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ASSIGNMENT
MODULE 3: EXERCISES OF SENSORIAL DEVELOPMENT

Q1. Write a comprehensive note on the importance of sensorial exercises.

Answer:

The word sensorial is derived from the Latin word ‘Sensorium’, meaning sense. It refers to a signals
send to the brain upon receiving a sensation from a stimulus in the environment.

Sensorial exercises are the exercises which enhance one’s ability to use and comprehend his senses.
Since children are very keen observers during the few early years of their life, hence it is the ideal
time to expose them to sensorial material. The timely provision of this material would not only polish
their senses but also enable them to decipher the sensorial imprints they receive through them. As
there are no new experiences for the child to take from the sensorial work, the child is able to
concentrate on the refinement of all his senses to the fullest.

One of the things that set a Montessori house apart from a normal crèche is the materials that are
used in the classroom. In a regular daycare, children are usually introduced to simple toys or
educational games to keep them engaged throughout the day. On the contrary, in a Montessori
preschool, children are provided with unique learning materials that are exclusively designed to
nurture their sensorial development. Dr. Maria Montessori believed that children start experiencing
sensorial development at birth. According to Montessori’s research, as a child grows up, he explores
and learns by interacting with his environment using his senses. This unique phenomenon in a child’s
development happens between the ages of birth to six years.

To help children express, classify, and broaden their sensory experiences, Dr. Montessori invented a
variety of sensorial materials. The purpose of the sensorial materials is to aid the child in refining the
child’s pitch, temperature, and weight and is utilizing language in describing these qualities. These
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materials are an innate part of developing the whole child, directly constructing the mathematical
mind and indirectly preparing him for writing.

Significance of Sensorial Exercises in Child Development:

Sensorial exercises are of great significance to the child. During the sensitive period of development
(birth to seven years), the child promptly refines his sensorial capabilities. The child needs to acquire
clear, conscious information that one can perceive from the surroundings. Sensorial exercises foster a
child’s potential of making judgments, learning and adapting to any kind of circumstances. Through
sensorial exercises, the child begins to understand his environment in a better way. Dr. Montessori
said that:

“The senses, being explorers of the world, open the way to knowledge. Our apparatus for educating
the senses offers the child a key to guide his explorations of the world, they cast a light upon it which
makes visible to him more things in greater detail than he could see in the dark, or uneducated state."

The child has an utmost desire to explore the world around him. Sensorial exercises provide materials
and activities related to the functionality of our five senses, for example distinguishing between size,
shape, color, and patterns etc. Moreover these exercises greatly influence intelligence and ability to
read, write and do anything. For instance, the child faces difficulty in differentiating between the
letters b, p and q. and believes them to be the same alphabet as he cannot distinguish between lines,
shapes and position. Sensorial exercises help him distinguish between them and identify them as
separate letters.

The child is a “sensorial explorer”. By working with sensorial materials, he gets the key to classifying
things around him, which results in formulating his own interpretation of the environment.

Groups in Senses:

Sensorial Exercises are meant to cover every aspect of information that can be interpreted by the
senses such as size, shape, composition, texture, sound frequencies, matching, weight, temperature,
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etc. As these exercises cover such a wide range of sensorial experiences, Montessori categorized
them into eight different groups, namely:

- Visual Sense
- Tactile Sense
- Baric Sense
- Thermic Sense
- Auditory Sense
- Gustatory Sense
- Olfactory Sense
- Stereo-gnostic Sense

 Visual Senses:
In visual sense exercises, children learn to distinguish
differences between similar and different objects. His
visual discrimination discretion enhances.

 Tactile Sense:
In this type of sensorial exercises, children learn
through their sense of touch. They allows child to focus
on his tactile stimulations via body receptors. Although
the sense of touch is spread throughout the surface of
the body, however these exercises in a Montessori
house are only confined to the finger tips, and
especially those of the right hand.
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 Baric Sense:
In this exercise, child learns to analyze the difference of
pressure or weight of different objects. This sense is
refined through the use of a blind fold or simply by
closing the eyes.

 Thermic Sense:
In these exercise child learns to sense variation in
temperatures.

 Auditory Sense:
The child can differentiate between various frequencies
of sound waves through his auditory senses. By
practicing auditory exercises, a child’s sense of hearing
improves and he becomes more sensitive to the sounds
in his environment.

 Olfactory Sense:
By introducing olfactory exercises to the child, his sense
of distinguishing between different odors and smells
enhances. He is easily able to identify his favorite
desirable odors against the hazardous ones.
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 Gustatory Sense:
This category relates to the sense of
taste. The child learns to differentiate
between different tastes using his taste
buds. In this exercise child is given a
basic to his tasting sense. Although not
all tastes are given to the child in these
exercises, the child does work to
differentiate one taste from another. He
can then take these senses, and apply them to other tastes in his environment.

 Stereo-gnostic Sense:
In this exercise child is offered
various objects and by feeling
them, without seeing, child
learns to recognize them, based
on what he feels. As Dr.
Montessori stated:
“When the hand and arm are moved about an object, an impression of movement is
added to that touch. Such an impression is attributed to a special, sixth sense, which is
called a muscular sense, and which permits many impressions to be stored in a
“muscular memory”, which recalls movements that have been made”.

Need of Sensorial Exercises:

Sensory impressions alone are not enough. Even if a child is projected to multiple stimuli, he
might not be able to reliably judge and decide with soundness, prudence, and intelligence, the
signal received from the environment. So the mind needs education and training to be able to
discriminate and appreciate sensations. Montessori materials help the child to distinguish, to
categorize, and to relate new information to what he already knows. Dr. Montessori believed
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that this process is the beginning of conscious knowledge. It is brought about by the
intelligence working in a concentrated way on the impressions given by the senses.
Sensorial materials are self-correcting to allow independent use, foster muscular development
that lays the foundation for writing skills, and provide precision for metric tolerances. Correct
terminology (binomial cube, isosceles triangle) and mathematically exact relationships enrich
the child's experience so that abstract concepts may attach to familiar reality.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Q2. What is stereo-gnostic sense and how can we develop it?

Answer:

The Early Childhood Montessori classrooms provide great opportunities to children for refining their
ability to perceive through senses and to order and classify what they perceive. Each of the senses is
represented in the sensorial area of the curriculum, with materials to help build children's visual,
tactile, auditory, olfactory and gustatory senses.

 Stereo-gnostic Sense:
The stereo-gnostic sense, sometimes called the tactile-
gnosis sense, is defined as the capability of recognizing
an object without seeing, hearing, smelling, or tasting
it. It is infect the ability to perceive and understand the
form and nature of objects exclusively by touching
them. The stereo-gnostic sense is often referred to as
the ‘sixth’ sense. When you find your alarm clock on
your bedside table before opening your eyes in the
morning it is due to this sense. You find your keys in the
bottom of your bag also as a result of your stereo-gnostic sense.
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While often overlooked in other settings, the stereo-gnostic sense is

important for the child's emerging ability to name and perceive
their environment, building their understanding of dimension and
supporting cognitive pathways that will be used for mathematical
and spatial reasoning and language development. It is the
combination of tactile and muscular memory in which a child can
recognize things by just feeling it. As Dr. Montessori said;

“When the hand and arm are moved about an object, an impression of movements is added to
the touch. Such an impression is attributed to a special, sixth sense, which is called a muscular
sense, and which permits many impressions to be stored in a “muscular memory”, which recalls
movements that have been made”

Here the ‘muscular memory’ refers to the knowledge derived from the recognition of the
movements made.

 How to Develop Stereo-gnostic Sense:

Stereo-gnostic sense is a significantly important sense,

as it helps children to discriminate between different
sizes and shapes, by merely feeling objects. In addition
to using our sense of touch to provide information about
size and shape, it may also be used to determine the
texture and weight of an object.
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Stereo-gnostic sensorial activities enable the child to

develop concepts by feeling objects and making
recognition based on their feelings. In a Montessori
classroom, to help foster the sensorial developmental
phase of a child, blindfolds and mystery bags are often
used. Absent a visual cue, children use their fingers to feel
the dimensions and weights of various objects in order to
distinguish one object from the other. Fun filled identifying
games are usually played, like putting all the pieces of
Pakistan’s map into a mystery bag and challenging each other to find let the province of
‘Punjab’ or ‘Balochistan’. Objects may even be sorted and classified by, placing the ones with
similar dimension into piles or containers together. Similarly such games may also be arranged
by mothers at home. Hide utensils from the kitchen drawer in to a pillowcase or some of your
child's favorite action figures and challenge them to find the ones you name.

Stereo-gnostic sensorial exercises allow the child to

draw an imaginary pictorial image of an object,
through the sense of touch. By doing very simple yet
interesting exercises the child can start developing
strong stereo-gnostic sense.

 Stereo-gnostic Sensorial Exercises:

Below are a few Montessori materials and exercises that may be used to enhance a child’s
stereo-gnostic sense. The directress needs to do all these exercises in front of the child, herself.
Stereo-gnostic activities are initially done with open eyes but later as the child becomes
familiar with the objects, he feels them blindfolded. But try not to force children to use a
blindfold.
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 Exercise 1: Mystery Bag:

Material:
- A cloth bag that has a drawstring to hide
the content.
- 10 to 20 small amazing objects different
from each other such as, tiny pebbles,
glass marbles, soft feathers, wooden
blocks, ribbon, spoons, keys, small cars,
cotton balls, buttons etc. and anything
else you find interesting.
Presentation:
- Ask the child whether he wants to join you in the exercise.
- Show and tell the name of the mystery bag to the students.
- Ask them to sit in a semi-circle before you.
- Take all objects out of the bag and place them one by one on the table.
Introduce names of each object to the children.
- Ask the children to look at all the objects and feel them by touching via hands.
When they get familiar with the objects, put them back in the bag.
- Put your one hand into the bag and feel an object. Tell the children what you
feel, for instance, soft, fluffy, light, etc. also name the object in a loud voice, i.e. ‘I
think this is a ball’.
- Next, pull the object out of the bag and check whether you were right or wrong.
If right then say, ‘Yes! That’s right’.
- Repeat it with all children till all objects are done.
- Invite the child to perform the activity himself. Close his eyes or use blindfold.
Ask him to put his hand in the bag and feel the object and name it. Then make
him take it out of the bag to check whether he was correct.
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 Exercise 2: Sorting Trays:

Material:
- A tray with four bowls/ saucers.
- Each bowl/ saucer contains different
kind of grains, seeds, beans, peas, rice,
lentils etc. separately. (Material
contained in each bowl/ saucer should
be different in shapes and size.)
- Another tray with same number of bowls/ saucers but empty.
Presentation:
- Ask the child whether he wants to join you in the exercise.
- Place the tray in front of the child.
- Pick up one of the largest item in the bowl/ saucer and close eyes and feel it by
using both hands. Tell the child that it feels different when you close your eyes.
- Then ask child to feel the object with his eyes opened and closed. And place it in
one of the empty bowl/ saucer in the other tray.
- Repeat the same for other items.
- The child first checks all these things by their hands and feels them. Introduce
names of each item.
- Then child closes his eyes or used blindfold, again feel the items, names them,
and then put them one by one into the bowls/ saucers, separately of the second
tray.
- After the task is done by the child, ask him to open his eyes and sees how
perfectly he did it.
- Invite children to repeat it.
This exercise may also be performed by mixing all the items in one bowl/ saucer and
asking the child to separate them in different bowls/ saucers of the second tray, blind-
folded and naming them as well.
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 Exercise 3: Puzzle Maps:

Material:
- A puzzle map of Pakistan divided in to
Provinces
- A World Globe
Presentation:
- Ask the child whether he wants to join
you in the exercise.
- Place the puzzle map of Pakistan, divided in to provinces, before the child.
- Next place the globe in front of the child.
- Complete the map puzzle and name the
different provinces. Tell the students which
province comes where.
- Show the child where is Pakistan in the Globe.
After that put that globe aside.
- Focus on puzzle. Ask the child to point out the
outline of each province and name them.
- Invite the child to carefully put all pieces of
puzzles one by one correctly in place.

 Sandpaper Globe:
Material:
- A World Globe with land areas covered with sandpaper and water are with blue
paint.
Presentation:
- Ask the child whether he wants to join you in the exercise.
- Place the world globe, before the child.
- Point to the sandpaper area and says “This is land”.
- Point to blue painted area and say “This is water”.
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- Feel another area on the globe and repeat

where land is and where water is.
- Now invite the child to perform the
exercise.
- The child points to the sandpaper areas and
says “This is land”, then points to the blue
areas and says “This is water”.

These are great group and individual exercises that children can play anywhere.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Q3. Write a note on Three Period Lesson and Memory Games.

Answer:

Three Period Lesson

A trademark of the Montessori Educational Philosophy is the three-period lesson technique. It is a

methodology which all Montessori teachers practice, in order to introduce new vocabulary and
concepts to a child.

Parents generally organically introduce language to their toddlers at home or as they explore new
places/ things with them. The three period lesson is just a more specific way to introduce new words
and concepts to a child, as part of a language lesson, either at home or at school.

With toddlers, it can help to focus on concepts or topics a child is already interested in. For instance,
for a 2-3 years old names of animals may be introduced generically, as cow, lion etc. But later as the
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child grows older and becomes affiliated with these terminologies, his comprehension and language
enhances, he might get interested in learning names of animal babies, female adults or their male
counterparts.

Whichever category or concept is chosen, to be

introduced to a child must first be demonstrated
via its concrete version (e.g. real fruits) rather
than the abstract (e.g. pictures of fruits). For
many objects, such as animals, toy figurines are
the closest to the real thing and so may be used
before the child. It is better to start with just a
few objects (up to four for young toddlers and
up to eight for the older) in one category. These objects may be placed in a basket or on a tray on the
materials shelf, for them to explore followed by a lesson before or after they explore. With toddlers,
giving a lesson has to include some flexibility as they don’t sit still for as long as a child in a primary
classroom would. The teacher may not get through a whole lesson, and that’s alright. The directress
should try her best to make the exercise fun and surprising for the child. If the child isn’t interested at
all, just move on, and try again later or another day.

Three period lessons are used throughout the Montessori environment to help introduce a new
lesson or concept and lead the children along a path to understanding and mastery. However, in the
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area of language they are used to increase, enrich and broaden a child's vocabulary. The Three Period
Lesson is to be given after the child has had much experience with the material itself. In a Montessori
classroom, for the youngest children three period lesson is used mostly in the language corner, to
teach the vocabulary baskets. As the child moves into preschool, sounds of letters, colors and other
concepts may be taught in the same way. The three period lessons comprise of;

 The Naming period:

The naming period is overall a rather shorter period since it only involves naming the
object/ concept being introduced. This period includes the following steps;
- The directress presents the child with three contrasting objects, and places them
before the child on a mat, leaving some distance apart.
- She then feels the objects thoroughly, one at a time, and looks at all its minute
details.
- The directress places her finger on a tip of the object and gives it a name. For
example, ‘Circle’. She gives names to all the objects in the same manner.
- The names of each object are repeated several times, clearly and slowly, by the
directress. Example, ‘Circle’, ‘Circle’, ‘Circle’. She may also make small sentences
like ‘This is a circle’.
- Then she asks the child to explore the object.
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- Child observes the object with full concentration and holds it in his hands to feel
it before putting it down.

Note:
- Whenever a new object or
concept is introduced, simply
label its name to demonstrate
it to the child. Use one simple
word to label. e.g. ‘Sheep’, if
you are introducing farm
animals or ‘Black’ if you are
introducing colors, or ‘Circle’ if
you are introducing shapes to
the child.
- Though parents and teachers mostly want to use a lot of descriptive language in
their everyday interaction with the child, but here we have to isolate to a single
concept. The fewer words we use in the naming or labeling, the easier it will be
for the toddler to make the connection between the word and the object or the
concept.

 Recognition and Association Period:

The recognition period is relatively much longer than the initial one. It involves
rearranging the objects and inviting the child to recognize them by their names. Here
one can play games to determine which names the child knows, even before they are
verbal.

Examples of a few creative recognition questions include;

- “Can you find me the circle?” or “Show me the circle.” or “Put your finger on the
circle.”
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- “Let’s find the picture that matches the sheep.”

- “You choose an object and we will find the matching card. Is this the picture of
the cow? No! Is this the picture of the sheep? Yes!
- “Pick any card. Which picture is it? A sheep. Can you find the object matching to
the picture?”
- “Can you put the circle in the basket?”
- “Which farm animal is black?”

Infect there are endless ways to

play recognition games, in order
to make the child more familiar
with each object or concept.
Once done with all the
questions, rearrange the objects
and again ask the same.
It is better to take mental notes
to analyze which object or concept needs to be practiced more. Do not rush to the next
step as you want the child to really grasp what each object is. Return to the first period
to practice more if a child is week at a certain concept/ object.

 Pronouncing Period:
This period is to be started only once the directress is affirmative that the child
recognizes all the objects and remembers their name in to his long term memory. The
pronouncing period is a testing period for the child. Here the teacher challenges the
child to name the object himself. She points out to one object and asks, “What is this?”
The child answers, “This is a circle.”

If the child fails to answer or tells the wrong name, casually end the lesson without
making the child feel as though he has failed. Repeat the second period again and after
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sufficient practice by the child, proceed to the pronouncing period. In general, when
teaching something new, try to avoid pointing out when the child gets something
wrong. If the child makes a mistake in the recognition or recall step, just acknowledge
what they did show you and remember to show them the correct label/ object pairing
again next time. We want our toddler to be confident in their abilities, and motivated to
keep trying. Often if we are constantly correcting, we see children lose self-esteem as
well as interest in trying. As there is a lovely saying:

“Teach by teaching, not by correcting.”

The pronouncing period is generally skipped for children under 3 years. The only
exception is, if you have a very verbal child and you absolutely know they already know
it. By skipping this part of the lesson with toddlers, we avoid upsetting them as to get
things wrong.

The Three Period-Lesson is also considered for grading

an object positively, comparatively, and superlatively.
For instance the adjective ‘big’ may be used in these
periods in the following manner.

Grading Positives Comparatives Superlatives

First Period This is a big circle. This circle is bigger than This circle is the biggest.
this.
Second Period Show me the big circle. Show me the circle which Show me the biggest
is slightly bigger than this circle.
ball.
Third Period What is this? Which circle is bigger? Which circle is biggest?
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Three Period Lesson at Home:

A three-period lesson may be used at home too. There are times when we do want to teach
our children things, as:
- To learn the names of vegetables, flowers, animals, or of any objects that is around us.
- To learn the names of colors, once the child becomes interested to learn them.
- If the child gets confused between two names, we may still use this technique in a
playful way.

Memory Games:
It is child’s nature to lose interest in the materials that he knows very well. Memory games are
introduced to the child when the child’s interest in the materials is fading and to re-build interest in
the material that he already knows very well. These games could also be shown to bring the older
children to revisit the material and can be given before or after the three period lesson, depending on
the game itself.

Purposes of Memory Games:

Following is a list of purposes that can be achieved by observing such games.
- A child needs to revise his lesson repeatedly, which he has already learnt. These games
help him keenly learn his activities and materials, already previously learnt. The
prolonged activity with the material, will assure a stronger absorption by the child.
- These games also help to motivate students in discovering variations in the materials.
- They help the directress verify the child’s language of the material.
- Memory games enable to bridge the work of quantity and to allow the child to discover
the quality of the materials in the world around him.

Below are a few examples of memory games that may be played with the child;

 Game1: Matching at a Distance:

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- Place two different tables a little distance apart.

- Put a pair of materials, one on each table.
- The teacher takes one object from the table and asks her student to feel it by
holding the object in his hand.
- Directress then asks the child to bring the same object from the second table.
- Repeat this until all pair of material is matched correctly.

 Game2: Grading from a Distance:

Place two different tables a little distance apart. Place a grading material like a pink
tower, broad stairs etc. randomly on one table.
(A) From an Extreme:
- Pick up one of the extremes (for instance the largest cube in a pink tower) from
the first table and move it to the second table, place it there.
- Then invite the child to the second table to feel the separated, ‘largest’ cube.
- Next, ask the child to go to the first table and bring the slightly smaller piece of
the pink tower back to the second table.
- Complete this exercise after child puts all the blocks on second table from the
largest to smallest, in the correct order.
(B) From Midpoint (For this game child must have the vocabulary)
- Pick up one of the middle piece (for instance the middle cube in a pink tower)
from the first table and move it to the second table, place it there.
- Then invite the child to the second table to feel the separated, ‘middle’ cube.
- Next, ask the child to go to the first table and bring the slightly smaller/ bigger
piece of the pink tower back to the second table.
- Complete this exercise after child puts all the possible blocks on second table
from the largest to smallest/ smallest to the largest, in the correct order.

 Game3: Stereo-gnostic:
Play this game with a group of children, who are sitting around a round table/ mat.
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- The directress gives material to the children, in their hands (for instance one
cube of the pink tower to each student).
- The children then hold the given cube behind their back and feel it.
- Teacher asks students for the largest cube and asks them to place it on the mat.
- Children judge the cube size by feeling it and place it on the mat.
- Repeat this until complete tower blocks have been placed on the mat, from
largest to smallest.

 Game4: Material to the Environment:

In this game materials are related from the environment. For this activity color tablets/
shades, geometric shapes/ solids etc. may be used.
- Spread out a mat and place the material, for instance color tablets, on it
randomly.
- The directress takes a tablet and asks her students to figure out something in
the environment of that same color and shade.
- Repeat this for all the colors and shades.

 Game5: Environment to the Material:

This is similar to the above game but played in the opposite way. In this game
environment is related to the materials. For this activity color tablets/ shades, geometric
shapes/ solids etc. may be used.
- Spread out a mat and place the material for instance color tablets on it
randomly.
- The directress gives something to child from the environment and asks her
student to match it to the closest match in the color tablets material on the mat.
- Repeat this for all the colors and shades.

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Q4. Explain all exercises briefly in chapter 4.1 ‘Exploring Dimensions”. Make illustrations/ diagrams
and mention vocabulary also.

Answer:

‘Exploring Dimensions’ are categorized as a component of the visual exercises. Visual exercises are a
salient feature of the sensorial development. In this group of exercises a child learns how to
discriminate between objects, having similar color and geometrical shape but varying in length, width,
height or thickness. These exercises include a variety of activities. These activities have been briefly
defined below.

 Exercise 1: The Cylinder Blocks:

Material:
- Four finely polished wooden blocks containing
ten cylinders each.
- Each block to have cylinders with dimensions
reducing successively from the first to the tenth
piece, by ½ cm each, either in height or diameter.
- All cylinders to have a knob on top, to hold.

- Block 1 Cylinders Block 2 Cylinders Block 3 Cylinders Block 4 Cylinders

Cylinders vary in both Cylinders vary in both Cylinders vary only in Cylinders vary only in
height and diameter. height and diameter. diameter. All cylinders height. All cylinders
have the same height, have the same
i.e. 5.5 cm. diameter, i.e. 5.5 cm.

1st cylinder is the tallest 1st cylinder is the 1st cylinder is the 1st cylinder is the
and thickest. shortest and thickest. thickest. tallest.
Height and diameter Height increases from 1 Diameter decreases Height decreases
decrease from 5.5 cm cm to 5.5 cm, whereas from 5.5 cm to 1 cm from 5.5 cm to 1 cm
to 1 cm successively, diameter decreases successively, from the successively, from the
from the 1st to 10th from 5.5cm to 1 cm 1st to 10th cylinder. 1st to 10th cylinder.
cylinder. successively, from the
1st to 10th cylinder.
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Presentation 1:
- Ask the child whether he wants to join you in the exercise.
- Bring the ‘Block 1’ to the workplace with the help of the child.
- Using the index and middle finger of the right hand along with the thumb, lift the 1st
cylinder from its knob. Place the cylinder on to the table, in front of the block.
- Repeat the step for all the cylinders, and place them one by one on the table without
making a noise.
- After placing all the cylinders of the ‘Block 1’ on the table, observe them for their
varying dimensions.
- Put the largest cylinder back into the block at its correct place, without making a noise.
Follow the step for rest of the cylinders in sequence up to the smallest cylinders.
- Invite the child to perform the exercise on his own.
Once the child gets a good grip over ‘Block 1’, introduce ‘Block 2’ and later ‘Block 3 to him,
according to the above mentioned presentation. ‘Block 4’ is considered the most complicated,
so present it only once the child gets proficient in working with the former three.
Presentation 2:
In this activity directress guides the child how to use any of the two blocks at a time. Mix
cylinders and then put them back to their right position.
Presentation 3:
Here the directress guides the child how to use any of the three blocks at a time while
placing them in a triangular shape. Mix all the cylinders together and place them on the
table in the middle of the triangle. Later put all the cylinders back, one by one, to their
right position in the right block.
Presentation 4:
Lastly the directress demonstrates to the child, how to use all the blocks at the same
time. Place all the four blocks on the table in shape of a square. Mix all the cylinders
together and place them on the table in the middle of the square. Later put all the
cylinders back, one by one, to their right position in the right block.
 AMENA BATOOL ROLL NUMBER : D18419

Note: It is very important to follow the steps and presentations in the right sequence. Only
start with a presentation once the child has mastered the previous one.

 Exercise 2: The Pink Tower:

Material:
- Ten wooden cubes with varying dimensions ranging from 10 cm3
to 1 cm3.

Cube 1 Cube 2 Cube 3 Cube 4 Cube 5 Cube 6 Cube 7 Cube 8 Cube 9 Cube 10
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
10 cm 9 cm 8 cm 7 cm 6 cm 5 cm 4 cm 3 cm 2 cm 1 cm3

- Cubes may be finely painted with pale pink color or be of plain wooden, finely lacquered
surface. Strong pink color avoided.
Presentation 1:
- Ask the child whether he wants to join you in the exercise.
- Bring the ‘Pink Tower’ to the workplace, a table or a mat, with the help of the child.
- Hold the biggest cube with both hands, compare its size with the other pieces and then
place it on the table.
- Next, take the second biggest cube, compare it with other cubes; put it carefully without
any mistake on the middle of the first cube.
- Repeat this step until all cubes are finely placed over each other, building a tower
structure.
- Now place both hands on the sides of the tower. Slowly move hands upward aside the
tower, hands join each other at the top of the tower.
- Invite the child to perform the exercise on his own
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Presentation 2:
In this presentation also, directress makes the tower exactly the same way but with
cubes placed towards one corner, rather than the middle of the previous one. This
would construct a tower whose two sides are straight while the other two inclined,
resulting in formation of two projections, each 1 cm wide, over each cube . Once the
tower is complete, remove the top most, smallest cube from its place and carefully
move it downwards over each successive projection, with the help of the index finger.
This would demonstrate to the child that each cube is different sized, varying by 1 cm3,
in its volume compared to the previous one.
Presentation 3:
- In this exercise directress makes a tower horizontally on the table. Place the largest
cube towards the right hand side. Place the second cube very carefully in the center of
the previous cube. Repeat it with all cubes.
Note: It is very important to follow the steps and presentations in the right sequence. Only
start with a presentation once the child has mastered the previous one.

 Exercise 3: The Board Stairs:

Material:
Ten brown wooden prisms having same length of 20cm
but vary in height and width from 1 cm to 10 cm.

PRISM
DIMENTIONS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Length 20 cm 20 cm 20 cm 20 cm 20 cm 20 cm 20 cm 20 cm 20 cm 20 cm
Width 1 cm 2 cm 3 cm 4 cm 5 cm 6 cm 7 cm 8 cm 9 cm 10cm
Height 1 cm 2 cm 3 cm 4 cm 5 cm 6 cm 7 cm 8 cm 9 cm 10cm
 AMENA BATOOL ROLL NUMBER : D18419

Presentation 1:
- Ask the child whether he wants to join you in the exercise.
- Bring the ‘Broad Stairs’ to the workplace, a table or a mat, with the help of the child.
- Hold the largest and thickest prism with both hands, compare it with the others and
place it carefully on the table.
- Next, take the second largest and thickest prism, compare it with the others and
carefully place it besides the first prism. No space between the prisms should be left. If
there is space in between, slightly push the second one towards the first, so that both
can come in contact with each other.
- Repeat the step until all prisms are done and a horizontal staircase are built.
- Now slide your hand over the stairs, from the biggest and thickest one to the narrowest.
- Invite the child to perform the exercise on his own
Presentation 2:
In this exercise too the directress builds the stairs in exactly the same way but for
showing the child difference of the height and width, she holds the smallest step from
her index finger of both hands and moves it downwards over each successive
projection, from the thickest to the thinnest prism. This would demonstrate to the child
that each prism is different sized, varying by 1 cm each in height and width compared to
the previous one.

 Exercise 4: The Long Rods:

Material:
Ten wooden rods usually painted red, having a constant
height and width whereas length varying successively by
10cm. The shortest rod has a length of 10cm and longest
one 100cm.
Presentation 1:
- Ask the child whether he wants to join you in the exercise.
- Bring the ‘Long Rods’ to the workplace, a mat, with the help of the child.
 AMENA BATOOL ROLL NUMBER : D18419

- Hold the smallest rod with both hands, compare it with the others and place it carefully
towards the left of the mat.
- Next, take the slightly longer rod, compare it with the others and carefully place it
besides the first rod.
- Repeat the step until all rods are finished. At the end, the shortest rod will be nearest to
the directress and the longest one farthest away, on mat.
- Invite the child to perform the exercise on his own.
Presentation 2:
In this exercise too the directress arranges the rods in exactly the same way as in
exercise 1. Hold the smallest rod with the index finger of both hands and place it aside
with the other rods, just to compare its length with the others.

 Exercise 5: The Knob-less Cylinders:

Material:
Four sets of wooden cylinders.

Yellow Cylinders Green Cylinders Red Cylinders Blue Cylinders

Big-Small Deep-Shallow Thick-Thin Tall-Short
Vary in height- Vary in height-diameter Vary in diameter Vary in diameter
diameter

Presentation 1:
- Ask the child whether he wants to join you in the exercise.
- Bring the ‘Knob-less cylinders’ to the workplace, a table or a mat, with the help of the
child.
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- Teach the child how to open the lid of the box of cylinders. Then place all cylinders
randomly on table.
- Hold the largest cylinder with the help of your right hand, compare it with others and
place it in the center of the table.
- Next, take the slightly shorter cylinder, compare it with the others and put it carefully on
the top of the first cylinder. The cylinder should be correctly placed in the middle of the
first one.
- Repeat the step until all cylinders are finished and a tower built.
Presentation 2:
Directress may put cylinders in a row for grading them.

Vocabulary from all these Exercises:

Long-Short Tall-Short Long-Longer-Longest Big-Bigger-Biggest

Big-Small Thick-Thin Short-Shorter-Shortest Thick-Thicker-Thickest
Large-Small Middle Small-Smaller-Smallest Thin-Thinner-Thinnest
Deep-Shallow Cube Deep-Deeper-Deepest Tall-Taller-Tallest
Broad-Narrow Straight Large-Larger-Largest Broad-Broader-Broadest
Rod-Stairs Prism Shallow-Shallower-Shallowest Narrow-Narrower-Narrowest

_________________________________________________________________________________

Q5. How does Montessori program help develop Tactile Sense?

Answer:

Tactile Sense

Tactile sense is defined as the sensation produced by the pressure receptors in skin, upon coming in
contact with something. Children love to explore the world around them and are always eager to
touch objects in their surroundings. Tactile sense enables them to learn to perceive the world and its
 AMENA BATOOL ROLL NUMBER : D18419

elements by touching them. In a Montessori house, teachers value this tactile urge and understand
their significance in the holistic development of a child. As Dr. Montessori stated;

“Although the sense of touch is spread throughout the surface of the body, the exercises given to the
children are limited to the tips of the fingers, and particularly, to those of the right hand.”

For young children, the sense of touch is indeed a key to understanding the world around them.
Adults and teachers must encourage touch and exploration, and engage the child in a productive
discussion regarding the object being touched. For instance as a child observes and feels an object,
the directress should ask simple questions as, “Is it rough or smooth?” or “Is it bumpy or silky?” Use
rich descriptive words that will teach child the language to describe what he feels. Such games are of
the greatest importance in the method, as they in conjunction with the exercises of hand movement
lay the foundation for acquisition of writing skills.

 Tactile Exercises Classifications:

Tactile exercises are classified into four sets, as below.

Sense Classifications Different Exercises

Exploring Textures Touch Board, Touch Tablets, Touch the
Fabric
Tactile Exploring Weight Baric Tablets
Sense Exploring Temperatures Thermic Bottles, Thermic Tablets
Exercises of Stereo-gnostic Sorting Trays, Mystery Bags, Puzzle Maps,
Sense Sandpaper Globe

 Blindfolds: Orientation Exercise: This activity helps children to get used to wearing a
blindfold and having something covering their eyes. Using a blindfold to orientate the
children is an important exercise in Montessori, as a few activities use a blindfold.
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 Sensitizing the Fingers: This is something the children will be asked to do at the
beginning of each Montessori tactile activity. The children will be asked to make sure their
hands and fingertips are clean to experience the full sensation of touch and tactile work.

 Development of Tactile sense in children:

In a Montessori program materials such as, Rough and Smooth Boards, Touch Tablets, and
Fabric Box are some of the first touch materials introduced to the child, to perform tactile
exercises. Moreover fabric, wood, different grades of sandpaper, different types of paper, and
other materials are also helpful for the child to explore the experience of touch and learn the
vocabulary associated to objects being handled by hand.

The child’s sense of touch is augmented many folds by the available Montessori materials.
Touch is an essential sense for the child to develop, as when a child touches and manipulates
an object, he is concurrently learning about it. As Dr. Maria said,

“The hands are the instruments of the mind”.

There are different Montessori tactile activities such as:

i. Exploring Textures:
For all the relevant exercises mentioned below, the pre-requisite is to sensitize fingers.

 Touch the Fabric:

Material:
- 3 boxes, each containing eight to ten pairs of small,
square shaped, different quality fabrics.
- Box 1, to contain fabrics made of neutral material, as
silk, cotton, etc.
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- Box 2, to contain fabrics made of coarse material, as corduroy, burlap, denim etc.
- Box 3, to contain fabrics made of fine material, as chiffon, satin, felt, etc.
Exercise:
- Ask the child whether he wants to join you in the exercise.
- Bring the material to the work place with help of the child.
- Then open a box and select a pair of contrasting fabrics.
- Feel the fabric by the use of thumb and fingers.
- Invite the child to feel the fabric.
- Then go through all of the fabric and feel them, followed by the child doing the
same.
- Now mix all fabrics and place them in to a single
pile.
- Close your eyes and tell children that you are
going to match the fabrics in to pairs, with closed
eyes. Feel the fabrics in the same way as before
but with closed eyes, proceeding from one piece
to the other.
- Now match both fabrics one in each hand, and
feel each one in the different hands.
- Place it in the pile in case they don’t match, and then reach for the next fabric on
the top of the pile.
- If you think that is matched tell the child that you think that is matched.
- Then ask the child to touch both of the matched pieces in your hands to assess
whether they are alike.
- Place the matched pairs to the left of the large pile.
- Repeat the matching until all pieces in the box have been matched into pairs.
- Mix them and ask your students to make pairs of fabrics. Once he is done with
the first pair, introduce the second and so on.
- Repeat the same for the second and third box too.
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 Touch Tablets:
Materials:
- One box having five pairs of wooden tablets with
gradations of roughness.
- A blindfold.
Procedure:
- Ask the child whether he wants to join you in the exercise.
- Bring the material to the work place with help of the child.
- Take out two to three pairs of the touch tablets with greater contrast and put it
on the table.
- Mix them together. Now pick out one tablet at a time, feel it in your hand, lightly
stroke it and then put it aside.
- Tell the child that you are going to find the tablet which is just like the one in your
hand.
- Find the matching tablet and place it aside with the one in your hand. Allow child
to feel the similarity of the tablets pair.
- Repeat this exercise with all the rest tablets.
- Now again repeat this entire exercise using a blindfold.
- Mix the tablets and invite the child to perform the activity himself.
Here child learns a tactile sense to differentiate between
surfaces (fabric, tablets etc.) based on their frictional
property. The blindfold helps the child to focus his
attention only upon one sense. Children also learn the
vocabulary as ‘rough’ and ‘smooth’ using three period
lesson, during this exercise, which may also be
accompanied by memory games.
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ii. Exploring Weight:

In these exercises, sense of touch is used to assess difference of pressure or weight of
multiple objects.

 Baric Tablets:
Materials:
- Three separate boxes having six to eight
wooden tablets.
- Each tablet to have a different weight,
color and material from the other.
- All tablets to have same shape and size.
- A blindfold.
Procedure:
- Ask the child whether he wants to join you in the exercise.
- Bring two boxes on the table which contains heaviest and lightest tablets, with
the help of the child.
- Directress shows the child how to hold the tablet in palm of the hand.
- Feel the heaviest tablet and also let the child feel it. After that child can handle
the tablet himself, repeat the exercise using a blindfold.
Here child learn a tactile sense to
differentiate between the weights which
later aids them in doing mathematical
computations. The blindfold helps the child
to focus his attention only upon one sense.
Children also learn the vocabulary as
‘heaviest’ and ‘lightest’ using three period
lesson, during this exercise, which may also
be accompanied by memory games.
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iii. Exploring Temperature:

These exercises relate to the differentiation of hot and cold. Children learn to use their
hands and skins to identify variations in the temperature of different objects/ surfaces.

 Thermic Bottles:
Materials:
- Four pairs of metal containers, each pair
containing water at various temperatures.
- Bottle Pair 1, to contain water at room
temperature i.e. (37°C)
- Bottle Pair 2, to contain tap water i.e. at (27°)
- Bottle Pair 3, to contain cold refrigerated water i.e. at (17°)
- Bottle Pair 4, to contain warm water i.e. at (47°).
Procedure:
- Ask the child whether he wants to join you in
the exercise.
- Prepare the bottles.
- Take out the first pair of bottles, have the
child feel the bottles one at a time.
- Mix the bottles and place them in a line,
keeping one piece from the selected pair in
your hand.
- Tell the child that you are finding the bottle which has the same temperature as
the bottle in your hand.
- Pick up the bottles one after the other in your second hand until you find the one
with the similar temperature.
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- Allow the child to clutch both the bottles in your hands to assess whether they
have same temperature.
- Repeat the process for the second, third and fourth pair too.
- After all the bottles are matched in to pairs, repeat the entire exercise using a
blindfold.
- Shuffle the bottles again in to a line and invite the child to perform the same,
under the supervision of the directress.
Here child learn a tactile sense to differentiate between different temperatures.
Children also learn the vocabulary as ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ using three period lesson, during
this exercise, which may also be accompanied by memory games.

iv. Stereo-gnostic sense:

Stereo-gnostic sense is very important sense as it helps children to discriminate
between different size and shape by feeling the objects. It allows children to make a
mental picture through the use of touch.

 Sorting trays:
Material:
- A tray with three bowls or dishes
- Small dishes are filled with buttons and beans;
one type in each bowl.
- One large empty dish placed in the middle of the
tray.
- Material should be different in shapes and size.
Procedure:
- Ask the child whether he wants to join you in the exercise.
- Place the tray in front of the child.
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- Pick up one of the largest item in the bowl and close eyes and feel it by using
both hands. And tell child that it feels different when the eyes are closed.
- Then ask child to feel the object with his eyes opened and closed. And place it in
the large empty dish.
- Repeat it again for other items.
- The child first checks all these things by their hands and feels them. Introduce
names of each item.
- Then child closes his eyes or uses a
blindfold, again feels the item, name
them, and then puts them into the
second tray.
- Next ask child to open his eyes and sees
how perfectly he has done.
- Invite children to repeat it.

Maria Montessori’s pedagogy enabled children to learn through inquiry, exploration and
experimentation, harnessing their natural inquisitive nature. The wonderful materials introduced by
Montessori are indeed a great way to engage children in to activities essential for their mental and
physical development.

Q6. Prepare material of Smell Bottles and Mystery Bag and send it along with your assignment papers.

Answer:

 Smell Bottles:
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 Mystery Bag:
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