2. Building Sensorial Foundations
in Montessori
• Analyze the importance of teaching via sensorial materials in the Montessori
method of teaching.
• Indicate the benefits of using sensorial materials in the Montessori method of
teaching.
• Discuss the five sensory periods in a child's development.
• Outline the important sensorial materials used in a Montessori classroom.
• Recognize how children form abstract thoughts using concrete objects.
• Evaluate the methods of preparing sensory bins in different ways.
• Explain different activities that allow children to enhance their touch and tactile
sensations.
• Paraphrase the activities for enhancing memory, concentration, and the sense of
position and locating sounds.
• Compute principles of Montessori teaching dealing with sensorial materials.
• Describe the steps of sensorial activities involving colors.
3. The five basic senses, i.e. sight, smell, hearing, taste, and
touch, contribute profoundly to helping us make sense of our
surroundings. The importance of these five primary sensory
modalities is more vital for children than adults. If they are
not allowed to use and enhance their sensory skills earlier in
their lives, it will become quite difficult for them to live a
normal life at later ages
Montessori Teaching and the
Role of Senses
4. While devising her Montessori System of Teaching, Maria Montessori put
her special focus on teaching them through sensorial materials. She did this
because, during her observations, she came to the conclusion that children
use their sense of touch along with other senses to learn about things
around them.
According to her observations, children learn about comparisons and
decisions using their hands. Moreover, their hands also open new nerve
pathways in their brains, thus encouraging their concentration abilities.
The Montessori System of
Teaching and Sensorial
Learning
5. In any Montessori school, sensorial materials are used to lay
foundations for children from 2 to 6 years of age. By
engaging in activities with sensorial materials, children can:
• Focus their attention
• Learn the process of abstract thought
• Control and coordinate their gross and fine motor
movements
• Help build their sensory modalities, and
• Build self-confidence
Sensorial Materials in a
Montessori School
Aside from developing the abilities mentioned
above, sensorial activities allow the Montessori
children to build a solid foundation in arithmetic,
reading, and writing.
6. Why Montessori Emphasized
Sensorial Teaching?
One of the primary conclusions that Maria Montessori drew from her observations on children
was that they need certain conditions in their environment or else both their cognitive and
physical growth will be affected. She noticed that in the absence of several crucial elements
from their environment, children start showing bouts of disruptive behaviour. They often get
violent, which is a sign that they are deprived of some of their crucial needs. In contrast to this,
if those needs of the children are fulfilled, they become more focused, increase their
concentration, and develop self-confidence, thus leading to better outcomes.
7. The Cognitive Growth
Retardation of Children in
Orphanages
In the mid-1940s, psychologists
focused their attention on how early
environmental conditions affect
children's growth. They discovered
that the children residing in
orphanages were facing severe
retardation in terms of mental
growth, despite the fact that they
were provided with adequate
physical care.
A key element that was determined
to be the causative agent of this
growth retardation in children was
found to be the lack of sensory
stimulation for these children. The
colorless walls, absence of sounds,
and no activities to be observed had
slowed down the mental and
cognitive growth of these children.
9. According to Hebb's theory, cell assemblies
representing images or ideas are formed in the
mind during the early years of one's life. Later,
these assemblies join together into phase
sequences facilitating complex thinking
patterns. However, the quality of these later
learning patterns depends upon the earlier
learning assemblies.
10. Before Montessori, it was assumed that all
behaviors and learning were motivated by the
body's balanced physical and chemical state.
However, Montessori challenged this idea by
proposing that every individual requires some
motivating factors in his environment that can
drive him to learn. And through his work, Hebb
theorized that there must be an intrinsic
motivation factor for adopting certain learning
behaviors associated with physical and
chemical balance.
