Sensorial Education

A child is an active learner who is attracted by the things in this world. He learns everything without knowing he is learning it, and is doing so he passed little by litle from the unconscious to the concious mind.

Montessori mentioned that the first of the child's organs to begin functioning are his senses. The period of life between 3-6yo covers a period of rapid physical development. It is the time for the formation of the sense activities as related to the intellect and a child this age develops his senses. This is where Montessori set out to produce abstract ideas in a concrete form, the sensorial materials to help children understands.

The 5 basic senses - Visual (sight), Auditory (hear), Tactile (touch), Olfactory (smell), Gustatory (taste).

According to Montessori, the purpose of sensory education:

"It is exactly in the repetition of the exercises that the education of the sense consists: the aims of the exercises is not that the child shall know colours, form and the different qualities of objects, but that he refine his senses through an exercise of attention, of comparison, of judgement."

It is the base for intellectual education.

Indirect purpose of Sensorial Materials:
Mathematics Development

• preparation of mathematical mind
• tennes in materials
• Unit of measurement
• Mathematical relationships
• Relative size, weight and volume
• Guide to accurate observation
  

Language Development and Writing Ability

• Left to right eye movement
• Develop attention span
• Develop visual and auditory discrimination
• Developm eye-hand coordination
• Develop 3 finger grip mechanics for writing
• Increases vocabulary, provides more precise vocab
• Strengthens and refines muscles
• Strengthens top to bottom progression