Oh, the Possibilities of the Montessori Sensorial Materials!

On Friday, I challenged the oldest student in the class to build a structure with the Montessori sensorial materials. In this blog have spoken of the "brown stairs", "pink tower", and "red rods" before but not too much in combination with each other. This is because all our training thus far with the materials have been leading up to the following accomplishments. In the beginning of the year we focused on respecting the materials. In the last few months we have practiced transferring the materials from their home on the shelves and across the room to a work mat, one piece at a time; where we have reassembled them, and returned them to their home, one piece at a time. 

Note: If you are exhausted just reading this, imagine how much work it is for a young child!

The challenge was fun for the child, for me as the guide, and for spectators! The structure tumbled a couple of times but the child took deep breaths and told herself, "Never give up!", until she had successfully built the structure (from a picture). We made sure to celebrate the child's success and allowed time for the child show other students and teachers what she had done.

The challenge proved to be motivating, because after an eventful weekend, the child came today (Monday) ready to replicate more combinations of the sensorial materials (from pictures). Two friends joined and together they accurately assembled 5 different arrangements. This brought many  smiles, especially from me. It was just such a great display of teamwork!

After manipulating the materials for a good part of the morning, the children seemed to appreciate the materials more. I suggested we try to repair the chips in the paint that had been collecting over the years, and they were more than willing to paint the damaged edges! It was a good closing activity to the work they had done as a team. Of course I am pleased the pink cubes from the "pink tower" look better, but mostly, I am excited to see who's next to take on a challenge of building with the intelligently designed Montessori materials.