The Montessori Method, 2nd Edition - Restoration # Chapter 11 - Manual Labor - The Potter’s Art and Building ## [11.1 Difference between manual labor and manual gymnastics](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+11+-+Manual+labor+the+potter%E2%80%99s+art%2C+and+building#11.1-difference-between-manual-labor-and-manual-gymnastics (Link to Montessori.Zone's Translation Base Text "The Montessori Method")) Manual labor is distinguished from manual gymnastics by the fact that the object of the latter is to exercise the hand, and the former, *to **accomplish a determinate work***, being, or simulating, a socially useful object. The one perfects the individual, and the other enriches the world; the two things are, however, connected because, in general, only one who has perfected his own hand can produce a useful product. I have thought wise, after a short trial, to exclude completely Froebel's exercises, because weaving and sewing on cardboard are ill-adapted to the physiological state of the child's visual organs where the powers of the accommodation of the eye have not yet reached complete development; hence, these exercises cause an ***effort*** of the organ which may have a fatal influence on the development of the sight. The other little exercises of Froebel, such as the folding of paper, are exercises of the hand, not work. There is still left plastic work, the most rational among all the exercises of Froebel, which consists in making the child reproduce determinate objects in clay. In consideration, however, of the system of liberty which I proposed, I did not like to make the children ***copy*** anything, and, in giving them clay to fashion in their own manner, I did not direct the children to ***produce useful things***; nor was I accomplishing an educative result, inasmuch as plastic work, as I shall show later, serves for the study of the psychic individuality of the child in his spontaneous manifestations, but not for his education. ## [11.2 The School of Educative Art](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+11+-+Manual+labor+the+potter%E2%80%99s+art%2C+and+building#11.2-the-school-of-educative-art (Link to Montessori.Zone's Translation Base Text "The Montessori Method")) I decided, therefore, to try in the "Children's Houses" some very interesting exercises which I had seen accomplished by an artist, Professor Randone, in the "School of Educative Art" founded by him. This school had its origin along with the society for young people, called ***Giovinezza Gentile***, both school and society having the object of educating youth in gentleness towards their surroundings that is, in respect for objects, buildings, monuments: a really important part of civil education, and one which interested me particularly on account of the "Children's Houses," since that institution has, as its fundamental aim, to teach precisely this respect for the walls, for the house, for the surroundings. Very suitably, Professor Randone had decided that the society of ***Giovinezza Gentile*** could not be based upon sterile theoretical preachings of the principles of citizenship, or upon moral pledges taken by the children; but that it must proceed from an art education that should lead the youth to appreciate and love, and consequently respect, objects and especially monuments and historic buildings. Thus the "School of Educative Art" was inspired by a broad artistic conception including the reproduction of objects which are commonly met in the surroundings; the history and pre-history of their production, and the illustration of the principal civic monuments which, in Rome, are in large measure composed of archaeological monuments. In order the more directly to accomplish his object, Professor Randone founded his admirable school in an opening in one of the most artistic parts of the walls of Rome, namely, the wall of Belisarius, overlooking the Villa Umberto Primo a wall that has been entirely neglected by the authorities and by no means respected by the citizens, and upon which Randone lavished care, decorating it with graceful hanging gardens on the outside, and locating within it the School of Art which was to shape the ***Giovinezza Gentile***. Here Randone has tried, very fittingly, to rebuild and revive a form of art that was once the glory of Italy and of Florence the potter's art, that is, the art of constructing vases. ## [11.3 Archaeological, historical, and artistic importance of the vase](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+11+-+Manual+labor+the+potter%E2%80%99s+art%2C+and+building#11.3-archaeological%2C-historical%2C-and-artistic-importance-of-the-vase (Link to Montessori.Zone's Translation Base Text "The Montessori Method")) The archaeological, historical, and artistic importance of the vase is very great and may be compared with numismatic art. In fact, the first object for which humanity felt the need was the *vase*, which came into being with the utilization of fire, and before the discovery of the ***production*** of fire. Indeed the first food of mankind was cooked in a vase. One of the things most important, ethnically, in judging the civilization of a primitive people is the grade of perfection attained in ***pottery***; in fact, the *vase* for domestic life and the ax for social life is the first sacred symbols that we find in the prehistoric epoch, and are the religious symbols connected with the temples of the gods and with the cult of the dead. Even today, religious cults have sacred vases in their Sancta Sanctorum. People who have progressed in civilization show their feeling for art and their aesthetic feeling also in *vases* which are multiplied in almost infinite form, as we see in Egyptian, Etruscan, and Greek art. The vase then comes into being, attains perfection, and is multiplied in its uses and its forms, in the course of human civilization; and the history of the vase follows the history of humanity itself. Besides the civil and moral importance of the vase, we have another practical one, its literal ***adaptability*** to every modification of form, and its susceptibility to the most diverse ornamentation; in this, it gives free scope to the individual genius of the artist. Thus, when once the handicraft leading to the construction of vases has been learned (and this is the part of the progress in the work, learned from the direct and graduated instruction of the teacher), anyone can modify it according to the inspiration of his own aesthetic taste and this is the artistic, individual part of the work. Besides this, in Randone's school, the use of the potter's wheel is taught, as also the composition of the mixture for the bath of majolica ware, and baking of the pieces in the furnace, stages of manual labor which contain an industrial culture. ## [11.4 Manufacture of diminutive bricks and construction of diminutive walls and houses](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+11+-+Manual+labor+the+potter%E2%80%99s+art%2C+and+building#11.4-manufacture-of-diminutive-bricks-and-construction-of-diminutive-walls-and-houses (Link to Montessori.Zone's Translation Base Text "The Montessori Method")) Another work in the School of Educative Art is the manufacture of diminutive bricks, and their baking in the furnace and the construction of diminutive ***walls*** built by the same processes which the masons use in the construction of houses, the bricks being joined by means of mortar handled with a trowel. After the simple construction of the wall, which is very amusing for the children who build it, placing a brick on brick, superimposing row on row, the children pass to the construction of real ***houses***, first, resting on the ground, and, then, really constructed with foundations, after a previous excavation of large holes in the ground by means of little hoes and shovels. These little houses have openings corresponding to windows and doors and are variously ornamented in their facades by little tiles of bright and multi-colored majolica: the tiles themselves being manufactured by the children. Thus the children learn to ***appreciate*** the objects and constructions which surround them, while real manual and artistic labor give them profitable exercise. Such is the manual training which I have adopted in the "Children's Houses"; after two or three lessons the little pupils are already enthusiastic about the construction of vases, and they preserve very carefully their own products, in which they take pride. With their plastic art, they then model little objects, eggs, or fruits, with which they themselves fill the vases. One of the first undertakings is the simple vase of red clay filled with eggs of white clay; then comes the modeling of the vase with one or more spouts, of the narrow-mouthed vase, of the vase with a handle, of that with two or three handles, of the tripod, of the amphora. For children of the age of five or six, the work of the potter's wheel begins. But what most delights the children is the work of building a wall with little bricks, and seeing a little house, the fruit of their own hands, rise in the vicinity of the ground in which are growing plants, also cultivated by them. Thus the age of childhood epitomizes the principal primitive labors of humanity, when the human race, changing from nomadic to stable condition, demanded of the earth its fruit, built itself shelter, and devised vases to cook the foods yielded by the fertile earth. > ##### **The License of this page:** > > This page is part of the “**Montessori Restoration and Translation Project**”.\ > Please [support](https://ko-fi.com/montessori) our “**All-Inclusive Montessori Education for All 0-100+ Worldwide**” initiative. We create open, free, and affordable resources available for everybody interested in Montessori Education. We transform people and environments to be authentic Montessori worldwide. Thank You! > > [](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) > > **License:** This work with all its restoration edits and translations is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). > > Check out the **Page History** of each wiki page in the right column to learn more about all contributors and edits, restorations, and translations done on this page. > > [Contributions](https://ko-fi.com/montessori) and [Sponsors](https://ko-fi.com/montessori) are welcome and very appreciated! * [The Montessori Method, 2nd Edition](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/+Chapter+Index+-+The+Montessori+Method%2C+2nd+Edition+-+Restoration+-+Open+Library#the-montessori-method%2C-2nd-edition---restoration---open-library "The Montessori Method on Montessori Zone - English Language") - English Restoration - [Archive.Org](https://archive.org/details/montessorimethod00montuoft/ "The Montessori Method on Aechive.Org") - [Open Library](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7089223M/The_Montessori_method "The Montessori Method on Open Library") * [Chapter Index](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/+Chapter+Index+-+The+Montessori+Method%2C+2nd+Edition+-+Restoration+-+Open+Library) * [Chapter 00 - Dedication, Acknowledgements, Preface to the American Edition, Introduction](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+00+-+Dedication%2C+Acknowledgements%2C+Preface+to+the+American+Edition%2C+Introduction) * [Chapter 01 - A critical consideration of the new pedagogy in its relation to modern science](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+01+-+A+critical+consideration+of+the+new+pedagogy+in+its+relation+to+modern+science) * [Chapter 02 - History of Methods](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+02+-+History+of+Methods) * [Chapter 03 - Inaugural address delivered on the occasion of the opening of one of the “Children’s Houses”](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+03+-+Inaugural+address+delivered+on+the+occasion+of+the+opening+of+one+of+the+%E2%80%9CChildren%E2%80%99s+Houses%E2%80%9D) * [Chapter 04 - Pedagogical Methods used in the “Children’s Houses”](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+04+-+Pedagogical+Methods+used+in+the+%E2%80%9CChildren%E2%80%99s+Houses%E2%80%9D) * [Chapter 05 - Discipline](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+05+-+Discipline) * [Chapter 06 - How the lesson should be given](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+06+-+How+the+lesson+should+be+given) * [Chapter 07 - Exercises for Practical Life](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+07+-+Exercises+for+Practical+Life) * [Chapter 08 - Reflection the Child’s diet](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+08+-+Reflection+the+Child%E2%80%99s+diet) * [Chapter 09 - Muscular education gymnastics](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+09+-+Muscular+education+gymnastics) * [Chapter 10 - Nature in education agricultural labor: Culture of plants and animals](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+10+-+Nature+in+education+agricultural+labor%3A+Culture+of+plants+and+animals) * [Chapter 11 - Manual labor the potter’s art, and building](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+11+-+Manual+labor+the+potter%E2%80%99s+art%2C+and+building) * [Chapter 12 - Education of the senses](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+12+-+Education+of+the+senses) * [Chapter 13 - Education of the senses and illustrations of the didactic material: General sensibility: The tactile, thermic, basic, and stereo gnostic senses](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+13+-+Education+of+the+senses+and+illustrations+of+the+didactic+material%3A+General+sensibility%3A+The+tactile%2C+thermic%2C+basic%2C+and+stereo+gnostic+senses) * [Chapter 14 - General notes on the education of the senses](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+14+-+General+notes+on+the+education+of+the+senses) * [Chapter 15 - Intellectual education](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+15+-+Intellectual+education) * [Chapter 16 - Method for the teaching of reading and writing](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+16+-+Method+for+the+teaching+of+reading+and+writing) * [Chapter 17 - Description of the method and didactic material used](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+17+-+Description+of+the+method+and+didactic+material+used) * [Chapter 18 - Language in childhood](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+18+-+Language+in+childhood) * [Chapter 19 - Teaching of numeration: Introduction to arithmetic](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+19+-+Teaching+of+numeration%3A+Introduction+to+arithmetic) * [Chapter 20 - Sequence of exercise](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+20+-+Sequence+of+exercise) * [Chapter 21 - General review of discipline](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+21+-+General+review+of+discipline) * [Chapter 22 - Conclusions and impressions](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+22+-+Conclusions+and+impressions) * [Chapter 23 - Illustrations](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+23+-+Illustrations)