Sensorial Materials in Education

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In order to understand how sensorial materials can help a child in an auto-education process, it is, first and foremost, necessary to define the essentials of this process. Thus, Lillard (2011) explains that an auto-education implies testing a child’s solution to a particular problem through a practical situation. Sensorial activities, in their turn, allow a child to exercises their senses repeatedly upon a trial and error pattern.

The most important point that needs to be mentioned is that education through sensorial materials does not require the intensive involvement of a teacher or a supervisor. As such, children are free to search for the right solutions on their own. Therefore, the format of sensorial materials is auto-educative by its nature.

Additionally, it is essential to note that an important condition for effective auto-education is that a child can perform it spontaneously. In other words, the process does not require additional equipment and settings. From this perspective, sensorial materials are completely self-sufficient. As such, children are free to start their training without waiting for adults’ assistance or instructions (Povell, 2009). Finally, the materials’ design makes them particularly appropriate for auto-education since children are essentially attracted by colorful elements of the sensorial set.

The use of sensorial materials helps to establish a consistent foundation for the further intellectual development of a child. Gestwicki (2016) points out the fact that children’s absorbent minds are open to new information and knowledge. Sensorial materials, in their turn, provide them with all the necessary options to fulfill their emerging need for learning. As such, intellectual development flows fast and naturally. Thus, education through sensorial materials stimulates intensive cognitive development. For example, while playing with sensorial elements, a child learns to differentiate important criteria such as big and small, heavy, and light. Likewise, children learn to recognize various materials and shapes in a tense-free manner which guarantees that the acquired knowledge will be solid.

Along with learning to recognize new objects, children expand their vocabulary so that they can potentially describe things as “cold or hot,” and “big or small.” Due to the fact that the new words are not taught intentionally, but are naturally absorbed by children’s’ minds, there are more chances that children will remember them. Thus, it might be concluded that sensorial materials provide children with a wide range of options to satisfy their absorbent minds in a relaxed and entertaining manner.

Sensorial materials are an effective tool to support a child in developing movement, language, and order. First and foremost, performing operation with small elements that compose the material set helps to develop children’s coordination and fine motor skills. Second, there is a wide range of objects that helps young learners refine their movements. For example, constructive triangles and cylinder blocks require a set of certain movements to be performed several times. Upon repeating this set on an ongoing basis, children learn to move small and big objects.

From a language perspective, sensorial materials are likewise highly supportive. Hence, while getting acquainted with a set of new sensorial elements children are expected to learn the associated words. As a result, their vocabulary essentially expands letting in the names of colors, shapes, and qualitative adjectives such as “big,” “small,” “heavy,”, “light,” “cold,” and “hot” to name but a few. Finally, sensorial materials assist in developing a sense of order in children. Thus, sensorial objects can be organized in a particular order on a regular basis. As soon as a child gets used to the set order, it might be changed and the young learner should be asked to fix the sequence. This simple exercise will be a valuable contribution to the child’s cognitive development (Hendron, 2011).

Sensorial materials are a perfect tool for satisfying children’s need for continual repetition. Hence, children are welcomed to repeat one and the same operation pattern on an ongoing basis, mastering, in such a manner, a myriad of useful skills. As a result, they gradually become familiar with all the represented concepts: shapes, colors, textures, etc. At first, they are likely to experience some difficulties recognizing them through a repetitive use of these objects in different combinations will help them to digest the new information at a comfortable and relaxed pace (North American Montessori Center, 2013).

It should be pointed out that the principle of repetition is the core idea of the sensorial education method. Hence, Montessori believed that repetition is the only way to ensure consistent learning. As a result, the materials are designed in such a manner that each game implies performing one and the same operation over and over again. Additionally, it might be proposed that children use sensorial materials to teach each other. In this case, the method will ensure the maximal level of repetition as they will be obliged to apply the learnt concepts to practice many times (North American Montessori Center, 2013).

First and foremost, it is essential to reveal the concept of normalization in a sense it initially implied in Montessori’s vision. According to her interpretation, it comprised such aspects as the love of work, concentration, self-discipline, and sociability (North American Montessori Center, 2008). Thus, sensorial materials imply the freedom of choice that is highly appreciated by young learners. Along with the entertaining format, these factors are likely to serve as a powerful driver of establishing a positive attitude to studies in children. From the concentration perspective, sensorial materials are likewise useful since they require young learners to focus on minor details and remember the consequence of objects in a particular set.

The development of the self-discipline skills, in its turn, requires a teacher’s involvement. Hence, the latter should set a particular framework within which children are supposed to use the sensorial materials. Otherwise stated, they should be taught to prepare all the elements for work and put them away when the lesson is over. Finally, children’s social skills naturally develop when they share the materials with each other and wait for their mates to complete a particular task. As such, they necessarily learn to respect one and other as well as to tolerate the individuality in one’s learning pace.

Sensorial materials are likewise useful in terms of developing positive character traits that will further help a child to become a good learner. Hence, while working with these materials a child gets acquainted with the essentials of a decision making process. The choice effort strengthens his or her will, while the need for numerous repetitions masters the tolerance. As such, children become more task-oriented and get used to the idea that a certain set of efforts is required to accomplish the target aim. In the meantime, it should be pointed out that these materials offer a reasonable balance between challenge and success.

In other words, the suggested problems can be resolved by all the learners more or less successfully. This balance is highly important since excessive complexity of the offered task would lead to continual failures. The latter, in its turn, could serve as a powerful trigger for a child to develop a negative attitude to education. Sensorial materials help to avoid this risk by offering simple and entertaining tasks that are mainly aimed at establishing a positive reinforcement, while the development of their will is a supplementary benefit (Hendron, 2011).

Sensorial materials allow a teacher to adopt the role of an external observer. This role is slightly different from that performed by traditional teachers. As such, those specialists who work with sensorial materials exhibit less interference in the education process. Instead, they watch it carefully and lead the operation flow in the right direction. In other words, these teachers are expected to guide and supervise rather than to teach in a common sense of the word. This form of exclusion from the teaching process allows specialists to learn their students more complexly.

Hence, they are enabled to determine the key challenges that each learner faces as well as to point out the associated problems such as a child’s communication barrier. The use of sensorial materials is a perfect technique to establish a friendly and relaxing atmosphere within which young learners feel safe enough to reveal their creative potential. Thus, children are supposed to work with sensorial materials individually, though it is important that they know they can receive a teacher’s support whenever it is necessary (North American Montessori Center, 2007).

Reference List

Gestwicki, C. (2016). Developmentally appropriate practice: curriculum and development in early education. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Hendron, R. (2011). The purposes of the sensorial exercises.

Lillard, P. P. (2011). Montessori: A modern approach. New York, NY: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

North American Montessori Center. (2007). The Montessori teacher and her role: Learning more about the method.

North American Montessori Center. (2008). Montessori philosophy: Understanding normalization and the Montessori classroom.

North American Montessori Center. (2013). Repetition in the Montessori environment.

Povell, P. (2009). Montessori comes to America: The leadership of Maria Montessori and Nancy McCormick Rambusch. New York, NY: University Press of America.

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Sensorial Materials in Education

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