The sensorial curriculum area is unique to Montessori education, encouraging children to engage all five senses in their learning, forming concrete ideas from the abstract in their environments. The Geometric Solids are a key part of the sensorial curriculum area, allowing children to understand 3D shapes by making them tangible objects.
The Geometric Solids comprises of ten solid wooden shapes that are colored in a bright blue. The shapes include a:
- triangular prism
- rectangular prism
- cube
- cylinder
- cone
- triangular pyramid
- square pyramid
- sphere
- ellipsoid
- ovoid
The Geometric Solids are one of many Montessori materials that challenge and shape a child’s stereognostic sense, which is their ability to perceive and understand both the form and nature of objects through touch.
By working with these materials, children become aware of how shapes form the basis for everyday objects. This knowledge provides the foundation for future work in geometry, which falls into the Mathematics curriculum for older Montessori students.
Children begin work with the Geometric Solids around three and a half years old and it is often their first introduction to stereognostic materials.
The clear visual differences between the shapes acts as the control of error, helping the children to correct their own work.
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