Babies, toddlers and children are natural explorers, constantly absorbing and categorising sensory information from their environment. As their gross and fine motor skills develop their world opens up. The Sensorial Materials, designed by Maria Montessori, serve as tools to sharpen their inherent curiosity, fostering a culture of problem-solving and selflearning.

Adult’s perception of the world around them can, unintentionally, skew a child’s understanding. We may refer to the child as ‘big’, ‘tall’, or ‘strong’, not realising that these abstract concepts can be confusing for a child building an understanding though their senses and applying newly learnt vocabulary. Being very literal, the child may say, that it is their Daddy who is tall, not them. With varied concrete experiences of abstract concepts through the sensorial
materials , children will understand how to apply vocabulary and use terms relatively.

It is for this reason that Montessori referred to the Sensorial Materials as “Materialised Abstractions.” They are handcrafted wooden activities that a child can touch, and experience, leading to a deeper, muscle-engrained understanding that will become concepts once language is added. Take, for instance, the wooden cylinders. Ten cylinders, identical in all aspects but varying in height. Through these, a child can explore the concept of height – understanding what ‘tall’, ‘short’, ‘taller’, ‘shortest’ mean. This, then, can be applied to countless real-life situations.

The Sensorial Exercises enable a child to discern similarities and differences, match identical objects, and grade nuances of size, shape, and colour visually; texture, temperature, and pressure through touch; intensity and pitch through hearing ; and basic flavours and odours using their sense of taste and smell.

Montessori emphasised that these exercises are not just about observation but about problem-solving, reasoning, planning and decision-making – skills that lay a strong foundation for later learning particularly literacy, numeracy, coding and robotics. The Sensorial Materials are more than just educational tools. They are the bridges between tangible reality and abstract ideas. They stimulate deep concentration, kindle curiosity, and propel the child’s learning
journey.

Montessori recognised that children understand the world through their senses, and the Sensorial Materials catalyse this process. They not only support self-directed learning but also help teachers to guide that learning, connecting classroom experiences with the natural world. In essence, the Sensorial Materials illuminate the path to learning. This isn’t just teaching – it’s an exciting journey of discovery through the sensory world, building a solid foundation for lifelong learning and bringing enormous pleasure through being ‘aware’ and able to appreciate nature, art and food fully.