Montessori Materials

Classic Montessori materials make learning irresistible! All the materials for each area are arranged invitingly on low, open shelves.

The children have easy access to the materials and may choose what they like throughout the entire open work time. They may work for as long as the material holds their interest. When they are finished with each material, they return it to the shelf from which it came.

The Montessori School of Sudbury offers a vast collection of Montessori materials developed by leading international manufacturers. From puzzle maps to trinomial cubes, each piece is meticulously designed according to official Montessori specifications. The materials themselves invite activity. There are bright arrays of solid geometric forms, knobbed puzzle maps, colored beads, metal insets and various specialized rods and blocks.

Montessori materials in the preschool classroom are designed to isolate one quality. For example, the material known as the Pink Tower

is made of ten pink cubes of varying sizes. The child constructs the tower with the largest cube on the bottom and the smallest on top. This material isolates the concept of SIZE. The cubes are all the same color and texture, the only difference size.

Other special Montessori materials isolate different concepts: color tablets for color, geometry materials for form, etc. Another important and unique aspect of Montessori materials is that they are “self-correcting”. If a piece does not fit or is left over, the child easily perceives the error without need for adult “correction”. The child is able to solve problems by himself, building independence, analytical thinking and the satisfaction that comes from true accomplishment. As the child’s exploration continues, the materials interrelate and build upon each other. For example, various relationships can be explored between the “Pink Tower” and the “Broad Stair”, which are based on matching precise dimensions. Even later, in the elementary years, new aspects of some of the same materials unfold. The child may, for instance, return to the “Pink Tower” and discover that the cubes progress incrementally from one cubic centimeter to one cubic decimeter.