Dusting Furniture
From Montessori Album
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Dusting Furniture | |
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Practical Life - Care of the Environment | |
Level | Pre-Primary Primary |
Age | 3 - 4 |
Prerequisites | Folding |
Materials | cotton cloth |
This activity teaches the child how to dust furniture.
Presentation
- Invite the child to the shelf
- Take a dustcloth with both hands from the basket and show it to the child
- Take it to the child's table and place it in the center
- Place the chair with the left front leg next to the left front leg of the table, so that they touch.
- Stand on the right side of the child
- Unfold the dustcloth slowly
- Place the index finger of one hand in the center of the cloth
- With the other hand fold the corners to the center
- Turn the dustcloth so it will lay straight in front of you
- Fold the dustcloth in half
- Turn it a quarter of a circle and fold in half again. (Now you have a small folded square dustcloth)
- Take the cloth in you right hand and place the left had around the left edge of the table
- Move the dustcloth from left to right, horizontally, starting at the top. Move slowly
- Coming at the end turn the cloth slightly to "catch" the dust.
- Repeat steps 13 and 14 until the whole table has been dusted horizontally.
- Now move the dustcloth vertically starting at the upper left corner.
- Repeat step 14 when coming to the edge of the table.
- Dust the whole table vertically.
- Hold the dustcloth in both hands and take outside or to an open window.
- Shake it out by holding it at a corner, turn your head in the opposite direction.
- Again hold it in both hands and place it back in the center of the table
- Fold it into a square
- Invite the child to dust the table.
Follow up: Check to see if the child puts everything back in its place helping him if needed.
Obs: If this is not the way tables are dusted in your culture, show the child how to dust your way.
Points of Interest
Looking at the dust in the dustcloth
Control of Error
The dust left on the table
Variations and Extensions
The child can dust the shelves
Further Reading
- Teaching Montessori in the Home: The Pre-School Years by Elizabeth G. Hainstock, page 26