Order, Co-ordination, Concentration and Independence

A child pincer grips a bead and place it on the plastic pockets. See that he is picks up only 1 bead at a time. Helps to develop concentration and co-ordination. Notice that the child also picks the bead from L-R, this is order.

Number of bead are equal to the pockets on the plastic mat, which also adds as the control of error and reinforce concentration. When the concentration is re-inforced, encourages independence because the child gets to sit on this activity for a long time and is able to do it by himself without any help. If you start this activity at very early age like 2 years, a child will get familiar to these personality characters of himself/herself that early.

Now, the child pincer grips each bead and place them on a small white leaf saucer. This re-inforce order and co-ordination, for order - the child is directed towards the white saucer to place the beads. So, the order is from basket to the plastic mat to the white saucer and then to the basket again. In the next step, each bead goes back to it's place one at a time, this encourages co-ordination. Notice how neatly child is doing the activity. Children love to do this activity but sometimes because parents and teachers do not understand the benefit of the process of this activity, they discourage them to go in this area - Practical Life (see curriculum). I strongly encourage everyone to emphasize a 2-3 year child on this area for at least 4 months.

Child pours the beads back where he started from - the basket.

Activities that can help O.C.C.I ( order, concentration, co-ordination and independence) are squeezing, scooping, pouring, pounding, twisting, grasping and stringing. These activities are very easy to make at home. It will help your child to concentrate, co-ordinate, order and be independent. Try practicing at home for few months and you will see the difference right away.

Have fun !

Jiggling rice

What fun when you jiggle rice and find a star fish, pine cone, cute eraser, a rock, and other cute objects. This is one other activity that helps a child's hand and eye co-ordination, develops independence and order. It also helps more control over holding objects and the develops hand muscles.

Materials - Plastic jar half filled with rice, some objects(could be your child's favorite things) and a cute bowl of your choice. All the objects are hidden inside the rice.

Procedure - A child tries to open the lid of the jar. You can guide him/er by telling to open from L-R, hold the jar tightly and roll the edges of the lid from L-R. Most of the times children are able to open this lid but if the child is petite then you may have to help by opening it half way, let him/er open completely. Place the lid on the side. Child puts his/er right hand and jiggle into the rice to find one object, place each object in the container on the side.
Note : The child takes only one object at one time.
Once each object is out in the bowl, child returns them back inside the rice in the jar and hides them. Close the lid.

Control of Error - Jar's lid open only one way L-R, Number of the objects.

Enjoy jiggling !!

1 - 10 with paper clips

This activity is a beautiful variation of Paper clips activity.
I took this picture when I went to my seminar in June'2010 by NEMTEC. Lots of girls shared their beautiful activities.

Materials - Beautiful various types of paper clips, card board shaped stars with numbers 1-10 stitched on it.
Aim - Learning numbers 1-10, concentration, co-ordination, order and independence.
Procedure - A child picks any one number, recognize it, then clips the paper clips matching with the number on the star (follow the steps as in Paper clips activity) . For example - #2 star will hold 2 clips, #5 start will hold 5 clips only and so on.
Control of error - Number of clips.
Variations -
1. Put all the cards in the form of a number line on the rug, say from 1-10 in order, from L-R on the top of the rug.
2. Take only 1-5 numbers.
3. Take different paper clips.
4. Separate paper clip for each number, for example - 2 strawberries paper clip for #2, 1 lion paper clip for #1 and so on.

Have Fun !!!!

Paper clips activity

I went to observe Cambridge Montessori School in Cambridge, MA, few years back. The school is beautiful and organized. I was able to observe the classroom of a friend, and couldn't stop raving about the activities and children. Children were so well behaved and such good listeners. I was very thankful to my friend for letting me take pictures of all those activities. The activity I am sharing with you is simple and can be done at home.

Materials - some colorful paper clips and small pieces of art paper or any kind of paper. In the image papers are cut from the edges using the zic-zag scissors.

Age - 2 and above.

Procedure - A child picks one paper and a clip out of the tray. He places the paper in front of him. Using dominant hand pincer grip, he flips 2 metal handles other side, squeeze open and clip the paper in it.

Aim - The child learns to control and balance his hand movements. It encourages concentration, independence, order and co-ordination.

ENJOY !!!

hm, fingers !

From the beginning, I have seen children move their fingers as if they are trying to catch a star :) As they grow, the grip of their fingers gets stronger. We believe that the movement of fingers helps the brain to work faster. I have seen this on myself a lot. If I am continuously typing, my thoughts are loaded, while when I am not then my mind is so relaxed. Even when we cook, our mind is always rushing at full speed.

It's the same with children. The brain is more active and extra charged if the fingers are always wiggling. Hm, I know, you are thinking of the benefits !! Well, there are lots of benefits. But before I go there, I always wonder why people are so result oriented ! Like, lots of times people would skip the process just to see the result. Most of the time they want to know the outcome/benefits/result, nobody really give a thought to the process.

On this note, just to give you a slight hint that Montessori education is all process oriented rather than result oriented. We all observe the child's actions from the beginning, like each step he takes, follow him and guide him through that process. The development of the brain and other internal organs only become stronger when they are continuously in action or say repeatedly practicing. Oh ! let me not divert from my title. So, fingers gives the brain the motive to grow and to be more curious. Wiggly fingers help the child to develop a pincer grip. It is when you a carry an object using your fore finger and thumb.

image taken from www.dicesetter.com

A Pincer grip eventually helps the child to hold a pencil, colors, and carry other objects like a tray, a bowl, a spoon, and everything else. A child begins to develop control over his body. Gradually, learns to balance his movements.

Below are a few beginner activities that can help develop a pincer grip via squeezing.

Activity 1- Squeezing koosh balls

Koosh balls in a basket

Koosh balls are harmless, soft, rubber balls that are easy to grasp and you can clean them with water or just wipes. This is a good activity for a child between 1 year - 3 years. Children simply squeeze these balls, it is a good hand muscle exercise :) Of course, develops their grasping capability, pincer gripping, and control over the fingers. They simply have to squeeze them.

Activity 2 - Tower of cubes

The Pink tower/Tower of cubes/Stacking cubes

Children love this activity. This activity keeps children busy for hours. It is a great exercise because they get to walk to the tower to get each cube one by one, to the rug, but you can do the same thing at home, either on a carpet or in their play room or anywhere they are comfortable to work. The motive is, they should get each cube one by one and spread them randomly, choose the biggest to smallest cube, again, one by one and stack them from big to small. This activity helps to observe, compare, contrast, discriminate, gives reason, helps them decide, solve problems, make judgements, create order, that goes from biggest to smallest and appreciate sequential quantities. That's why I love Montessori education and every time I talk about it, I always feel so lucky to have it in me and that I can share it with others and pass it on to children.

I understand for some people it is very hard to send their children to a Montessori school because either they are too far to reach or there are none in their town. A good variation to the Pink Tower is the famous stacking cubes that you find in every toy store.

image taken from toys r us - http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3472513

Wonder, if you have any ideas to make something on your own. If you do, then it would be my pleasure to get some idea from you. Until then, ENJOY learning :) !

Children watch us

Children watch us every single time !!! It comes naturally to them. It's their brain telling them "hey, I can do what she is doing !" It is the way neurons work in their brain from their day of conception. This wide net is forming and developing. And that is why children are so curious to know everything around their environment. Their mind is like a sponge that absorbs everything just by their presence. Isn't this amazing !

I was amazed to observe this while showing a child a lesson in our Sensorial area (will get there soon). It was not that I was expecting him to do this activity right for the first time. But, I was amazed how well the child mimicked me during arranging the cubes from L-R and top-bottom. That was a great job for a 4 year old to arrange the cubes so well, I thought ! Well, after few days he was having fun while doing 'Binomial cube' again and again. Aha ! such a beautiful sight to see a child normalized. I am using some terms which may be hard for you all to understand but keep reading on, I will explain them all.

On that note, here is an activity that I had suggested parents from ages 2-6 years old.

Activity 2 - Folding socks.

Children love their socks. They'll force you to buy most cartoonish socks sold around. The displayed picture is from my classroom. But you can just simply ask them to stay around you during laundry and they will help you fold their socks at least, and then may be everyone's ! This is a 2 step activity as simple as shown in the picture. Older children can manipulate a little more than younger one's. Here, the child learns that a sock folds in two ways - downwards or upwards. A simple equation to understand. Enjoy !