Chores for the Little Ones: A Helpful Tip!

Doing chores is (and should) be a tradition in a family. Children learn responsibility by doing their chores and of course, by sharing chores with the family members.

Not sure where to start and which chores to give your little ones? Don’t worry! We’re here to help and make doing chores a positive experience for all.

By giving children responsibility, they feel needed and know that they are making a contribution to the family. If children learn to help in their younger years, they will work harder later in life. Even children as young as two years old can help around the house and are more able than you think they are. They can easily use the modern gadgets, so tasks at home are simple.  However, they are not born knowing everything and just like you taught them how to walk and talk, you must teach them how to do tasks that are appropriate for their age group. Don’t insist on perfection but praise them as they struggle through each job that you have assigned them.

Make a Chore Chart

Create a list of jobs for every member of the family. Hang it in a place where everyone can see and follow. Rewards can also be given to children to motivate them to do their tasks on time.

2-3 Years old

• Put toys away.
• Put clothes in hamper.
• Wipe up spills.
• Pile up magazines and books.
• Fill a pet’s water and food bowl.

4-5 years old

• All of the chores mentioned above
• Make their bed.
• Empty waste paper baskets.
• Bring in the newspaper.
• Help clean the table.
• Water flowers.
• Help unload the dishwasher.
• Wash dishes.
• Help parents prepare food.
• Be completely responsible for pet’s food and water.

6-7 years old

• Vacuum rooms.
• Mop floors.
• Fold laundry.
• Put the laundry in its respective places.
• Empty trash cans.
• Wash light load of dishes.
• Take clothes from the dryer.
• Take care of pet’s food, water, and exercise completely.

8 years old and up

 

• Dust.
• Clean kitchen.
• Clean bathroom with help.
• Mop.
• Help clean car.
• Tidy up drawers and cabinets.

With these tips in mind, you will be well on your way to creating a chore system for your household. We at Taylor Made School also believe that children should take care of their own belongings so we encourage them to clean up their class work and lunches. With this partnership, children learn responsibility and feel that they are members of the larger community!

At Home Holiday Themed Montessori Activities Made Easy

The holiday season is upon us and during the Christmas break, we hope you have some extra time to wind down and spend quality time with your families. If you want to do some fun, holiday and winter themed Montessori activities with your children over the Christmas break, but don’t want to stress out about finding and buying all the craft supplies and making crafts that are Pinterest-worthy, we have taken a few activity ideas and made them even easier for you.

Decorate a Snowman

To make this activity easy on yourself, all you really need is white construction paper and another color for the backing. You can cut out three circles, paste them on the background, and then let your children’s imaginations decorate the snowmen with everyday items such as spare buttons, rice, seeds, markers and cotton balls. You can also use paper or Styrofoam plates instead of construction paper for the body and snowman head. Use leftover styrofoam from any shipping boxes if you have them, and if you’re really crafty or already have the supplies, you can use sequins and googly eyes.

Tracing Shapes

To make this activity easy, you can make the shape templates out of cardstock paper or construction paper. Use regular white paper cut into small squares and then let your kiddos trace the shapes on them and decorate as they wish. There are endless possibilities for decorating the shapes and they can make ornaments, trees, gifts and anything else you can think of. You can also decorate them using the same household supplies as above – cotton balls, rice, beans, straws cut up into small pieces, buttons, sequins, etc.

Bake and Decorate Cookies

This is such a traditional activity and it’s fairly easy. Children love cookies, and making them with you is so much fun for them. Let them work the dough and scoop it out onto the cookie sheet. Let them use the shape cutters as long as they have dull edges. Have a big selection of sprinkles and icing ready for your little decorators, and let them go to town creating their own special cookie masterpieces. The most important ingredient is to have fun. Baking and decorating cookies is a great holiday activity for kids and it allows them to learn life skills and be creative. Enjoy it!

 

The Philosophy Behind Montessori Child Care in Austin

You may have heard of Montessori education or Montessori child care well before you actually knew what that meant. The learning approach became popular in the United States around 1960 and has since spread to thousands of preschools and daycares, with over a dozen in the Austin area.

Montessori preschools in Austin are based on the popular learning style that was developed by an Italian physician and educator named Maria Montessori in the early 1900’s. She established this developmental approach from extensive research with special needs children, and it focuses on independence, freedom within limits, and following a child’s natural psychological, physical and social development. While based on her research with special needs children, Montessori’s philosophy is appropriate for all children.

Here’s why. Fundamentally, Montessori education is a model of human development, and the educational approach is based on that model. The model has two basic principles. The first principle is that children absorb and learn by interacting with their environments. The second is that children, especially under the age of six, have an inborn path of psychological development.

Based on her observations, Montessori believed that children who are able to choose and act freely within the environment prepared according to her model would learn according to their natural tendency and thus achieve optimal progress and growth.

Although a range of educational practices exist under the name Montessori, the following fundamentals are needed according to the International and American associations of Montessori:

• Mixed age classrooms, from 2½ to 6 years old are the most common
• A Montessori trained teacher
• Students choose their activities from a range of options
• Freedom of movement within the classroom
• Uninterrupted blocks of learning time, ideally three hours
• A discovery model, where students learn concepts from working with materials, instead of direct instruction
• Specialized educational materials developed by Montessori and her collaborators

Montessori daycare in Austin allows children the freedom to learn, but does not force learning on them. It gives them a chance to be children, who are naturally curious and want to discover the world around them, while having fun and developing at their own pace.