Montessori glossary · The curriculum
Practical life
Real, purposeful everyday tasks — pouring, sweeping, buttoning, polishing — done by the child.
In plain English
What it actually means
Practical life is where the youngest children start, and it looks like housework to an adult eye. It is not busywork before the real curriculum: carrying a tray of water across a room without spilling demands exactly the sequencing, concentration and control of movement that reading and mathematics will later require. It is also how a two-year-old becomes competent, which is the foundation of everything else.
Why it matters to you
On a tour
If a school describes practical life as ‘just play’, they have misunderstood their own curriculum.
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Other words you will hear
Hear these words used properly
Tours run mid-morning, during the work cycle, year-round.