Preliminary tasks in the Montessori 3-6 years-old curriculum.

Montessori Preliminary tasks are the first set of activities that are done when new children come to your class. These tasks include skills that are required for every day in the Montessori environment and suitable behaviour that they will carry with them throughout their lives.

Rolling and unrolling a mat

Children will be working on mats almost every day. In this Montessori preliminary activity, you’ll be presenting to them how to unroll and roll a floor mat properly, politely, and neatly. They’ll also learn to put away their floor mat properly the way they found it. Practicing unrolling and rolling a mat in Montessori helps them get it right.

Carrying a Tray

Children will very often be carrying a tray in class. This is an important Montessori preliminary skill to master because the child will need to carry their materials by themselves daily. They need to learn to carry trays safely, too.

Carrying a Chair

We’ve all seen those classrooms where children drag a chair along the floor making that awful scraping noise. Carrying a chair is a Montessori preliminary skill that teaches children to carry a chair properly and quietly.

Sitting at the table

Sitting properly at the table is something we would all like children to do. One of the Montessori preliminary skills is teaching children to sit correctly at the table.

Carrying a table

This is an interesting Montessori preliminary task because tables are heavy and children need to collaborate and work together to carry a table. This means children must problem-solve together to complete the task of carrying a table.

Carrying a pair of scissors

Carrying a pair of scissors correctly is extremely important and the directress teaches the child how to carry a pair of scissors carefully and never to run with scissors.