Practical engineering skills, applied arts, and design are important aspects of our teaching approach. Our program allows children to engage in hands-on, creative activities that foster problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and design thinking. At the same time, design thinking is also integrated into the AMI Montessori practical life curriculum as children engage in various problem-solving and design challenges, brainstorm ideas, and prototype solutions.
Applied arts bring creativity to these practical projects, including painting, drawing, sculpture, and other forms of artistic expression. These activities allow children to develop fine motor skills and express their thoughts and emotions through visual design to gain an appreciation for aesthetics.
In the classroom, this involves activities that encourage children to explore and create structures, mechanisms, and systems. Children work with various materials, such as blocks, construction sets, and recycled materials, to build bridges, towers, and other structures. They also help assemble and make furniture while learning about balance, stability, and strength as they experiment with different designs and problem-solve to achieve desired outcomes.
These activities nurture children’s creativity and innovation and foster higher-order executive functioning and life skills such as persistence, resilience, and thinking outside the box.
In a nutshell, incorporating engineering, applied arts and design into the Montessori practical life curriculum empowers children to become active learners, creative thinkers, and problem solvers while they have fun exploring the world around them.