As children progress in the practical life area, they do work that involves a longer sequence of steps, a finer attention to detail, and more complicated fine motor skills. 

In addition to care of self and care of the environment, practical life also includes grace and courtesy lessons. Older preschoolers practice polite manners such as how to politely get a teacher’s attention without interrupting, how to offer help, and how to be a good friend in the classroom.

Five year old Petra is learning to tie a bow. She uses the dressing frame for bow tying to practice, which has two different color ribbons, so it is easier for her distinguish the two strings. Once she has mastered the dressing frame she will move on to her own shoes.  This kind of work builds Petra’s finger dexterity as well as her independence.

Joey is working on polishing pennies. In order to do this he must first mix salt and lemon juice to make the cleaner. Then he uses a q-tip to rub the coin. Then he dries the coin. Finally he puts the clean coin into a small jar. This kind of polishing work pushes Joey to be able to concentrate for an extended amount of time, encouraging his attention to detail, and follow multi-step directions. Being able to follow multi-step directions in a specific order is a fundamental skill that he will need as he moves on to first grade.