Montessori Areas of Study - Sensorial

“Children acquire knowledge through experience in [their] environment”
- Maria Montessori

The Montessori philosophy capitalizes on five areas of study within children’s environments: Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Mathematics, and Cultural Studies, which include: Geography, Physical and Life Science, History, Music, and Art.  In our previous guide we discussed ways to create the Montessori environment through the implementation of works, beauty, and child-sized materials and furniture. As our Montessori inspired homes transformed to include these foundational building blocks, we are now pivoting to learn about and incorporate materials within each of the areas of study that are developmentally appropriate for your child that you can incorporate in your own Montessori inspired home.
Each month our posts will be separated into four parts:

• Week 1: Insight into the importance of one of the areas of study and concepts and skills developed within this area.
  
• Week 2: Developmentally appropriate works you can incorporate into your home for your birth to one year old in the month’s focus area of study.
  
• Week 3: Developmentally appropriate works you can incorporate into your home for your one to three year old in the month’s focus area of study
  
• ​Week 4: Developmentally appropriate works you can incorporate into your home for your three to six year old in the month’s focus area of study​

Sensorial
The Sensorial area of study is fundamental within the Montessori philosophy and environment. The Sensorial area gives children the opportunity to investigate and make sense of the world around them through exploration of their senses. This area incorporates seven categories for sensorial exploration including: size, color, form, tactile, gustatory, olfactory and auditory. 
As children become sensorial explorers, they begin to make sense of and understand their environment. This child centered exploration allows for children to have hands-on experiences with materials and build their abstract thinking and classification skills.
The Sensorial area of study increases children’s development  in numerous domains such as: 

• Cause and Effect
  
• Classifying
  
• Concept Development
  
• Eye-Hand Coordination
  
• Language Development
  
• Prediction
  
• Sensory Development and Exploration
  
• Size and Shape Discrimination
  
• Tactile Discrimination and Stimulation
  

In the following weeks we will explore works and materials you can implement within your own Montessori inspired home to strengthen your child’s developmental skills within the Sensorial area. We would love to see your child’s Montessori inspired spaces! Tag us in your Montessori inspired homes pictures or videos on Instagram or Facebook at https://www.instagram.com/amicimontessori or at https://www.facebook.com/amicimontessori