How can you incorporate the Montessori sensorial at home? The following are some activities that you can easily create with materials readily found in the home and some action oriented activities that require no materials.

Collect 35 mm film canisters, Pringle tubes or other containers that have a removable lid, but are opaque. For sound, place identical objects in a pair of containers. Thus, the first two containers may contain rice, the next two cotton balls, the next two water, and so on. Put a variety of objects in each set of containers and let your child listen for which two containers sound the same. Some other examples of things to include: rice, cotton balls, metal nuts buttons, water, coins, sand, paper clips. Anything that fits in the canister can be used. Be careful not to include anything too small (that could be swallowed) for a very young child. When the child does the exercise, they listen for like pairs, but do not open the lids to verify accuracy. The goal is to help the child develop their auditory sense, not visual.

Pick a color and have your child find everything that is that color. "Let's find everything that is green." Your child may identify or collect: lettuce, pear, green apple, green napkin, plant, green colored pencil or crayon, green car, frog, turtle. The list of items identified or collected is only limited by time? This is an activity that can be done at home, outdoors, or while traveling.

Take several spice jars out of your spice cabinet. Introduce your child to the spice by letting them smell the spice and by naming the spice. Then have the child name various spices on their own. This is a great activity for the holiday season as some spices are used more often during certain times of the year.

• Keep your child moving to help them develop their senses. It is through movement that babies first learn to crawl, walk, and then run! Allow your child to walk (safely) on the flower bed wall. This encourages your child to develop a sense of balance and to become aware of themselves.
• Let them jump, hop, skip, while playing games or outside.
• Take walks often, whether you live in an urban, suburban or other environment there are always things to see and do. Go on a sense walk? Listen for sounds or smells in your environment and point out smells and sounds that change with the different seasons. Your goal is to help heighten your child's awareness and it is a wonderful opportunity to bond with your child. A walk can be around the block or a long hike. Let your child be the guide in terms of when they are finished or how long they want to continue.
• Keep sensory activities active. Video and computer games can be very sensory (especially visual and auditory) in nature, but limit the amount of time your child spends on this type of activity. Video and computer games tend to be very sedentary. Visit a new playground in your area. Find out where your community has handicap accessible playgrounds. Often, these playgrounds have equipment for blind or otherwise special needs children. These playgrounds provide a great opportunity for your child to learn about other children and their needs and the opportunity to play with something that might be new.

Q: Every day my child comes home and I ask her how her day was. She says, "Fine." And that ends that conversation! How can I get more out of her? I want to know what is going on in her day and how she is feeling about school.
A: Although a very common response from a child, it can be frustrating for a parent who wants to be involved in their child's school day. Here are a few suggestions for how to help your child be more forthcoming with school day information:

1. Be specific. Ask a general question and you're likely to get a general answer. Ask specific questions such as, "What did you do in math today?" "Did you work on (fill in word here "your reading or your music) this morning?" "What was the last thing that you did in class today?" Children often won't remember the things they did early in the day since their time concept may not yet be firmly established. But the more times that you ask about specific activities, the more likely that your child will start to anticipate your questions and have an answer for you.

2. Ask an emotionally based question. Ask how your child felt about a certain subject, lesson or activity. You can also ask them the best thing that happened that day (or worst). With some children, this will be a more telling and informative answer than a list of work they completed.

3. Model appropriate responses. When conversing with your child encourage them to ask you about your day (reciprocal communication). When asked how your day was, answer with more detail than, It was fine.

4. Change your question. Instead of "How was your day?" ask, "What was the best thing about your day?" What did you enjoy most?" Dialogue is important no matter what age your child is. Keep asking questions!

Stereognostic Sense:
In speaking of the sensorial area of the classroom, Montessori teachers refer to the stereognostic sense. The stereognostic sense creates a mental picture through touch. A wonderful book that gives many examples of sensorial and other Montessori lessons is Basic Montessori: Learning Activities for Under-Fives by David Gettman (St. Martin's Press, 1987)

Montessori Matters, January/February 2006