Visual Sense

The Brown Broad Stair is a set of 10 rectangular prisms which visually increase in size from 1X1X20cm to 10x10x20cm.  It’s primary purpose is to increase the visual perception of size, building on the concepts introduced by the Pink Tower, yet they are often used together to compare, contrast, and build intricate patterns while further exploring the concept of size.

The Color Tablets consists of three boxes, each focused on a progressively more complicated series of matching and gradation exercises designed to help students differentiate color.

The constructive triangles consists of 5 boxes which allow students to explore the early fundamentals of geometry. Each box explores the construction of geometric shapes composed of various triangles, which students are taught to identify and create to assist in the exploration of plan geometry.

The Geometric Solids are a set of 10 solid wooden geometrical forms designed to create a Stereognostic/Haptic exercise for students. Haptic exercises focus on the…

The Knobbed Cylinders are a sensorial apparatus designed to help students discriminate objects based on their size. This activity consists of 4 elongated wooden blocks…

The Knobless Cylinders are the next step in the long series of visual discrimination tools in the early sensorial work.  This work consists of four boxes, each corresponding to one of the blocks in the Knobbed Cylinder set.  As each foundational concept is introduced, this set of materials aims to allow the child a greater visual and tactile discernment of small/large, tall/short, wide/skinny, and thick/thin.

The Long Red Rods or Red Rods are an iconic sight in a Montessori classroom.  This material is a set of 10 rods with the shortest being 10 cm, and the longest being 100 cm.  Each rod increases in length by 10 cm, and the child, by working with them, is able to increase their sense of visual acuity and differentiation.  After the initial presentation, one of the very familiar activities you will see is the construction of mazes that the child (and fellow classmates) will carefully walk through.

Few materials in the Montessori classroom are as iconic as the Pink Tower.  Children are immediately drawn to the way the tower stands so elegantly in it’s own space usually at the starting point of the sensorial area of the classroom. This is where it all begins… the hand becomes the link to understanding concepts using patterns, textures, colors, and variations in size and dimension.