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.
This is the set-up I used for Miss Bells this week. A few baby dolls, a bucket (it is what I had) If you have a lovely wash basin that would be perfect too, a washcloth, a blanket to wrap the baby, a cloth diaper, and a few books. 
You can definitely do a pouring exercise (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.
She also wrapped the baby and loved the baby. 
We talked a lot this week about being gentle and loving. It is so nice to see her 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 were I Love You So...,, You Are My I Love You, and The Big Book of Beautiful Babies.
Even Peanut was getting lots of gentle love this week from Bells.
Toddlers are so eager to learn and they want to be so helpful at this age. Get them involved in your everyday routine and watch how they blossom.
so cute! beautiful pics:))
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!
DeleteYour 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!
ReplyDeleteThis 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!
ReplyDeleteOh 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!!
ReplyDeleteWhen 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!
ReplyDeleteWhat sweet pictures of her wrapping up her dolly. So cute!!
ReplyDeleteThis 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!
ReplyDeleteI love this! What a neat idea!
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas! I'm in the "learning about" Montessori mode. Thanks for sharing what you do!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is really starting to care for her babies now with real consciousness and effort at 4 years old. I haven't tried the washing of the baby yet and your post helped me remember my Mom bought my daughter a doll that can go into the tub. Going to try this! I love this lesson especially how it teaches to show love and care. Beautiful!
ReplyDelete