Video by Kericho Montessori School
Brenda Kipkemoi April 22, 2022 13:16 EAT
Montessori materials make learning fun, relatable, and valuable to children. It’s true!
Even if you’re an adult, you might find yourself playing with these materials while your child is in class.
For children, the Montessori method encourages self-learning through play and exploration. These fun Montessori materials help your child learn and master difficult concepts.
Photo by Kericho Montessori School
Here are some of the most common learning materials you might see in a Montessori classroom:
8 Common Montessori Materials That Help Your Child Learn
1. Beads
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From individual beads to cubes containing 1000 beads, teaching children about math can be a lot of fun.
The decimal system can be difficult to understand, but beads can help. When a child places a cube containing 1000 beads in the thousand’s place, they can quickly visualize what that number looks like.
Beads are also great ways to teach geometry. The rod represents a line, the flat represents a surface, and the cube represents a solid.
2. Classification Cards
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Have you ever found yourself explaining to your kids what things are? You get an “Oh, yeah!” in response, then the next day they’re asking again. Yikes!
Classification cards can help you out here. Classification cards are like flashcards, but with a twist: each card has a picture, the name of something (often an object), or both.
You can use classification cards to teach your kid all kinds of important skills, from the names of objects in your world (like a chair or a frog) to more complex concepts (such as the parts of planet Earth).
3. Checkerboards
The checkerboard is a great teaching tool for multiplication. Each row and column on the board represents a different value.
To solve a multiplication problem, children place beads on the checkerboard in the right places to visualize the answer to the problem. For example, if they want to know what 3 x 4 is, they would put three beads in a line across the fourth column and four beads in a line along the third row.
4. Dressing Frames
Let’s face it: little hands can find some tasks tricky, including tying shoes, buttoning, and even zipping.
That’s why the dressing frame, originally created by Maria Montessori has been used since the early 1900s to help children develop their motor skills.
Some frames have buttonholes, and others laces for children to tie and untie. Other frames enable children to fasten and unfasten buckles and zip and unzip zippers. These frames encourage play while developing kids’ fine motor skills.
5. Hands-on Tasks and Montessori Materials
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One of the best ways to teach children how to complete everyday tasks is to let them explore fun, hands-on activities.
Some common Montessori-inspired tasks using Montessori materials include:
- Helping wash and clear away the dishes
- Arranging their clothes
- Glueing paper
- Ironing (supervised)
- Making their beds
- Opening bottle caps
- Pouring and scooping
- Sweeping
- Wiping the dining table after dinner
- Washing a window
- Washing clothes
- Watering flowers
6. Movable Alphabet
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Most children learn to read between the ages of four and seven. To become comfortable with reading, children first need to become comfortable with letters and words.
A movable alphabet allows children to create colourful, three-dimensional letters into words. Rather than just looking at the words on a page, children handle the letters with their hands. This hands-on approach makes learn to read easier and “realer”.
So if you’re wondering why your child will occasionally walk around the house after school with a bunch of blocks in their hands? You’ve got your answer—they’re trying out new words or practising old ones!
7. Puzzle Maps
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When you’re a little kid, it’s hard to understand that the world is bigger than your backyard. So when you’re trying to teach them geography, it can be tempting to throw up your hands and just hand them a map.
But, when you do this, your kids won’t get the full picture of what the earth looks like. With wooden puzzle maps, children move and arrange different countries and continents, enabling them to get a scale of just hoe big the world really is and picture themselves as a part of it.
8. Pink Tower Montessori Materials
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If you’re a Montessori teacher or parent, then you probably know about the Pink Tower. If not, read on—you’ll be glad you did.
The pink tower is ten blocks in incremental, which kids stack and balance in size order.
By using the senses of both seeing and touching, children learn how to compare objects of different sizes and dimensions. This develops their mathematical skills, e.g. comparing, measuring, and counting.
And it’s not just “mathematics” that kids learn with this fun set: they also develop fine motor skills and learn balance, as they try to build the biggest tower they can with the blocks.
Plus, it’s just fun to play with these bright pink blocks! How many towers can YOU make?
Photos by Kericho Montessori School
A Proven Montessori Centre of Excellence in Kericho with Montessori Materials On Hand for Your Children
Kids learn in different ways and at different speeds, so their educators should be ready to teach in a variety of ways to foster the best possible outcomes.
In the Montessori system, your children aren’t just sitting and listening to a lecture. They’re interacting with their environment to learn and grow.
For example, in a traditional classroom, the teacher might start by giving the students a lecture on what plants need to survive. But in a Montessori classroom, the teacher might instead bring in a live plant for the students to touch, water, and observe.
The Montessori method is all about enabling children to interact with their surroundings through hands-on, practical activities.
Are you looking for a Montessori School in Kericho that offers children these proven Montessori materials for learning?
Call Kericho Montessori School today on 0719-102-497, or email kerichomontessori@gmail.com to learn more about our programs, and explore the possibilities of enrolling your child.