Rhythmic exercises carried out upon a line; walking slowly or fast, softly and heavily, on tiptoe, running, skipping, and dancing in time to music. These exercises may be done by utilizing the long, straight cracks in a hardwood floor, the seams in a carpet, by strewing grain or making a snow line out of doors.
Exercises in practical life, the most important of these being brought about by the use of the dressing frames included in the Montessori didactic materials, and including: buttoning on scarlet flannel, linen, and leather, lacing on cloth and leather, fastening hooks and eyes and patent snaps, and tying bow-knots. Other materials used in these exercises are: brooms and fascinating little scrubbing brushes and white enamel basins with which the children help to make the schoolroom tidy in the morning. And the children are taught to open and close doors and gates softly and gracefully and to greet their friends politely and with courtesy.
Physical training brought about through play with a few toys that stimulate healthful muscular exercises and deep breathing. These toys include rather heavy toy wheelbarrows, balls, hoops, bean bags, and kites.
Breathing exercises. For these, Dr. Montessori recommends the march, in which the little ones sing in time to the rhythmic movement of their feet, an exercise in which deep breathing brings about lung strength. She recommends also the singing circle games of Froebel. She leads the children to practice such simple respiratory exercises as, hands on hips, tongue lying flat in the mouth and the mouth open, to draw the breath in deeply with a quick lowering of the shoulders, after which it is slowly expelled, the shoulders returning slowly to their normal position.
Exercises for practice in enunciation, including careful phonic pronunciation of the sounds of the vowels and consonants and the first syllables of words. This practice in the co-ordination of lips, tongue, and teeth not only helps the child to clear speech but leads to a quicker grasp of reading.
Walking upon a line gives poise and muscular control.
Each of these physical exercises has its basis in child interest. Your toddler instinctively pulls and climbs, stretches, and scrambles about on the floor, longs to dress his own fascinating, wee body, and play into the activities of the home. He loves marked, rhythmic music and longs to hear those jingles and nonsense ditties of childhood’s literature in which syllabic sounds are emphasized and repeat themselves.
“Not commands, but freedom; not teaching, but observation,” Dr. Montessori begs of mothers. So she has taken these instinctive activities of the little child and, using them as a basis, she has built upon them her system of physical training for the baby, a system that needs no bidding, “Do this,” because all children love to climb fences and play with buttons and stretch little limbs on the floor, and keep time to rhythmic music.
