• Many parents notice that toddlers exhibit a keen interest in lending a hand with household chores
and partaking in activities associated with caring for both our well-being and our surroundings.
Although these tasks may seem mundane to adults, they hold a special allure for young children. Toddlers
naturally possess curiosity and a desire to play a meaningful role within the family unit. Moreover, these
activities can have a soothing effect, even on highly active children.
Rather than exclusively offering games, let's provide children with opportunities to actively engage in daily life
activities. Let's encourage their involvement in household tasks and activities we undertake ourselves. It's
essential to prioritize the learning process over striving for perfect results. When your child joins in, tasks may
take longer, and outcomes may not be flawless, but the child acquires valuable skills and evolves into a
helpful member of the household for life.
We outline several ways for children to participate in the activities of daily life:
Caring for plants
➢ Watering flowers
➢ Wiping the dust from leaves
➢ Sowing seeds
Preparation of food
➢ Washing vegetables
➢ Beating eggs
➢ Putting cereals from a small jar or bag into a bowl and adding milk.
Snack
➢ Squeezing orange juice
➢ _ Peeling and cutting fruit
➢ _ Spreading the jam/spread on the bread
Baking
➢ Weighing ingredients
➢ Help with adding ingredients
➢ Mixing
Cleaning
➢ Sweeping
➢ Dusting
➢ Wiping up spilled liquids
Getting dressed
➢ Putting on and taking off socks
➢ Putting on shoes with Velcro fastener
➢ Putting on a t- shirt
Helping with laundry
➢ Putting dirty laundry in the laundry basket
➢ Putting in and taking out the laundry from the washing
➢ Sorting washed laundry
Trips to the store
➢ Making a shopping list /using pictures/
➢ Picking things from the shelf and putting them into the shopping cart
➢ Help with pushing the shopping card
Learning to care for themselves
➢ Blowing nose
➢ Combing hair
➢ Brushing teeth
Source: Simone Davies (Montessori pre batoľatá – príručka pre rodičov, ako z dieťaťa vychovať zvedavého a
zodpovedného človeka, 2021)
