Monday, October 3, 2011

Montessori Monday: Rolling a Mat

This past week we tried a new practical life activity: rolling place mats. I put four colored IKEA placemats on a tray and the goal of this exercise is that Jonathan would learn to gently unroll the placemats and then roll them back up. You can see detailed instructions about this exercise here at Info Montessori.


Unrolling the mat was fairly easy, but rolling the placemats took a bit more concentration. Jonathan would get overly excited and try to hurry through the exercise, just to find it didn't look correct. So not only did this help him develop fine motor control, but it also helped us learn a little bit more about being patient as well!

Jonathan really enjoyed this activity and returned to it several times during the week. His friend A. (3 years) also was really drawn to the activity. Both children found it challenging, but not overly so. I think this will be in our Tot School rotation frequently!

I'm linking this up to Montessori Monday over at Living Montessori Now and One Hook Wonder.

5 comments:

martianne said...

Sometimes the simplest works are the most engaging and most challenging for wee ones, huh?

martianne said...

Sometimes the simplest works are the most engaging and most challenging for wee ones, huh?

Elle Belles Bows said...

I agree with Martianne! Very good practice at home!

Kerri

Heidi said...

So important to give things like rolling rugs and placemats their own attention so that they don't become distractors when you move into using them during lessons!

Heidi
www.workandplaydaybyday.com

Deb Chitwood said...

It's great that you're using this as an activity on its own! Even though it becomes a great way to identify a child's work area, it's a wonderful activity itself. Thanks for linking up with Montessori Monday. I featured your post at the Living Montessori Now Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/LivingMontessoriNow

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