if you can join an activity, how to enter a room, how to wash hands, how to clean up after themselves and how to extend an apology.

“We must help the child to act for himself, will for himself, think for himself; this is the art of those who aspire to serve the spirit. It is the teacher’s joy to welcome the manifestation of the spirit.” -Dr. Maria Montessori

Check out our chart for ideas and approximate times by age to introduce certain grace and courtesy lessons to your child. You can certainly introduce lessons at any age, but we find that this guide gives you a pretty solid timeline for appropriate lessons based on a child’s ability to understand certain concepts. With that said, always follow your child! :)

 

What kinds of Grace and Courtesy lessons do you practice in your homes?

Rock Washing Work

Maria Montessori recognized and understood that children were eager to work, even when the work seems like a chore to adults. Their work is their play and while working, they are forming and developing foundations in organizational skills as well as intelligence. Washing and cleaning activities in the classroom or at home provide exactly what children need for development of concentration, independence, caring for the environment, becoming aware of order and sequencing and gaining control over their movements. And for kids, it’s just plain fun!

Rock washing is a variation of dishwashing. There are many different ways to practice the sequential steps of washing but rock washing is a favorite in our homes. Rock washing is a great way to satisfy a child’s need for sequential work and get your backyard or schoolyard rocks sparkling clean all at the same time! 😂

 

What You Will Need:

• Tray with lip or small dishwashing tub
• Bucket with water or other water source
• Empty bucket for dirty water
• Pitcher for scooping out water
• Bowl with rocks
• Bottle of soap, bar of soap or dispenser of liquid soap
• Sponge for cleaning up spills
• Scrubber for washing the rocks clean
• Towel for drying
• A work apron (we use a plastic one here but any kind of apron works. A cloth apron is great because it is a control of error.
• Allowing the child to feel that he/she is wet but any kind of work apron will work.)

Lesson:

Extend an invitation to the rock washing station to your child. Carefully and with intention, give a lesson to your child going through all the steps in the activity.

1. 1. 1. 1. Take the pitcher and fill it with water from the water bucket.
         2. Pour water into the large bowl.
         3. Choose a rock to place in the bowl.
         4. Squeeze soap in the bowl.
         5. Pick up the brush in dominant hand. 
         6. Hold the rock in the water with your other hand.
         7. Begin to scrub the rock. 
         8. Turn the rock over and repeat.
         9. When satisfied, rinse the brush in the water and shake out excess water.
         10. Put the brush back on the tray.
         11. Lay out the towel and place the wet rock on the towel for drying. Bring up the edges of the towel around the rock and rub or pat the rock dry.
         12. Pour the water into the empty bucket
         13. Take the bucket to the sink or if outside a designated area in your yard and pour the water out.
         14. Replace the items back where they were found.
         15. Ask your child, “would you like a turn?”

Give your child lots of time to explore and work with this material. Observe, observe, observe. If your child is missing some of the steps you gave him/her, give another lesson another day. Don’t intervene or interrupt unless they ask you for help. While they are working with this material and any other, they are gaining knowledge and learning through play.

Note: For Toddlers and younger children, we suggest using less steps. For instance, instead of having your child go to a bucket or water source to get water, have the water already inside the pitcher. Or instead of having the child dry the rock with a towel, have them place it in a bowl to dry outside. You can simplify however you would like and add more details or steps as your child shows readiness.

Here are a few other ideas of variations that your child just might love! Try one today!

Washing work Variations:

• washing dishes
• vegetable washing
• peeling eggs and washing
• scrubbing potatoes
• car washing
• horse, dinosaur, baby washing
• seashell washing
• brick washing
• toys or truck washing

The options and variations of washing work are endless.  In our school, dishwashing is always available but we also have washing activities on the shelf that we rotate in and out for variation monthly or even weekly depending on our students interests and needs.  Once you get the hang of setting up washing work, we know it will be a staple in your homes as well.