Dr. Montessori wrote, “A child’s work is to create the person he or she will become someday in the future.” As adults, we work to perfect the environments we live in, but the child’s work is to perfect himself. Our young children find something special about tasks that an adult often considers ordinary such as washing dishes, cutting vegetables, even dusting or polishing. Our children become excited to be able to acquire these skills and are invited to work as long as they want until they are truly satisfied. These skills will stay with them for the rest of their lives.
Our classroom is just buzzing these days with these kinds of lessons including washing windows, wiping the dust from our plants, and preparing food. The children also enjoy expanding these skills to our outside environment. They planted spring bulbs with Mrs. Recigno, raked and gathered leaves, and swept our walkways. We also go on leave-nature studies and talk about how the animals are preparing for the winter.
Gardening 
Leaf-Wiping 
Window-Washing 
Sweeping
Try These Activities at Home
Some other ideas you might try at your home during the fall season are picking apples, making caramel apples, making a pinecone bird feeder, planting fall mums or spring bulbs, making leaf art rubbings, going on a hayride, navigating a corn maze, making leaf suncatchers, and going on nature scavenger hunts. The children are very interested to learn the names of the various leaves at school. Why don’t you try a leaf identifying activity in your own backyard or neighborhood?
