Aristotle said, “There is nothing in the mind which is not first in the senses”.
Montessori provides a complete curriculum area devoted to enhancing the child’s ability to process and refine information gained via the 5 senses.
Minor differences in sizes, shades, sounds and sensations challenge the children to concentrate.
Some learning difficulties have been linked to the brain’s ability to sort and process information gained from sight, hearing etc.
The Sensorial curriculum provides the opportunity for the young child to be developing neural pathways to develop the sorting and processing within the brain.
Additionally, the Sensorial curriculum provides pre-literacy and pre-numeracy preparation. The equipment appeals to the child’s interest in building towers and putting objects in holes.
Pink Tower
The Pink Tower also develops visual discrimination by size. The randomly placed cubes are built upon one another. Each only differs by one centimetre per cube.
The Pink Tower also develops the stereognostic sense as the children “feel” the different sizes as they carry the pieces individually across the room. All this walking backwards and forwards assists active children to use their energy in a constructive manner.
Volume concepts and Geometry are also unconsciously absorbed by the child as they enjoy building a tower.
Cylinder Blocks
There are four cylinder blocks. The children remove the 10 cylinders which vary slightly in size. After removing and randomly placing on the table, the child, using concentrated inspection, chooses the next “largest, widest, or smallest” item (depending on the differences) and places it in the next hole. If they make an error, they can fix it themselves, thereby learning and increasing in confidence.
They hold the cylinder block by the knob. Notice in the picture how this prepares the child for later holding a pencil!
Knobless Cylinders
The same dimensions as the cylinders in the cylinder block, this is a grading activity with extension activities available.
Tasting Bottles
Sweet, salty, bitter and sour are introduced. This can also lead to discussion about safety with poisons.
Brown Stair
The Brown Stair works in a similar way to the Pink Tower. The Brown Stair changes only in 2 dimensions—the length remains the same. It encourages language—”broad”, “narrow”, “broader”, “broadest” etc.
Red Rods
Using length as the difference the children discriminate the different sizes to place in order. Adding the smallest rod to each of the rods makes it the same length as the one above (pre-maths). This leads neatly into the Number Rods from the Maths section.
Extension Activities
Montessori materials are designed to be used in a particular way to ensure a particular developmental outcome. Once this is established, there are a variety of extension activities for each of the activities which offer creative opportunities and lead into other areas of learning.
Colour Box 1,2, and 3
Pairs of the primary colours introduce the young child to matching and naming these colours. Using a 3 period lesson technique, the teacher assists the child with their vocabulary.
Colour box 2 increases the range of colours to secondary and tertiary colours as well as black and white.
Colour box 3 develops visual discrimination where the child grades the shading of colours.
