Fine Motor
The tasks of daily life are fascinating to the child. There are obstacles to meeting their developmental impulse to bring structure to their environment. The two obstacles are the lack of knowledge of how to accomplish the task and properly scaled tools to complete the tasks. When these two obstacles are addressed, then the child can have the care of their daily lives accessible and manageable.
Good materials are:
- Functional – the child isn’t pretending; they are working.
- Child-sized proportions – things must be to a child’s scale and weight.
- Natural materials – provides a more multi-sensorial experiences.
- Safe – use natural materials which can be cleaned regularly and are non-toxic.
- Culturally appropriate – materials cannot be divorced from the culture and time in which the child lives.
The principal quality of my material is to attract the attention of the child and to provoke a permanent reaction within the child.
[The next quality] of my material is that it is systematic. All the objects are connected in a series and together form a material of development.
[The third quality] of my material is that it contains, what I call, the control of error. As the child uses the material, the material shows the child his mistakes and, in this free path the child can correct these errors. [T]his also liberates him from unfavorable and discouraging criticism of others and develops in him the sense of [self-] criticism.
Dr. Montessori, The California Lectures
Spooning
Q: Why bother with transfering works like spooning or tonging? There is no direct atrium application.
Spooning requires a skill that is tricky. The lateral twisting motion takes some time to refine. When we are spooning and tonging, we engage the wrist muscles along with the “tripod” fingers both of which further the child’s progress toward writing.
The control of the wrist muscles and the isolation of finger movement are both crucial for later skills like cutting, opening, pouring, etc.
