Self-care is all about actions taken to maintain personal health and human development. Why not start teaching the basics now when they are toddlers. Maria Montessori made it well known that what she called “Practical Life Skills,” were very important for children to master. Practical life skills can mean so many different things; here I am going to show you how a toddler as young as 12 months can start to help care for herself.
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This is the set-up I used for Bells this week. A few baby dolls, a bucket, a washcloth, a blanket to wrap the baby, a cloth diaper, and a few books.
You can set out a pouring activity (pouring a pitcher of water into the bucket) if your child is a little older. I haven’t started that because Bells isn’t ready to pour without a mess yet.
She washed the baby with the washcloth and then practiced on herself. It was so very cute.
You can also practice swaddling the baby, rocking the baby and loving the baby.
Enjoy talking about being gentle and loving. It is so nice to see your children learning all of these wonderful skills.
We even had her new tooth brush set up for teeth brushing. These little baby teeth need cleaning too.
Our favorite books of the week for this Teaching Empathy Theme were
Toddlers are so eager to learn, and they want to be so helpful at this age. Practical Life Skills is a great way to start working on their independence, self-confidence, and self-care. Get them involved in your everyday routine and watch how they blossom.
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Carrie says
July 31, 2014 at 9:28 pmGreat ideas! I’m in the “learning about” Montessori mode. Thanks for sharing what you do!
mommy2apirateandprincess says
July 31, 2014 at 3:43 amI love this! What a neat idea!
Vanessa says
July 31, 2014 at 3:27 amThis is such a sweet post about Bells learning empathy and care taking. Little Bee is learning to be “gentle” with the dog and also with insects. It’s amazing how they learn so quickly!
ktcupoftea says
July 31, 2014 at 12:01 amWhat sweet pictures of her wrapping up her dolly. So cute!!
Valley Family Fun says
July 30, 2014 at 7:29 pmWhen my second child was born when my first was 18 months, we bought him his own baby and it worked perfectly as a great transition, too!
Cherine M says
October 30, 2013 at 5:50 pmOh my gosh this is so sweet, and reminds me so much of Ava!! We built a little diy care station for her here, http://makingmontessoriours.blogspot.ca/2012/01/baby-doll-care-station.html I really like the addition of all the great books!!
Donna Peters says
October 29, 2013 at 5:11 pmThis was an awesome idea, I think I will be trying this with my 18 month year old daughter. She already thinks that she is someones mother ( her older brothers). Great Post, love the picture where she is sitting looking at the books, like a big girl! They grow so fast!
Missy @ Dot-to-Dot Connections says
October 29, 2013 at 1:03 pmYour daughter is adorable!! I love your idea of showing your daughter how to care for a baby by using a doll. My youngest would love this! She loves babies so much and because we can’t have any more babies I feel kind of sad that she will never get to experience what it’s like to help look after a baby sibling. Maybe we need to “adopt” one of her dolls for a day and show her what it would be like to look after a baby 🙂 Thanks for the great idea!
Deepti Gupta says
October 29, 2013 at 5:58 amso cute! beautiful pics:))
Kimberly Huff says
October 29, 2013 at 12:16 pmThank you so much!
Kimberly Huff says
October 29, 2013 at 12:16 pmThank you so much!