Montessori Sensorial Ideas

Primary Class:

Sensorial:
Learning colors through matching to the environment

Secondary Class:

Sensorial:
Bake and apple Cinnamon cake. set out the ingredients without labels and have the children taste each ingredient to identify it such as salt and sugar.

What Does Montessori's Sensorial mean?

Montessori Mom describes it quite well........... http://www.montessorimom.com/what-sensorial-education/

When I did a homeschool co-op on beginning Montessori I started my lesson with the smallest cube in the pink tower (which is a semi gloss paint).....As I held it up I asked, "Is this heavy or light? Smooth or rough? bright or dull? If I drop it will it be loud or quiet? Can I eat it?"

I repeated the lesson with the largest cube, then with the one in the middle again asking the same questions. I then asked each Mother "Why?" Funny how this is a very simple question right......As they responded I asked but how do you know? I am holding the tower...."Did you pick up the tower? so how do you know?"

As the wheels turned in each individual it became clear.

Sensorial is one of the most basic facts of how we know the world around us.

It is how science became in the classification of living things. It is how we began the idea of math and how we could interpret our world by measuring what we know and applying it to what we don't.

It is how we know our space around us. Those who have been pregnant know what I mean......you take up "X" amount of room....now your belly is beyond your recall of how much space you need and you are knocking over cans and children in the grocery store with the accompaniment of non-verbal communication "LOOK at how HUGE she is!" and eyeballs flying out of peoples heads in disbelief, as they breathe a sigh of relief while thinking, "it didn't happen to me!"

The importance of introducing sensorial materials in the early years is to educate young children how their world works and to define their new found vocabulary such as hot means hot....but again how do you know?

Thus introduces the blindfold....without one of your senses can you still determine what it is?

Try playing the game with your children. Have them bring you an item and you tell them what it is. All children love to see if the can thwart the sensorial intelligence of their parents, like little Generals planing their next attack. This exercise sets up the Pink tower extension using a blindfold for those reluctant learners.

There will be more to come on this subject as I have a child who has SI (sensory integration problems) and I am still struggling to understand fully what this means.