Montessori Materials Spotlight - Geometric Cabinet

The Geometric Cabinet is a material in Montessori education used to help children learn about different shapes and their properties. It is typically used with children between the ages of three and six years old.

Benefits:

• The Geometric Cabinet helps children develop their visual and tactile discrimination skills.
• It also helps them understand concepts of geometry, including shape recognition, shape relationships, and the properties of shapes.
• By allowing children to work with the material independently, it promotes self-directed learning and exploration.

Materials needed:

• Geometric Cabinet (including drawers with various geometric shapes and corresponding frames)
• Demonstration tray (a tray with a few shapes and frames for presentation)
• Child-sized table or mat for floor work

Instructions for use:

1. Demonstration Tray exercise:
2. Use the Demonstration Tray to present a few shapes to the child, showing them how to remove the shapes from the frames and trace their edges.
3. Then, remove the shapes from the frames and mix them up on a table. Ask the child to match the shapes to their corresponding frames.
4. Introduce the names of the shapes using the three-period lesson.
5. Matching exercise:
6. Repeat the Demonstration Tray exercise, but without the frames.
7. Mix up the shapes on the table and ask the child to match them to their corresponding frames.
8. Additional exercise:
9. Present new shapes from different drawers in the Geometric Cabinet to the child, using the same procedure as in the Demonstration Tray exercise.
10. Introduce the names of the new shapes using the three-period lesson.

Points to note:

• When presenting the shapes to the child, use a gentle, deliberate motion and encourage the child to touch and explore the shapes themselves.
• Use the three-period lesson to introduce the names of the shapes, allowing the child to first see, touch, and manipulate the shapes before learning their names.
• Encourage the child to work with the material independently and explore it in their own way.
• Take care to properly store the material after use and keep it organized so the child can easily access it later.

Overall, the Geometric Cabinet is a valuable Montessori material that can help children develop a deep and lasting understanding of geometry while also building important cognitive and motor skills.