Montessori sensorial materials

Montessori sensorial materials are materials used in the Montessori classroom to help a child develop and refine his or her five senses. Use of these materials constitutes the next level of difficulty after those of practical life.

Like many other materials in the Montessori classroom, sensorial materials have what is called "control of error", meaning that the child not only works with the material, but has a way to check the work rather than seeking out the teacher. This is done to help promote independence on the part of the child.

The cylinder blocks

Small, tall and short, thick and thin, and combinations of these.

The cylinder blocks are ten wooden cylinders of various dimensions that can be removed from a fitted container block using a knobbed handle. To remove the cylinders, the child tends to naturally use the same three-finger grip used to hold pencils.

Several activities can be done with the cylinder blocks. The main activity involves removing the cylinders from the block and replacing them. The control of error is constituted in the child's inability to replace a cylinder in the wrong hole. There are four cylinder blocks. Their purpose is to provide various dimensions of size to help the child distinguish between large

The pink tower

The pink tower has ten pink cubes. The smallest cube is 1 cubic centimeter in volume, and the largest cube is 1000 cubic centimeters in volume (each side is 10 cm in length). The work is designed to provide the child with a concept of "big" and "small."

The child starts with the largest cube and puts the second-largest cube on top of it. This continues until all ten cubes are stacked on top of each other.

The control of error is visual. The child sees the cubes are in the wrong order. The successive dimensions of each cube are such that if the cubes are stacked flush with a corner, the smallest cube may be fit squarely on the ledge of each level. If the smallest cube is too small or big to fit on the ledge, the tower cubes are in the wrong order

The broad stair

The broad stair (also called Brown Stair) is designed to teach the concepts of "thick" and "thin". It comprises ten sets of wooden prisms with a natural or brown stain finish. Each stair is 20 cm in length and varies in thickness from 1 to 10 cm^{[dubious – discuss]}. When put together from thickest to thinnest, they make an even staircase.

As an extension, the broad stairs are often used with the pink tower to allow the child to make many designs.

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  The pink tower and the broad stair are shown here together in an extension activity. The child can make a variety of designs limited only by his or her imagination and the constraints of the material.

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The red rods

The red rods are rods of equal diameter, varying only in length. The smallest is 10 cm long and the largest is one meter long. Each rod is 1 square inch thick. By holding the ends of the rods with two hands, the material is designed to give the child a sense of long and short.

The colored cylinders

Also called the knobless cylinders, the colored cylinders are exactly the same dimensions as the cylinder blocks mentioned above.

There are 4 boxes of cylinders:

• Yellow cylinders that vary in height and width. The shortest cylinder is the thinnest and the tallest cylinder is the thickest.
• Red cylinders that are the same height, but vary in width.
• Blue cylinders that have the same width, but vary in height.
• Green cylinders that vary in height and width. The shortest cylinder is the thickest and the tallest cylinder is the thinnest.

The child can do a variety of exercises with these materials, including matching them with the cylinder blocks, stacking them on top of each other to form a tower, and arranging them in size or different patterns. When the yellow, red, and green cylinders are placed on top of each other, they all are the same height.^[1]

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  Colored Cylinders laid out in a design.

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  The green, yellow, and red cylinders are stacked on top of each other.

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  Here, the knobless cylinders are used with the cylinders from the cylinder block.

The binomial cube

The binomial cube is a cube that has the following pieces: one red cube, three black and red prisms, three black and blue prisms, and one blue cube.

A box with eight prisms represent the elements of (a + b)³ or: a³ + 3a²b + 3ab² + b³

The pieces are stored in a box with two hinged opening sides. The color pattern of the cube is painted all around the outside of the box (except the bottom).

The material is not designed as for math education until the elementary years of Montessori education. In the primary levels (ages 3–6), it is used as sensorial material.

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  The Binomial Cube

The trinomial cube

The trinomial cube is similar to the binomial cube, but has the following pieces:

• 1 red cube and 6 black and red prisms (varying in size)
• 1 blue cube and 6 black and blue prisms (varying in size)
• 1 yellow cube and 6 black and yellow prisms (varying in size)
• 6 black prisms (same size)

This is similar to the binomial cube, but is a physical representation of the formula:

(a + b + c)³ = a³ + 3a²b + 3a²c + b³ + 3ab² + 3b²c + c³ + 3ac² + 3bc² + 6abc

Other materials

There are many Montessori sensorial materials, and more are being investigated and developed by teachers. Other popular Montessori sensorial materials include:

Monomial cube 

A cube similar to the binomial and trinomial cube. The child has a sensorial experience of the power of multiplying by two and developing that into a cube.

Geometric cabinet 

Several different shapes are inset into wood and placed in drawers. The child distinguishes the different shapes, learns their names, and learns how to discriminate from the shapes.

The constructive triangles 

Different triangles are put together to form various shapes. Shapes made with the triangles include the parallelogram, hexagon, rhombus, and trapezoid.

Color tablets 

Boxes with tablets inside. The sides are usually made of wood or plastic. The middle is painted wood or plastic. The only difference between them is the colors in the middle. There are three color boxes. The first has the three primary colors (red, blue, and yellow). The second has 12 different colors. The third box has nine colors, but in different grades from light to dark.

Geometric solids 

Ten Geometric three-dimensional shapes made from wood and usually painted blue. The shapes are:

• Sphere
• Cone
• Ovoid
• Ellipsoid
• Triangle-based pyramid
• Square-based pyramid
• Cube
• Cylinder
• Rectangular prism
• Triangular prism

The mystery bag 

The mystery bag contains various object that the child feels and sorts without looking into the bag. The object is removed after the child has decided how to sort it and a visual check is done. (Though this may also be done blindfolded to add to the experience).

Rough and smooth boards 

Sandpaper is glued onto a smooth wood board. Various grading of sandpaper are used later as an extension of this activity to help the child discriminate between them.

Fabric box 

Different fabric materials are used that the child must feel and match. A blindfold is usually used so the child cannot see the materials.

Thermic bottles

Water of different temperatures is added to metal bottles. The child lines them up from hottest to coldest.

Baric tablets 

Wooden tablets of various weight to help the child discriminate between weight.

Sound cylinders 

Two boxes, each containing six cylinders. One set has a red top and the other a blue top. When shaken, each cylinder of the same color gives off a different sound. The sound from the red cylinder is matched with the same exact sound from the blue cylinder.

Bells 

Twenty-six bells are used to help develop a sense of musical tones.

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  The Color Tablets: Box 3

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  The Geometric Solids

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  The Montessori Bells

See also

• Froebel Gifts
• Unit block
• Alphabet Nursery Blocks (ABC-Blocks)

References

1. ^ http://flickr.com/photos/27682674@N02/2582293141/