Recommended Age: 2 and ½ years onwards
Level of Parent Involvement: Medium, this exercise requires the adult to facilitate
Prerequisites
- None
Materials
- None
Preparation
- None
Steps
- Invite the child to the activity, this activity may be done with siblings as usually in the Montessori 3-6 classroom this exercise is done in a group or whole group setting
- Tell the child/children “today we are going to play a game”
- Tell the child/children “let’s see if you can copy what I do, but when I put my hand out you have to stop” (make the stop gesture by putting your hand out in front of you, with your palm facing the child)
- Remind the child of the large muscle movement game you have previously played, explaining to them “this time we will play the game using our small muscles”
- Begin making small muscle movements for example wriggle your fingers then signal STOP, wriggle your nose then signal STOP, blink your eyes then signal STOP
- Repeat making small muscle movements and signalling stop
- Finish off the exercise by letting the child know it’s now time to take some deep breaths in and out, in through the nose and out through the mouth
- Keep the moment of silence and stillness for as long as the child/children can manage (the purpose of this exercise is building the child’s self-control and coordination of movement)
- Try to extend the moment of silence each time you complete this exercise with the child
- Transition out of the silence/stillness with a song or poem
- Direct the child to their next activity, letting them know that you will play this game with them again on another day
