20 Montessori Practical Life Activities for Kids to do at Home

A list of Montessori inspired practical life activities for kids to learn at home from a young age. Take advantage of your child’s motivation while they are young and use these practical activities for toddlers and pre-schoolers to teach your child real life skills.

What are Montessori Practical Life Activities?

Practical life activities can be taught to kids of any age, even infants, and they change depending on the child’s development. These activities are based on real life tasks.

For little ones it may start with things as getting dressed or helping to wash up. With older kids it may be setting the table, or preparing a meal

Why are Practical Life Activities Important?

Practical life activities for kids are important because help children learn activities which serve a purpose. These activities help to develop children’s independence, aid their concentration levels, and provide them with a sense of pride once they have completed a task.

Many parents assume young children won’t be able to do certain tasks because they are “too young”. Some assume that their child won’t want to do these activities because they are “too boring”.

However, children love to mimic their parents, especially when young, and you will be surprised at what tasks little ones can do and will want to do.

If you can get your kids motivated to do these practical activities while young, it will become a natural routine as they get older and their skillset will grow with them.

20 Montessori Practical Life Activities for Kids

A list of Montessori practical life activities for kids to do at home. Pre-schoolers and even toddlers can start to do these practical life activities with supervision.

1. Button sorting

Give your little one a container of buttons of different size and colour with little bowls to sort them. They can be sorted by colour or size providing two different practical life activities.

2. Watering plants

If you have indoor plants, then taking care of them is a great practical life activity. Older kids can do this independently, while little ones may need a little assistance getting the water.

3. Pouring liquids

Pouring is a classic Montessori practical life activity for toddlers and pre-schoolers. Give your child a jug of water and some glasses. Allow them to practice pouring water into the glasses. Make sure to have a tray underneath in case of spillage.

4. Matching socks

Little ones love to get involved in folding the washing. Rather than having the kids pull apart all of your hard work, give them a pile of socks to pair up. This Montessori practical life activity helps kids to distinguish size and colours, and also helps their motor skills folding the socks up when they have a match.

5. Folding towels

Folding towels is another great practical life activity for kids. Give them a bunch of towels, hand towels or face washers. Show your child how to fold each one, and then allow them to practice on their own.

6. Arranging flowers

Flower arrangements not only allow kids to work on their creativity, but they can also work on their motor skills and analytical skills too. Placing the flowers in a certain order, changing them around if necessary to make the arrangement look how they want it to.

7. Peeling vegetables

A great practical life activity for in the kitchen and a great way to get kids involved in preparing meals. Peeling is a fun one to start with as it helps with coordination before moving onto cutting.

8. Cutting fruit & vegetables

Even little ones can learn to cut vegetables. It doesn’t need to be with a sharp knife, in fact starting with a plastic knife or even a butter knife is perfect until they perfect the skill. Banana and zucchini are soft ones to start with, then they can move onto apples and celery, and then eventually raw carrots when they have the hang of it.

9. Washing windows

If you have little children, chances are your windows constantly have hand prints on them. This is a great teaching opportunity. Give your child a cloth and water and teach how to clean the windows. Sure it won’t be perfect, and you will no doubt have to go over it, but they will get better at it.

10. Cleaning toys

Cleaning toys is the perfect Montessori practical life activity to teach kids about responsibility. If they want to have toys, they need to take care of them and keep them clean. It could be a doll or blocks for little ones, and for older ones it could also be in the drawers or on the shelves they are kept on. It also helps their motor skill using a cloth and manoeuvring their hand getting in the little bits.

11. Crushing or grinding egg shells

Egg shells have multiple uses once the contents are removed, and are particularly great for your garden plants. Before throwing your egg shells away, use them as a Montessori practical life activity with your kids. It can be as simple as using a spoon crushing the egg shells in a bowl, or you can also use a mortar and pestle and grind them.

12. Sweeping the floor

A very simple practical life activity for kids, that most will really enjoy. This could be sweeping up a mess inside, or otherwise sweeping up all the dust on the patio.

13. Polishing cutlery

For toddlers you can start with the spoons, and as they get older they can also polish the knives too. Simply fill a jug with warm water and vinegar and pop some clean cutlery inside. Kids can then pull out each piece one by one and dry it with a cloth until it is sparkling clean.

14. Preparing a snack

Montessori promotes independence, even from a young age, and a great Montessori practical life activity for kids is learning to prepare a snack. It could be as simple as getting a banana from the fruit bowl, peeling it and placing it on a plate and cutting it up into pieces. It could also be a bit more complex, such as making a sandwich independently without any assistance.

15. Setting the table

Along with preparing snacks, kids can also learn how to set the table to serve them. It could be setting the table for the family, learning where to place the cutlery etc. or it could be preparing a picnic mat out in the garden.

16. Clearing the table

An important practical life activity for kids is clearing up after a meal. Things like taking the plates to the sink and rinsing them, and for older ones even loading and unloading the dishwasher.

17.  Collecting leaves

A fun outdoor practical life activity to get kids involved with gardening. It also helps little ones with their transferring skills.

18. Planting seeds

Planting seeds and watching them grow over time is a really fun Montessori practical life activity. The planting part helps with their motor skills, but then looking after the seeds as they grow is a great learning experience too. Check out our list of easy vegetables to grow.

19. Watering the garden

Kids can head out to the garden with a larger watering can to water the garden beads or with the hose to water the grass.

20. Sewing buttons

A fun Montessori practical life activity for pre-schoolers is sewing on buttons. Use large needles with wider holes so they can learn to first thread the cotton, then teach your child how to sew the button onto a piece of material. They can then practice over and over.

Kids Activities at Home

Hopefully this list of Montessori practical life activities has inspired your kids to learn some new life skills. Looking for more activities for kids? Check out our other fun lists:

• 50 Fun activities for kids
• Fun sensory activities for toddlers & pre-schoolers
• Simple science experiments for kids

Follow Mum’s Little Explorers on Facebook for more fun ideas.