Theory Behind Manipulative Materials

Montessori believed that the hand was the direct link to the mind. Therefore, her materials are all designed to be manipulative. When learning sounds using the method, a child traces the letter shape with the fingers used for writing as he or she make the sound out loud. To learn what a pyramid is, she holds it in both of her hands, and feels it with her eyes closed. To learn what a square is, she feels the edges of it, instead of merely looking at a two-dimensional shape printed on a piece of paper. When counting, she counts actual objects to feel quantities, instead of trying to touch dots on a page.

Significance of Sensory Education

Maria Montessori wished to help children truly observe the world around them. To do so, she developed didactic material that refines the senses. Within her Sensorial curriculum is a variety of activities that focuses on one individual sense at a time. The visual sense is refined through work with shapes and forms. The auditory sense is refined through matching and grading sounds. The olfactory sense is refined through matching smells. The tactile sense is refined through matching and grading different textures. The gustatory sense is refined through several opportunities for tasting.

Appearance of Montessori Materials

Montessori materials are always to be beautiful. They should be free from dents and scratches, repainted if necessary. Anything broken must be immediately removed from the shelf until it can be fixed. All sets should be complete. If a piece is missing, the activity should be removed from the shelf until it can be replaced. A preference is given to natural materials, such as wood and glass. Plastic is less appealing. Many imitations of Montessori materials exist, although they are not as attractive, nor as good as, the original.

Process vs. Product

Montessori materials are all designed to be "self-correcting." That means it is usually obvious to the child, upon completing the activity, whether it was done correctly. For example, the Knobbed Cylinders can only be returned to the base in one way. Counting activities contain only the exact number of counters (manipulative objects) required to correctly perform them. If pieces are left over or appear to be missing, the child knows he needs to go back and recount the whole exercise to find his mistake. This allows the child to learn without constant adult intervention. The adult in the classroom is often referred to as "directress" rather than "teacher." She is charged with instructing the child in the correct process when using each material. The correct handling of the material will lead to eventual mastery of the concepts taught within.

Purpose of the Montessori Sequence

Materials within the Montessori curriculum are presented in a particular order. Only when a child has shown full mastery of one material will the next step be presented to him or her. To facilitate the sequence, items are placed on the shelves in sequential order, left-to-right and top-to-bottom. As the activities in Practical Life are set up in this fashion, and performed in this order, they provide the foundation for the later language activities of reading and writing. The Sensorial materials, created in sets of 10, provide the foundation for later work in the math area.