Sensorial Education
Sound Cylinders
“The first of the child’s organs to begin functioning are his senses, they are instruments by which we lay hold of impressions, and these in the child’s case have to become a part of his personality”
Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori
The sensorial exercises were designed by Maria Montessori in order to cover every quality that can be perceived by the senses, therefore they can be divided into nine categories instead of the usual five:
1) Visual Discrimination
This perceives size, shape, composition and pattern
2) Chromatic
This perceives colour
3) Tactile
This perceives texture
4) Olfactory
This perceives scents and odours
5) Gustatory
This perceives taste
6) Auditory
This perceives loudness and pitch
7) Baric
This perceives weight
8) Thermic
This perceives temperature
9) Stereognostic
This perceives form through tactile and muscular impression
Unlike the materials used for Practical Life Skills, the sensorial materials have never been seen or used by the child in his everyday life. Montessori specially designed these materials for the three to six age group, as during these years the child undergoes rapid growth, and it is during this formative period that proves most beneficial to develop and refine the child’s senses.
1) Visual Discrimination
This perceives size, shape, composition and pattern
2) Chromatic
This perceives colour
3) Tactile
This perceives texture
4) Olfactory
This perceives scents and odours
5) Gustatory
This perceives taste
6) Auditory
This perceives loudness and pitch
7) Baric
This perceives weight
8) Thermic
This perceives temperature
9) Stereognostic
This perceives form through tactile and muscular impression
Unlike the materials used for Practical Life Skills, the sensorial materials have never been seen or used by the child in his everyday life. Montessori specially designed these materials for the three to six age group, as during these years the child undergoes rapid growth, and it is during this formative period that proves most beneficial to develop and refine the child’s senses.