What Is Sensorial Education?

Montessori sensorial education materials including Pink Tower, Brown Stair, and Color Tablets

Sensorial education is one of the most distinctive and foundational areas of the Montessori curriculum. Through carefully designed hands-on materials, children ages 2½ to 6 learn to refine their senses and build the intellectual skills they'll need for all later learning.

"Thought is his human birthright, all education aims at helping the individual to think clearly about them instead of half-knowing things all in a muddle."

— Phoebe Child

Why Sensorial Education Matters

Sensorial education helps develop a child's intellect. Whether you believe intelligence is genetic or produced by environment, you can further it through education. Intelligence is built upon experiences and thought processes. The Montessori materials for ages 2½ to 6 are designed to help the child's mind develop the necessary skills for later intellectual learning.

Sensorial impressions of a child's environment are not the same as sensorial education. Impressions are feelings and not an intellectual building block. The human mind needs information to discriminate and appreciate its culture, art, music, poetry, reading, and all aspects of the environment. Early sensorial educational material was provided by Dr. Montessori for this purpose.

How Sensorial Materials Work

Sensorial apparatus provides a particular purpose and focus. It includes using the child's hands, senses, and spontaneous activity. When a young child sees something new and exciting, he or she will want to touch the object. Young children will grab a new kitten and hold it immediately — they want to feel the reality of the object.

This education is not an exercise to sharpen the senses, but to allow a child to use his or her senses to understand what he or she sees. The first lessons, when presenting materials, offer contrasted sensory materials and then graded materials. This teaches concepts of comparing and contrasting. For example, the first colors introduced are the primary colors, which are the most distinct on the color chart. Red, blue, and yellow are introduced, then shades and combinations are later introduced to grade by shades.

"This is the beginning of the development of the intellect and it is brought about by the intelligence working in a concentrated way on the impressions given by the senses."

— Phoebe Child

From Unconscious Knowledge to Understanding

Sensorial education is used to tap the young child's mind of absorbed information from the first three years of life. The information at this point is a sea of impressions in the unconscious mind. As a child works further, the young mind becomes aware of concepts of size, color, weight, quantity, and so on. When the differences are clear, the names are introduced to describe these concepts — often through the Three Period Lesson.

Montessori builds concept upon concept. Nothing is left to chance learning. There is an order and sequence to the materials presented. Montessori's sensorial approach helps a child categorize and use his or her vast amount of subconscious knowledge about his or her surroundings. It is a key that unlocks the door of the mind.

The Hand and the Mind

Montessori understood that this intellectual activity was a manual, active approach. It came from observing her own students and is contrary to adult methods of teaching and learning. The materials are three-dimensional and real. Montessori at this stage did not use pictures for teaching sensorial concepts — she believed that children wanted to see and feel the real objects.

Concentration is a byproduct of a child learning with his or her hands. During the ages 3 to 6, the "hands are the busiest of all." The equipment provides an intellectual education that will help a child eventually acquire his or her culture.

How Are Sensorial Exercises Provided?

Usually the Pink Tower is introduced at age 3. After the child has successfully done the tower, he or she has learned several things: difference in sizes and weight, how to hold his or her fingers with the small cubes, how to grasp the largest cube, controlling arms and fingers so that the tower doesn't fall, and the good feeling of completing the task. Muscular skill, intellectual development, and character development combine as a whole for the child when using Montessori sensorial education. You can find a quality Pink Tower for use at home.

More activities, such as the Brown Stair (also called the Broad Stair) and the Long Stair, are introduced after the Pink Tower. A much more complicated exercise is that of the Cylinders and Solid Insets. Then the geometric shapes are introduced. All of these activities use three-dimensional objects that help with eye-hand coordination and provide a concept of size and shapes for later learning.

All the other activities include use of the senses. Everything is movable and a real object. Visual aids are not used in sensorial education.

"They cannot see properly without their hands."

— Phoebe Child

The marriage of the hand and mind is the cornerstone of sensorial education. With it, the child unlocks his or her world in a concrete way.

Related Printouts

Color Nomenclature Cards — Printable cards for color matching and naming activities
Cylinder Cards — Companion cards for cylinder block exercises
Geometric Cabinet Circle Cards — Circle cards for use with the Geometric Cabinet
Greyscale Nomenclature Cards — Cards for grading shades from light to dark

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