Practical life skills are often overlooked in traditional education, when really they lay the foundation for all learning!  This is why Practical Life is probably the largest section in the Montessori classroom.

L has become very good at using different utensils, so I decided to put together this ladling work to challenge her further.  I bought a bag of mixed beans at the grocery store and put some in a bowl beside an empty bowl on a tray.  I added a small ladle from this set and put the tray on L’s practical life shelf.

L immediately found this work (funny how kids can spot tiny objects from a mile away) and brought it straight to her table.  She already knew what to do from all of the other transfer works she’s completed, so she didn’t need any instruction.

Ladling requires more wrist motion than regular spooning transfer, and it requires a lot of repetition to transfer all of the beans from one bowl to the next.  This works on fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, as well as building focus and concentration.  If some of the beans miss the bowl, L must use a pincer grasp to pick each one up and put them back in the bowl.