How to make boring chores fun and educational the Montessori way

Estimated reading time: 4 mins

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Children learn through experience and observation. One of the practices in Montessori is to involve children in tasks around the home. Children love imitating what they see their parents do. So it’s a great idea to let your child start to help you with your household chores from as young as 2 years old.

So what are the benefits to letting your child help with chores?

Involving your child in chores helps them to learn team working skills, builds valuable life skills, helps to teach them independence and helps to keep them occupied while you get tasks around the house done, win, win!

What tasks can you get your child involved in?

Involving your child in chores helps them to learn team working skills, builds valuable life skills, helps to teach them independence and helps to keep them occupied while you get tasks around the house done, win, win!

Cooking

Giving toddlers a supervised activity to do in the kitchen, will help them feel involved when you’re cooking. For example get them to help with measuring ingredients when you’re baking, using scales and spoons. Once measured get them to help you put the ingredients into a bowl. They can also help with the stirring and of course their favourite, tasting! You could also get them to sort and count the fruits in the fruit bowl, which will help with their learning of numbers.

Loading the dishwasher

Another supervised activity children can get involved in, in the kitchen is loading the dishwasher. Particularly placing the utensils in the utensils tray (not knives). This will help improve their hand eye coordination and helps encourage some independence.

Laundry day

Create some fun with laundry. Whilst supervised get your toddler to help you sort the dirty laundry into piles by colour before putting them in the washing machine. This will help them learn their colours through talking to them and repetition as you do this weekly task. You can also get your toddler to match socks. These laundry tasks will help your child to develop their motor-skills.

Recycling

Why not involve your child when you’re recycling. Talk about why we recycle and the different types of materials that you can recycle. You can even go on to make something out of some of the items you’re recycling to demonstrate that you can re-use some items and not just through them away.

Washing up

Children love playing in water and love bubbles. So washing up will be lots of fun for them. You can stand your toddler on a chair in front of the sink, standing next to them so they don’t fall. Or simply place a washing up bowl on the floor and get them to wash up. Just be prepared that it may get a little wet!

Child sized brooms, mops and utensils

Children will love sweeping and mopping with their child sized broom and mop. This will help them to like doing it as they got older because let’s face it mopping is not much fun! So get them started early on.

Just remember never force a young child to do tasks if they’re not showing interest. Also let go of perfection, realistically the dishes will not be washed very clean and that’s ok. Most importantly have fun!

Natalie

Little Scholars Playground
info@littlescholarsplayground.com

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About the author

Natalie is the co-founder and illustrator at Little Scholars Playground. She is passionate about literacy, learning, illustrating, black women in STEM and Montessori.

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