what kids can do.ppt

What Can Small Children Do?

www.fridayschildmontessori.com

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Obviously, you’re not going to set your three-year old the task of cooking dinner or mowing the

lawn.

That’s bound to end in disaster. There are heaps of simpler jobs or components of larger jobs

that can be done by smaller people.

Sorting laundry.

While folding the sheets will be a bit too much for smaller arms,

children can help sort the laundry into piles and make sure that

socks go together.

This is quite a good matching and sorting exercise of the sort that

they will do at Friday’s Child Montessori.

Putting away suitable dishes.

Whether you use a dishwasher or do the dishes by hand, small

children are able to put some of the clean ones away – and dry

them, too, if you’re doing them by hand.

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Sharp knives, glassware, china and anything breakable should be

put away by adults or older siblings who are less likely to

smash things and cut themselves, as should anything that gets put away somewhere that your pre-

schooler can’t reach.

Watering the garden by hand

Sprinklers tend to be frowned on if there’s a water shortage and it uses less water to use the hose.

This is a great job for small people, who have fun playing with the

hose and getting water everywhere.

Explain why the plants need water help your child observe the day-to-day changes in the garden while he/she is watering: where has the

pumpkin vine got to today?

How tall is the sunflower? Are the tomatoes ripe yet?

Expect your child to get completely soaked and possibly to

nibble a few things out of the garden.

Pulling out weeds

It’s best if you teach your child to identify one particular weed

species and encourage them to pull that one out to save your

seedlings being ripped up by an over-enthusiastic helper.

Chickweed is a good one for children to pull out, as it has

shallow roots, doesn’t have thorns, is very invasive and is edible.

Convolvulus vines are other candidates, as they are easy to

identify and easy to grab.

Dusting furniture

If you child can reach it, he or she can dust it. Damp-dusting is better

than using an old-fashioned feather duster, as it picks up the dust more easily and is easier for

smaller people to handle.

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Feeding animals

If you get your pre-schooler to feed animals, it’s best to let them

do this with dry biscuit food for cats and dogs, seed for birds, or with fruit and veggie scraps for

guinea pigs.

Preschoolers and tinned cat food isn’t a good mix – it goes

everywhere and there is a distinct chance that the child will try

sampling the cat food.

Taking items to be recycled to the crate

If you have a bin for a council-run recycling scheme, children can be put in charge of making sure the junk mail and old newspapers get into this bin,

and probably other items as well, such as bottles and cans.

Vacuuming

From a child’s perspective, a vacuum cleaner is a lot of fun: it makes a great noise and sucks

stuff up like magic.

The head can detach and then it sucks your hair and grabs at you.

You may have to ensure that the pre-tidying that always seems to be needed before vacuuming a

house with children is done properly to avoid bits of Lego and

the like going up the vacuum cleaner.

Washing soft toys

Dry-cleaning fluid is pretty nasty stuff, so if the teddy bears and other soft toys are looking a bit

manky, give them a bath in warm water with hand soap.

Do this outside. The toys will need to be rinsed and then spun in the

washing machine at slow to medium speed before being dried

(either on the washing line or in a machine – or just sitting up in a

nice sunny spot). Do this activity outside, as water and suds go

everywhere.