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.
-
The Color Tablets: Box 3
-
The Geometric Solids
-
The Montessori Bells
Read more about this topic: Montessori Sensorial Materials
Famous quotes containing the word materials:
“If our entertainment culture seems debased and unsatisfying, the hope is that our children will create something of greater worth. But it is as if we expect them to create out of nothing, like God, for the encouragement of creativity is in the popular mind, opposed to instruction. There is little sense that creativity must grow out of tradition, even when it is critical of that tradition, and children are scarcely being given the materials on which their creativity could work”
—C. John Sommerville (20th century)
“Young children learn in a different manner from that of older children and adults, yet we can teach them many things if we adapt our materials and mode of instruction to their level of ability. But we miseducate young children when we assume that their learning abilities are comparable to those of older children and that they can be taught with materials and with the same instructional procedures appropriate to school-age children.”
—David Elkind (20th century)