What Is the Purpose of the Sensorial Area?
What Is the Purpose of the Sensorial Area?
What exactly is a Montessori sensorial lesson?
The purpose of sensorial activities is to help children to sort out the different impressions given by the senses. At Norbeck Montessori in Rockville, these materials are specifically designed to help children develop skills for discrimination, order, and to broaden and refine the senses. So let’s dive right into outlining the definition of Montessori sensorial materials, their purpose, and ways to reinforce some of the things learned in the classroom to the home setting.
The sensorial area in a Montessori classroom focuses on lessons and activities that help develop the five senses: seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling. The lessons and activities provided in the sensorial area of the classroom help children clarify, classify, and understand the world around them.
The sensorial materials are designed with built-in feedback to control errors aimed to show when a mistake has been made. Children are encouraged to be independent of oversight which develops their self-confidence and incentive to practice and improve. A child’s sense perceptions will become structured and capable of comprehending abstract concepts through experiencing the sensorial lessons. The sensorial area is divided into six categories: size, form, color, tactile, gustatory, olfactory, and auditory.
Types of Sensorial Areas for Learning
The following is a list of a few of the lessons found under each respective categories:
Size:
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Pink Tower
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Brown Stairs -
Knobbed Cylinders
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Knobless Cylinders
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Red Rods
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Positive effect on intellectual growth
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Enriched and enhanced mental development
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Greater mental flexibility, including creativity and multi-tasking
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Improved understanding of their native language
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Increased cultural competency and opens the door to a greater worldview
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Early appreciation for other cultures
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Potential for job opportunities where knowing a second language is an asset
Lessons within the size category help develop the child’s discrimination of differences in size, and weight. These lessons prepare the children for mathematics – counting numbers, composing numbers, and measuring quantity. By working from left to right and up and down, the children prepare reading and writing. Finally, the children develop coordination, concentration, order and most importantly independence.
Form:
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Geometric Solids & Bases
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Binomial Cube
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Trinomial Cube
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Constructive Triangles:
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Rectangle Box
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Triangle Box
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Large Hexagon Box
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Small Hexagon Box
Geometric lessons help develop the child’s visual discrimination in shape and form. Additionally, a child develops the ability to observe progression from concrete to more abstract forms, all while the child learns the various figures. Indirectly, these lessons prepare the child for writing.
Color:
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Primary Colors Box
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Primary Colors Box 2
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Secondary Color Wheel
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Value (Black, White, Gray) Color Tablets
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Mixing Black and White
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Color Gradation Color Box 3
Developing the chromatic senses allows a child to learn perceived differences between primary and secondary, as well as the various gradations of each. The color lessons also aim to develop a child’s ability to recognize similarities and differences in colors and order.
Tactile:
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Mystery Bag
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Matching Mystery Bag
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Rough and Smooth Touch Boards
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Rough and Smooth Touch Tablets
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Fabric Box
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Baric Tablets
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Thermic Bottles
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Thermic Tablets
Through the tactile lessons, a child learns to perceive the world through touch, developing the ability to discriminate between coarse and fine.
Gustatory & Olfactory:
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Tasting Bottles
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Smelling Bottles
Lessons that develop gustatory and olfactory senses allow a child to explore their world through smells and taste.
Most of the lessons found in the Sensorial area of the Montessori classroom can be reinforced through “exploration” at home with your child. For example, when going for a walk, ask your child what the different shapes and colors he/she sees around him/her. Are the objects they are looking at big or small; rough or smooth; good- or bad-smelling; thick or thin; or tall or short? These Sensorial lessons help prepare the child to become a logical, aware, and perceptive individual.
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