Montessori pedagogy has its own methods and also its materials. In learning colors, he uses the so-called “color tablets”. These belong to the Sensory area of Montessori , one of the 5 areas into which this special teaching philosophy is divided. The other four are Math, Language, Practical Life, and Geography and Science .
We are going to explain what are the colored tablets belonging to box 3 (part of the Montessori work material is classified in boxes) and how they help the child to become familiar with color.
It is a really beautiful material that gives a lot of play. Children and not so young are usually fascinated. As we have said, they are used in “Sensorial” in ages between 3 and 5 years to develop perception of color and its harmony , in addition to learning to differentiate the different tones of the same color. There are 63 tablets of 9 colors and 7 shades of each. The edges that hold the color are made of wood, all the same to avoid distractions and that the child focuses only on the color.
Now let’s see what we can do with them. There are many ways to work them based on the principle of Montessori education that says that the hand is the extension of the eye , since everything has to be touched and experienced. Only then will the little one understand how it works and what he can do with it. You can try these activities and surely more will come to mind:
ACTIVITIES TO WORK COLORS
- Playing to place each color with its correct degradation , which is the basic thing so that they know the 63 tones. If they are wrong, they realize it right away, so it is better not to correct them and let them experiment. Visual harmony will do the job. This can be done in rows, spirals or with the figures that the child comes up with.
- Recognizing tones in things at home . You will love finding the exact colors of all the things around you using your slats.
- Provide him with a chart, sheet, drawing, book cover … whatever has many colors and separates the palette of the colors he recognizes.
- Making your own combinations you can play to separate each of the tones that you like the most, putting the name of each one to each color set.
This is a good way to break the ice with Montessori tablets , you will see how he spends hours entertaining, because the harmony is hypnotic. One last note: it is advisable to start by showing the three primary colors , red, blue and yellow only, and add as the child becomes more familiar with them.
Montessori splints can be bought made or if you dare they can be made at home. On the Internet there are quite simple tutorials. Be that as it may, go ahead and present your child with this useful and precious educational toy like few others.
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