Banana Slicing (First Food Preparation)

Direct aim. To peel and slice a banana safely and serve it.

Indirect aims, the ones you will not see at once

A small cutting board, a crinkle cutter or a blunt butter knife, a plate or bowl for the slices, a small bowl for the peel, and a damp cloth. Montessori Services' bamboo board is 8 by 5.75 inches.

A crinkle cutter has a wavy blade with a handle across the top, so both hands press down on it, away from the blade. A nylon or butter knife with a serrated edge works for the child who is ready for a knife.

A ripe banana. Firm but not hard; very ripe bananas turn to mush.

A clean table at the child's height, and a hand-washing station nearby.

Montessori's 1912 book wanted children of four or five taught how fruits are peeled and the seeds thrown away carefully, and her 1914 handbook puts knives in every Children's House table setting.

1. 1Wash hands together, then carry the tray to the table.Say "Before we touch food, we wash our hands."
2. 2Snap the banana's stem down to start the peel, or make a small nick for the child the first time.Silent Let the child see where the peel starts.
3. 3Pull the peel down in strips and lay it in the peel bowl.Silent Slow strips, one at a time.
4. 4Lay the banana on the board. With a crinkle cutter, put both hands on top of the handle and press straight down to cut one slice.Say "Both hands on top, push down." Then silent while cutting.
5. 5With a knife instead, curl the fingers of the holding hand into a claw on the far end of the banana, and saw gently with the serrated edge, away from those fingers.Say "Fingers curled, like a claw." Then silent.
6. 6Slide each slice onto the plate. Stop before the last short end, which is eaten whole.Silent Neat slices in a row on the plate.
7. 7Offer the plate to someone, then wipe the board and tools and put the peel in the compost or bin.Say "Would you like to offer some?" Then the cleanup, without comment.

The wavy edges a crinkle cutter leaves on each slice.

Peeling in long strips from the top.

Offering the plate to someone else first.

A clean board at the end, ready for next time.

The slices and the board. Slices that are thick on one side show a crooked cut, a squashed banana shows too much pressure, and food on the floor or table shows the work wasn't kept on the board.

Montessori’s name for this check is the control of error.

• Slicing cucumber or cooked carrot with the crinkle cutter
• Spreading butter or jam on bread with a butter knife
• Peeling a clementine or a hard-boiled egg
• Cutting soft cheese or strawberries with a nylon knife
• Preparing snack for the whole family and setting it out

Variations

This work needs only the material, so it has no printable of its own. The shelf plan below places it among the other works for the same age.

Free to print for your family, no email needed. Print at 100%, not “fit to page”, so the drawings keep their scale. Every printable on the site is listed on the printables page.

Ready for the first presentation

Ready for the next lesson

Use a crinkle cutter or a blunt butter or nylon knife. Never a sharp kitchen knife at this age.

With a crinkle cutter, both hands go on top of the handle. With a knife, the holding hand curls into a claw and stays behind the blade.

Cut only on the board, sitting at the table. Knives are carried point down and handed over handle first.

An adult stays beside the child for every knife lesson, and the tools are stored out of a younger sibling's reach.

Wash hands before and after. Check for food allergies before offering any fruit to guests.

We have not bought the paid homeschool curricula, so they are not listed here.

1. Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method (1912)

   Chapter VIII, Refection

   Children of four or five should be taught early how carefully the seeds must be thrown away and how the fruits are peeled.

   The preparation of fruit consists in removing all indigestible parts, such as the peel, and parts the child might swallow by mistake, such as the seeds.

   The table implements of the little ones are limited to the spoon, and for the larger children extended to the fork and knife.

   The milking of the goats could be done by the larger children after they had scrupulously washed their hands.

2. Maria Montessori, Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook (1914)

   A Children's House

   The plates are always of china, the tumblers of glass, and knives are always included in the table equipment.

   The children lay and clear away the table, wash up, wash a few little clothes, and cook eggs.

Lesson text and the scope and sequence are CC BY 4.0: reuse them with credit to Owen Wren, Homeschool Montessori, and a link. Photos and illustrations are all rights reserved. Terms.