The Conscious Absorbent Mind is active from age three till age six. The unconscious Horme gives way to the conscious Horme. Once the child finds constructive work to do, his senses trigger his subconscious and those stored impressions are retrieved for refinement. This can only happen when his hands find constructive work to do because “the hands are the instruments of mans intelligence”. (The Absorbent Mind, Chapter 3, Pg. 25). The conscious Horme gives way to will and the child begins to create his intelligence. His task during this phase is intellectual development and freedom. His mind compels him to sort through, order and make sense of the information and impressions he unconsciously absorbed. It is through this order of intelligence that the child gains the freedom to move purposefully to concentrate and choose his direction. “At no other age has the child greater need for intelligent help, and any obstacle that impedes his creative work will lessen the chance he has of achieving perfection”. (The Absorbent Mind, Chapter 3, Pg. 26)
The second inborn aid endowed upon the child to assist him during this process of reconstruction is the Sensitive Period. This is a term coined by the Dutch Geneticist, Hugo de Varies and adopted by Maria Montessori when she noticed similar qualities in children. It refers to a period in a child’s life when he is attracted to and focuses his attention on a certain aspect of his environment to the exclusion of others. “A child's different inner sensibilities enable him to choose from his complex environment what is suitable and necessary for his growth. They make the child sensitive to some things, but leave him indifferent to others. When a particular sensitiveness is aroused in a child, it is like a light that shines on some objects but not others, making of them his whole world”. (The Secret of Childhood, Chapter 7, Pg. 42). This is when we see a child repeatedly doing an activity with passion and conviction and it seems like nothing can deter him from accomplishing that task until it is finished.
The sensitive period is a time of intense concentration and mental activity on developing a particular skill effortlessly at that particular time, age or phase of growth. "At such a time everything is easy; all is life and enthusiasm. Every effort marks an increase in power." ( The Secret of Childhood, Chapter 6, Pg.40). It is driven unconsciously by an inner force that the best way that the best way an adult can support this passion is to prepare the environment and encourage this special time of learning without interfering in the construction process. It is transitory in nature and Maria Montessori describes it as a window of opportunity. “If a child has not been able to act according to the directives of his sensitive period, the opportunity of a natural conquest is lost, and is lost for good”. (The Secret of Childhood, Chapter 6, Pg.40)
There are six sensitive periods and during each of these periods with the aid of the nebulae which are the potentials in every child to learn a new skill, the child learns different skills effortlessly. “The child has a creative aptitude, a potential energy that will enable it to build up a mental world from the world about it. He makes numerous acquisitions during the sensitive periods, which put him in relation to the other world in an exceptionally intense manner”. (The Secret of Childhood, Chapter 3, Pg 33). From birth to age six, the child will pass through six significant sensitive periods; those for order (1-2yrs), small objects (1-2yrs), co-ordination of movement (2&1/2-4yrs), social aspect of life (2-5yrs), refinement of the five senses (2-5yrs) and language (0-6yrs). Adults must observe without interfering, the behavior and activities of the child to discover what sensitive periods he is in to ensure that he is surrounded by the appropriate materials in a prepared environment. “There is an interchange between the individual, the spiritual embryo and its environment. It is through the environment that the individual is molded and brought to perfection” (The Secret of Childhood, Chapter 6, Pg 35).
A Montessori prepared Environment is one that is prepared by a knowledgeable and sensitive adult taking into consideration the necessary factors; The absorbent Mind and the Sensitive Period, that will help the children to reconstruct. “When we speak of 'environment' we include the sum total of objects which a child can freely choose and use as he pleases, that is to say, according to his needs and tendencies”. (The Discovery of The Child, Chapter 3, Pg. 63).Montessori saw the prepared environment as an essential ingredient for the successful development of the child. She realised that the child in his vulnerability relied completely on the environment for the sensorial impressions through which he gained a sense of the world in which he lived. She saw that it was the environment (including the people within it) that could greatly hinder the child in his quest to unfold his hidden potentialities and that by carefully preparing the environment to serve the needs of the child such obstacles could be avoided. She therefore paid a great deal of attention to the way in which Montessori schoolrooms were laid out. Everything was made to be as easily accessible to the children as possible. It was very much their environment rather than the teachers and she wanted them to feel as comfortable as possible within it.
She knew that order was very important to the children and she therefore ensured that everything had its place and that all materials were kept as neatly as possible. She created materials that she saw the children were drawn to and she removed those items in which they showed no interest. She tried to ensure that the materials that were provided met with the dynamic emergent needs of the children. It was the children who led the development of the materials and the children who showed how the environment should be prepared. “There is only one basis for observation: the children must be free to express themselves and thus reveal those needs and attitudes which would otherwise be hidden or repressed in an environment that did not allow them to act spontaneously”. (The Discovery of the Child, Chapter 3, Pg. 46).
Preparing the environment is not enough.The child must be allowed freedom to choose and work with the material at his own pace without interference from the teacher. Only then will his work be termed ‘constructive’. It is through this freely chosen constructive work that the child develops concentration, good work habits and personality. Montessori saw freedom as the single most important factor in allowing children to develop as spontaneous, creative individuals. By freedom, however, she did not suggest that the child should be free to do whatever he chooses, whenever he chooses. His freedom is structured, one that allows that him to connect to the true freedom of self-knowledge, self-respect and self-worth
To aid the development of concentration, good work habits and personality, Maria Montessori developed the Montessori curriculum to include Practical Life Exercises (PLE), Sensorial, Language Mathematics and Cultural. The Montessori Curriculum is an integrated thematic approach that ties the separate disciplines together into studies of the physical universe, the world of nature, and the human experience. In this way, one lesson leads to many others. The materials the children worked with were an improvement on the materials made by Edward Seguin and Jane Itard. They were light in weight, colourful and attractive, and small enough for the children to use them comfortably. Even though they are child sized, they are real. Each material isolates one concept or skill that has been specially designed in a way that children are naturally drawn to want to work with it with little or no nudging from adults. Each material has also been designed so that a child can normally check his own work; we call this a built-in "control of error." The intention of the materials is not to keep the children dependent on these artificial learning aids forever; they are used as tools to help children work and learn at their own pace, to see abstract ideas presented in a very concrete, three-dimensional way, and to help them grasp and understand what they are working on.
The practical life activities are a fundamentally important part of the Montessori environment. The activities help the child master the skills that he needs in order to become increasingly independent. He learns activities of daily living. Montessori saw that very young children were frequently frustrated in their attempts to do things for themselves and that what they needed was to have specific exercises, as closely linked to real life as possible, that allowed them to master the tasks that they saw going on around them in everyday life. “ ..in point of fact, no other occupations which could be undertaken by the children at this stage could be more important for their whole development - physical, mental, and moral - than these 'exercises of practical life’ as they are called”. (Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work, Chapter 13, Pg. 213).
She recognised that the children needed to refine their muscular abilities and that they had a great interest in the precise movements connected with specific tasks. She also saw that, unlike the adults in their lives, the children were not interested in achieving end results as quickly as possible, but were far more interested in the learning processes. As a result they would happily repeat exercises again and again until they felt satisfied. She therefore introduced into her classrooms materials and exercises that allowed the children the maximum possible opportunity to learn how to look after themselves and the environment.
Practical Life Exercises are the cornerstone of the Montessori Method. It is in a sense the doorway to the Montessori curriculum. The exercises lay the foundation for all the other subject areas in the Montessori classroom. This is the area where the child may first choose independent work. The practical life area contains many attractively displayed object familiar to the child, including a variety of items commonly used in the tasks of daily living, like eating dressing and cleaning.
They offer the child meaningful, non-threatening modes of activity. The materials used in this area of the classroom, though all child size, are familiar to him. This serves as a bridge between home and school. Especially for the new child that enters an unfamiliar environment. The materials are also carefully designed and demonstrated to help teach skills involved with caring for the environment and the self, to encourage responsibility, autonomy and to promote high self-esteem.
“The first thing to realize about these exercises of practical life is that their aim is not a practical one. Emphasis should be laid not on the word 'practical' but on the word 'life'. Their aim (as of all the other occupations presented to the children in their prepared environment) is to assist development”. (Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work, Chapter 13, Pg. 213)
For a child to develop normally, he must gain control over his motor skills. To encourage this, the child is allowed to walk to the shelf himself and carry any material he wishes to work with and to return it when he is done with it. He is taught and practices the rolling and unrolling of a mat, carrying a chair, table and tray. "Before a child reaches the age of three, the highest form of work and the most ennobling that engages him is that of arranging furniture and putting things in order, and it is also the one that calls for the greatest activity."
(The Discovery of the Child, Chapter 5, Pg. 83). Other activities which develop motor skills include spooning, pouring and transferring, folding and unfolding. The use of his legs, fingers and his hands by extension helps him to gain more control over these parts of his body.
Taking part in activities like sweeping, opening and closing, screwing and unscrewing, threading, washing and cutting while developing the child’s motor development also teach him to care for his environment. "It is important to notice... that these are real, not make-believe activities and that they are carried out in a real and not make-believe environment. The child who is washing dusters is washing real dusters because they are dirty; the children who are laying the table are laying a real table with real knives and forks and plates etc, for a real meal - not a doll's table in a doll's house for a doll's tea party. Where you see a child swabbing up water spilt on the floor there has been a real accident, and she is re-establishing order to a real world. This is a matter of great importance..."
(Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work, Chapter 13, Pg.214)
The care of self is inculcated through activities like the dressing frame, washing hands and plaiting. The dressing frames are of different types; buttons, zip, buckles, and laces. "Every complex action comprises a series of distinct movements; one act follows the other. The analysis of movements consists in trying to recognize and to carry out exactly these separate and distinct acts... Dressing and undressing oneself, for example, are highly complex acts which we adults, except on special occasions, carryout rather imperfectly." (The Discovery of the child, Chapter 5, Pg. 86).
Activities that encourage the development of social life include Greeting, interrupting, Silence game and walking on the line. Through this the child learns how to behave in different places. He knows how to walk without knocking things over.
In general, practical Life Exercises help to improve the children’s concentration. While the teacher does the presentation, he watches with a rapt attention every of her move, learning the steps so that he may do it himself. The concentration he develops while carrying out exercises like pouring water from a jug to another jug for example would help him in other curriculum areas.
PLE also fosters independence. A child who knows how to spoon will not wait to be fed before he eats and perhaps would even be able to serve himself if permitted. A child who has mastered the act of lacing would not wait for mum or dad to tie his shoelace before he can go to play. "Any child who is self-sufficient, who can tie his shoes, dress or undress himself, reflects in his joy and sense of achievement the image of human dignity, which is derived from a sense of independence." (Maria Montessori). He would also develop a high self esteem and be self confident. He would not in any way feel inferior.
Spooning activities strengthens the pincer grip in preparation for writing. It also develops a smooth wrist movement as well. All these activities are done from left to right and top to bottom which is also a way to prepare the child for the left to right concept of writing.
At home, these exercises could be applied. While the adult is working the child may be given child size equipments such as cutting boards, brooms, jugs, etc. The child must be given every opportunity to be involved in household tasks like cleaning, folding clothes, washing dishes and even laying the table for dinner. He should also be encouraged to pick out his clothes and dress himself.
"A child who has become master of his acts through long and repeated exercises, and who has been encouraged by the pleasant and interesting activities in which he has been engaged, is a child filled with health and joy and remarkable for his calmness and discipline.". (The Discovery of The Child, Chapter 5, Pg. 91).
