Montessori Sunday: Care of Plants

Ahh, another visit to the lovely area of practical life, this time looking at the sub-area of care of the environment. Every notice how self-centered young children are? When something interests them the rest of the world does not exist. Activities in the Montessori classroom like care of plants, sweeping, dusting, etc. begin to bring the child's attention to the world around them. We want them to begin to feel a sense of responsibility for the environment and participate in both caring for it and making it beautiful. Taking care of plants fulfills both these desires.

Care of plants stand at my training

For taking care of plants the child first puts on an apron, and spreads an oilcloth out on a table. The training center I attended had an absolutely lovely copper-topped work bench just for plant care (see picture to right) but I've yet to see any
permanent set-ups in a regular classroom (though I'm sure it's on many wish lists!). A tray containing scissors or plant shears, a dish for cut leaves, a mister or atomizer, a cloth for spills, and a water can is brought to the table next. The child is introduced to all the objects and told their names as the Directress lays them out in the order they will be used.

The child is then allowed to choose a plant from the environment that need care and brings it to the working table. If there is a book of the plants in the classroom the teacher will help the child find the picture that matches and see how much water and sunlight the plant needs. Next she will demonstrate how to  clip off any dead leaves near the stem and how to discard them into the tray. The child is allowed to try as well, with a reminder that we clip only leaves that are brown and dry. The plant is misted lightly and the soil is checked for dryness to see if it needs water. When all this is done the child returns the plant and either picks another one to care for or cleans up their work.

While it's not unusual for plants in a classroom to suffer from too much care (especially over watering!), it's still great to have a child walk by a shelf with a plant, notice that it's not looking so well and then lovingly bringing it over to a table and tending to it. It gives the child a purpose and they are so proud of what they accomplish.

    

We don't have any plants in our classroom currently
but I think the children would love something
like this lovely terrarium my aunt got me for home.