Montessori Sensorial Activities

I’ve talked about preliminary and practical life activities as the most important activities for preschoolers at the beginning of the school year. Other activities which are important to emphasize early in the school year are sensorial activities.

Montessori sensorial activities are those which refine the five senses – tactile, visual, auditory, olfactory, and gustatory senses. Children are particularly receptive to developing their senses from ages 2-6, and it’s important to give children at those ages as many sensorial experiences as possible.

Montessori sensorial materials are carefully designed. Whether purchased or handmade, they follow basic Montessori principles. They isolate the quality (for example, the geometric shapes introduced are the same color and only vary in shape). They have a control of error (for example, the child will not be able to fit all the cylinders properly into a cylinder block if one is out of place). They prepare the child indirectly for future learning (for example, many of the sensorial activities come with ten pieces as an indirect preparation for the decimal system).

Sensorial Activities at Home

The sensorial materials in the photos are beautiful, wooden materials from Montessori schools. For a home setting, you might choose to have many high-quality Montessori materials, a few high-quality materials combined with inexpensive versions, or inexpensive and handmade versions of Montessori materials. Don’t feel that you need to replicate a complete Montessori preschool.

Sensorial Activities and Links

Here are links to some pages with lots of helpful Montessori sensorial activities:

Info Montessori has a great introduction to the sensorial activities. You’ll find descriptions of activities to develop each sense along with videos at the site to help you understand how to demonstrate activities using Montessori techniques.

Montessori Teachers Collective has a free online practical life scope and sequence for ages 3-6.

• The top photo shows sensorial shelves from Audrey Morrison’s classroom at The Walden School (for Trillium Montessori)
• The middle photo is from This Practical Life. There are two sensorial areas (not all shown) that are described in the blog post.
• Beautiful Sun Montessori has three separate Montessori sensorial shelves (not all shown) with descriptions of the materials on the shelves.
• Montessori Print Shop has Montessori sensorial shelf photos (not all shown) along with an overview of the primary Montessori sensorial program.

North American Montessori Center also has an article discussing the nine senses. This was part of a series on sensory processing disorder.

Montessori World has an overview of sensorial activities.

Montessori Album has a number of sensorial activities with presentations.

Wikisori has many sensorial activities.

Maitri Learning has a helpful post showing a variety of sensorial shelves and ideas for setting up sensorial.

Montessori Mom has a post on sensorial education with links to individual sensorial activities in the left sidebar.

My Montessori Journey has a post describing Montessori sensorial activities along with a color-book sensorial extension.

I have a post with information about free online access to comprehensive Montessori scope and sequence from Montessori Compass and The Montessori Foundation.

I have a category of posts of sensorial activities.

I have a roundup post with sensorial size extensions.

I have a post with DIY Montessori sensorial materials {hundreds of resources}.

You’ll find ideas for sensorial activities at our Living Montessori Now YouTube channel.

I also have a list of free Montessori sensorial videos.

If you’re a homeschooler, check out my list of Montessori sensorial materials I recommend buying.

Does your child have a favorite sensorial activity?

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See the rest of the posts in my Montessori curriculum areas series here:

• Montessori Practical Life Activities
• Montessori Math Activities
• Montessori Language Activities
• Montessori Cultural Activities
• Montessori Elementary

Learn more about my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to. Teach Grace and Courtesy!

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