Montessori Practical Life at Home--Two Ways to Make Banana Pudding

Food Prep:  Bananas Two Ways

Both Begin with Banana Slicing, Which Toddlers Can Do!

Find Ways Children Can Be Independent at Snack Time or Help You Make Dessert

Both of these banana dishes came from cookbooks from the nineties, so they may be hard to find (but see below if you want to buy used copies).   The first is a simple and straightforward snack that would be great for mid-morning or the afternoon munchies.  I used a small applesauce that's in our "school lunch" stash, but you could easily have a child use some from a larger jar of store-bought applesauce or make your own (that's another video on another day!).  Be aware:  peeling open these containers may be tricky, so I would suggest starting the opening process when setting up your snack area in the early morning.

Here are the steps laid out as index cards.  You can create these easily for any snack.

Banana Yogurt Pudding Sequence

Applesauce lid already "started" a bit, two sizes of measuring spoons out, fork and grapefruit knife ready to go.  Any safe serrated knife will do, even a disposable one.  The knife is not pointy, so that's not a safety concern, but you should point out the teeth, explaining that the back-and-forth motion can really cut--even a finger!  (Oops I forgot the yogurt. Set that out, too, unless it's going to spoil in a heat.  You could try setting the yogurt in a bowl of ice.) 

Slice in half.  You could also just provide a banana half to begin with.

Mash with fork.

Measure and add applesauce.

Stir together with fork.

Measure and add yogurt.

Mix together and eat!  This was surprisingly sweet and yummy.

Banana Chocolate Chip Pudding

Oopsie--This Was Supposed to Be Banana Bread (See Video)

But it Was Delicious and Gluten-Free Without the Flour, as a Pudding!

Apparently learning how to film while baking was a bit too much for me, so I forgot a very important ingredient to the banana bread.  But no worries--it came out delicious as banana pudding!  We enjoyed eating it straight, as a dessert, and also put it on top of ice cream.  A good lesson in "happy accidents"!  Also, in order to mash the banana I used two different kitchen tools:  the potato masher and the pastry knife.  It's always nice to find an excuse to introduce new tools and for the child to have to use various grips.

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Table Washing: The Ph.D. of Practical Life/Care of the Environment Works!

Many years ago when I had my school I gave a 4-year-old boy a lesson in Table Washing.  It's one of the Practical Life works done with water, and in my AMS training it is given in 73 discrete steps!  By the end of class that day I was so proud of the work he had done, I couldn't wait to tell his mother what he had learned and accomplished.  Sadly, she seemed to have no idea what a complex undertaking her son had achieved, clueless about how far he had come.  See if you can appreciate this work, recommended for children ages 2.5 to 4 years of age.

WARNING:  If you've never read a Montessori album before or never studied the importance of order and consistency for the young child, you will likely find the following bizarrely detailed and over-the-top.  There are good reasons for presenting this lesson this way.  For instance, since we read from left to right, top to bottom, we teach the children to work from left to right, top to bottom.  Also, this lesson would only be given to a child who has already mastered pouring water.  I'll spare you all 73 steps, but give you a taste.  Except for the apron, the materials you see are all from a dollar store, Target dollar bins and/or local toy store.

1.    Invite the child.

2.    Name the work, "table washing."

3.    Find a dirty, unoccupied table.

4.    Point out the dirt.

5.    Say, "Maybe we could wash the table so it's nice and beautiful.  Let's take the chair away so we can do our work."

6.    Move the chair.

7.    Place a large floor towel on the floor to the left of the table.

8.    Invite the child to put on the apron, saying, "It's just your size."

9.    Carry basin and bucket and place on top of the right hand corner of the floor towel.

10.    Remove bucket and place in the upper left corner of the floor towel.

11.    Remove pitcher and place in the upper center of the floor towel.

12.    Remove the soap dish with sponge and place in the lower left corner.

13.    Remove soap dish and soap and put to the right of the sponge.

14.    Remove brush and put to the right of the soap.

15.    Remove dish cloth and place it to the right of the brush.

16.    Carry the pitcher with both hands to the sink or water dispenser and fill 3/4 full.

17.    Carry the pitcher to your work area and hold it over the center of the basin.

18.    With right hand on the handle and left hand supporting the "tummy," pour all of the water into the basin.

19.    Holding the pitcher over the basin, shake the last few drops out.

20.    Carry the empty pitcher to the sink or dispenser to fill it again, repeating these steps until the basin has two inches of water in it.

21.    Put pitcher back on its place on the floor towel.

"Ahhhhh!  Smells so clean!"

72.    Say, "Let's smell the table."

73.    Name the work.  "Table washing."

"Wow!  What a difference!"

Can you imagine what an undertaking this work is?!  That's why I call it the "PhD of Practical Life."  It requires sequencing, order, core strength, precision, and great body control.  If this seems too much, start with a simplified version using just a wet sponge.

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Practical Life in the Kitchen: Mediterranean Beef Ragout

We tried a new recipe from an old, familiar cookbook.  

Any time you and your children can cook together, do it.  If it is something that simmers all day and makes the place smell good, all the better.  Don't be put off by something with many steps.  There are so many skills to be learned when cooking from scratch--peeling, chopping, dicing, seeding, measuring, etc.

It turned out great!

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Practical Life/Care of the Person: Washing Hands

Get thee to a Target--these nail brushes were in the cheapo bins right at the front of the store!

A nailbrush is one of the essential tools for Montessori Hand Washing.  Cuteness is for extra credit.

If you have toddlers yourself or take care of one on a regular basis, you know that using the potty and hand washing happen ALL DAY LONG.  Make sure you have things set up so that your little one can wash his or her hands thoroughly, with very little help from you.

Last summer, when Alleluia was learning to use the potty, I wanted her to be able to wash her hands without me hoisting her up each time.  In my Montessori training we were shown how to teach hand washing at a station with a low table, a bowl, a pitcher with water, soap, etc.  I wanted to adapt the lesson to use our bathroom sink, so I made sure she had a heavy, tall step stool in front of our sink, some soap, a towel nearby and--of course--a cute nailbrush.

We fill up the sink with water (about two-thirds full) and try to make as many bubbles as possible, rubbing our soap-laden hands together under the running water.  (I think early on Alleluia convinced herself that Mr. Sink liked to eat bubbles--the more, the better.)  This is a great opportunity to have your toddler practice singing either the "A, B, C" song or the Montessori version, which replaces the letter names with letter sounds.  It's exciting when we drain the sink, because sometimes Mr. Sink makes a loud growling noise that's slightly scary!

When we remember that practical exercises such as washing hands are an important Montessori work, they don't seem like such a chore, do they?  Most children actually enjoy playing with bubbles and with water, so making more of an event out of something they must do regularly makes sense!

Here are two extra links I found in case you're interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDzH3Bl_jU0
http://www.infomontessori.com/practical-life/care-of-the-person-washing-hands.htm

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