Groups of exercises of practical life

Explain the different groups of exercises of practical life. How do you think this grouping is helpful?

Ans. There are many types of EPL. Exercises are divided based on nature of activities, level of complexity / difficulty which decide activities appropriate for certain age group. The exercises of practical life are broadly divided into four categories.

1. Elementary exercises
2. Exercises of personal care
3. Grace and courtesy exercises
4. Care of Environment exercises

Elementary exercises:

Elementary exercises develop muscles and eyes coordination, improves focus and concentration and most of the activities in this group are related to daily household chores. Students will learn to be independent of their mothers or caregivers at home for simple tasks. For example, in this group students are taught to hold, carry, pour and place a jug of liquid which will make them independent to get water or juice from a jug or to serve water to someone.

Elementary exercises are further divided in 3 categories based on the level of difficulty and thus targeted to students of different age group plus their practice of motor skills. The three categories of elementary exercises are

1. Basic elementary exercises
2. Elementary exercises
3. Higher elementary exercises

Basic Elementary Exercises

These activities are mainly targeted to the children age group 2 ½ to 3 years old. These exercises involve very simple task and require basic movements. They also take very short time to complete as smaller the child shorter are their attention span. Most of the exercises in this group just only involve handling of objects. Some of the examples are carrying a glass of liquid, holding a spoon, hanging an apron or holding a jug. Above mentioned all exercises improve motor skills, exactness and precision.

Elementary Exercises

Once the child ace basic elementary exercises, bit more complex and advanced exercises of this category can be introduced. These exercises are for children belonging to age group 2 ½ to 3 ½ years. They further improve their motor skills and take little more time than basic elementary exercises that’s why require longer attention span. Some of the example of these exercises are rolling and unrolling / folding and unfolding of mat, opening and closing of bottle tops, threading beads, pegging, pouring rice, water or beans etc.

Higher Elementary Exercises

These exercises are more logical and slightly more complex than the exercise in first two categories. Most of these exercises are aimed for children above 3 years old. Though the exercises are very similar to the above-mentioned categories but slightly advanced versions. Some of the examples are wringing wet cloth or sponging water, use of funnel or dropper to pour things from one container to another. After teaching students about safe handling of sharp things, use of scissors to cut paper can also be introduced.  These cutting exercises can be executed with many variations.

Exercises of personal care

Besides exercises related to daily routine house chores, children should also be taught activities of personal care that groom them. From these exercises they will learn how to keep themselves tidy, neat and clean. As a result, children will become more independent and confident. 

These exercises are further divided into three sub categories:

Grooming:

In this category, they are taught of personal hygiene. Some of the examples are washing hands and face properly with no sign of lather on chin or edges of face, blowing nose, care for nails and brushing teeth etc.

Dressing:

These exercises are important to teach them how to dress or undress themselves independently. For teaching these exercises frames are required with different type of fasteners used in clothing or shoes. Some of the common frames are button, buckle, bow tying, shoe lacing and zipper frames. They allow students to practice these common fasteners. But these exercises are not limited to these frames only, shoe polishing is also taught in these exercises with creating much mess.

Preparing Food:

One of the aspects of exercises of personal care is to feed themselves independently. For this purpose, students are taught to use kitchen tools with all the safety measures. Some of the exercises are managing contains with different types of caps, use of grater, knife and cutting board etc.

Exercises of Grace and Courtesy:

As the saying goes, “Good manners will open doors that the best education cannot.”  Besides teaching a child basic daily life skills, children should also be taught how to be courteous and well behaved not only with elders but with their fellows as well as younger ones. Simple exercises of greeting and introducing each other can be done anytime or whenever there is new student in the class. Some more mindful exercises to develop grace are walking around mat / line with many variations. At advanced stage, students may be introduced silence game to give them the idea of meditation. For courtesy, students should know how to offer pointed things, how to hold up, carrying around and putting down a chair, sitting properly on chair etc.

Exercises of care of environment:

To raise a responsible family member and global citizen, this subcategory is most important. This category can be further divided in two subcategories which are as follows:

Care for living things:

These exercises make them compassionate, kind and empathetic to living things surrounding them. It is observed that children tear leaves or grass for no reason. It should be taught to them that instead plants are also living things and very useful for our environment so one should take care of them. They should be able to water them, clean and wipe the leaves to remove the dirt and remove dried and dead leaves. Similarly, some kids irritate and annoy animals especially stray cats. Compassion for animals should be inculcate in them since very early age. 

Care for nonliving things:

These exercises should be taught to make them responsible of their belongings and even surrounding. They are very important in Pakistan especially to be careful about the private and public property. Commonly available things can be taught in start like cleaning dining or study table after the work is done. After recess they may be asked to clean the floor it there is any litter; for this purpose, use of broom and dust pan should be taught. When there is any spill on floor, they should be taught to use how to mop etc. At advance level, children should be taught about different surfaces and materials and how to handle and clean them e.g. carpeted floors, cleaning of metal surfaces and pots etc.