When I first learned that Renae of Every Star is Different was putting together a bunch of printables focusing on the Montessori practical life concept of “care of self,” I admit that I had no idea how she was going to do it. That is a very hands-on part of the Montessori curriculum, and I just couldn’t see how she could make printable activities to go along with that. But now that I have the printables, I am absolutely amazed to see how she made materials that are very hands-on and help the child to be able to visualize and order each self-care task.
Here’s what she made:
- Dental Care
- Personal Hygiene
- Dressing
- Kitchen Tasks
- Nutrition
- First Aid
- My Body Activities for Tots & Preschoolers
I haven’t had a chance to print materials from each part of these resources yet, but I will be sure to share at least the table of contents for each section along with some ideas of which parts my girls will be excited about.
I made sure to print out the Dental Care materials right away, because we just so happen to have dental appointments coming up next week! This is an amazing resource for kids who are going to the dentist for the first time or who still get a little nervous at dental visits — there will be no surprises once they’ve encountered these materials!
My girls have been loving learning all about the tools the dentists use and reading the Dental Visit Social Story. And when I brought out the Types of Teeth chart, they started identifying each other’s teeth! I think we’ll be having some pretty interesting conversations with the dentist next week, and she’ll probably be impressed with the amount of knowledge my girls already have about dental care from these cards.
The Personal Hygiene section has tons of great materials showing how to wash hair and hands appropriately, as well as how to avoid spreading germs! Even if you aren’t in a classroom/homeschool environment, these would be great for hanging up above the sink or the bathtub to show your little ones the sequence of steps needed to get thoroughly clean.
I think the Dressing section of these self-care printables is my very favorite part! I knew the girls would love completing a dressing chart each night before bed, and it’s especially helpful for them to be able to see what the weather will be like the next day so they can choose appropriate clothing.
We check the next day’s weather on Daddy’s phone, then put in the high and low temperatures, the cloud cover, and the precipitation for the day. Then the girls compare the weather on our chart to the “What Should I Wear?” Control Cards to see what kind of clothing is appropriate! This is especially helpful as we’re just at the beginning of spring and the temperature is fluctuating like crazy each day.
The Kitchen Tasks Table of Contents looks small, but don’t let that fool you! It’s full of valuable materials to help young children become more confident in the kitchen. My girls are going to LOVE all of the Picture Recipe Cards — there’s one for steak, Caesar salad, hot dogs, ice cream, hot chocolate, gingerbread cookies, sushi rolls, rice, and bread!
The Nutrition section is huge and contains materials for every area of the classroom! I love the Vitamins and Minerals sorting cards and the fact that they explain what each of them do for your body! The girls are going to love the My Plate Creation Activity. The picture above shows the template, and then there are cut-outs to choose from to fit in each of the different food groups on the plate.
The First Aid Kit section has tons of great nomenclature materials in it! This will be helpful for building our own first aid kit together, and my girls are going to love the First Aid Kit Problem and Solution Match Up Cards — figuring out which first aid supply will be appropriate for which injury!
The My Body Activities for Tots and Preschoolers has some body parts cards, exercise cards, sequencing cards for the life cycle of a human, and hair color sorting cards. I’ll be adding those exercise cards to our movement shelf — the images make it clear what the action is which will be helpful for my pre-reader, and my reader will enjoy reading the words.
These printables are designed for use with many of the practical life activities in a Montessori environment, whether at home or school, as well as for children who would benefit from visual prompts for self-care tasks at any age. My girls are absolutely loving them!
Get these resources HERE!
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