7 DIY Montessori Sensorial Activities for the Sensory Sensitive Child I Hill Country Homestead

There are so many instances in the natural world to instruct the senses, and you can utilize nature for free. With a few simple and budget-friendly purchases, much can be done to supplement a child's sensory needs. Sensorial activities are used in Montessori learning to help children in discrimination and order. They also help broaden and refine a child's senses. When a child's senses are fulfilled with sensorial experiences and work, it helps them become more logical, perceptive, and aware.

One of Maria Montessori's most magnificent works was her observation and approach to a child's sensory needs, which is the foundation for all other learning. Sensorial work is essential, and in our modern-day, fast-paced lives, there are many areas where some children are simply deficient in sensory experiences. Part of being the adult guide is to sit back, relax, and observe the child in an effort to understand what they need next. Is the child playing in the dog's water bowl? The child needs more access to open-ended water play. Is the child sensitive to taste or texture? Introduce more activities centered around these senses. The outdoors speak to all of the senses, so when in doubt, go out! Lessons in sensorial activities always have one defining quality, such as color, weight, shape, texture, size, sound, smell. Here is one Montessori inspired activity for each sense to rock sensorial activities at home without expensive Montessori equipment.

1. Color

   Kids learning their colors is important, but teaching them to notice the difference between light and dark/ light, lighter, lightest, and dark, darker darkest can be interesting to them also. A sizeable wooden color box is kept in the Montessori classroom to present these kinds of lessons. An easy and inexpensive way to present this at home is with those paint samples at the hardware store. Pick up a few colors of each shade and voila! A DIY color box at home. These samples can be cut up and used to match, sort by color, line up from darkest to lightest, or vice versa, and you can create a color wheel.

2. Weight

When a child is old enough to name objects, they can begin to understand how different objects weigh different amounts. Little phrases throughout the day like ‘This chair is very heavy’ or ‘This plate is very light’ are great vocabulary builders for this sense. A balancing plane on a base works well to begin weighing blocks or other household items. A step up from this simple activity would be a simple science scale, like this one, for a little more exploration. Children will naturally learn this concept with sticks, rocks, and other common items they experience in daily life and do not usually become a concern for inadequate practice by the child.

Related: How to Help a Child with Sensory Sensitivities

3.Shape

So many wonderful shapes! Blocks and other manipulative toys usually have this area of a child’s need covered. Why not take it a step farther and add language to those items? Children are generally ready to move beyond the square, circle, triangle, rectangle, and star reasonably early, like right after they learn those. The term for a rectangular-shaped block is a rectangular prism. Take a look at an example of an excellent set of Montessori geometric solids, here on Amazon, that includes a sheet with the terminology needed for the adult and won't break the bank. You can buy this set or search for these solid geometric shapes in your own pile of blocks! Children are ready for tangible geometry and terms at a very early age, so don’t miss the opportunity to share it with them!

4. Texture

Tactile is the sensory category where most children will show signs of a deficiency. With children spending more time indoors than ever before, creative sensory activities can help supplement the ever-growing appetite of tactile need in a young child. Sensory bins full of lentils, beans, and rice are always helpful, but a headache to clean up. Using them outdoors is recommended. One of the easiest activities presented in the Montessori classroom is a board with graded sections of sandpaper glued on. Smooth to rough with about four strips of sandpaper total. Here is an example of the IN classroom work. As you can see, it would be effortless to recreate this at home for very cheap. Linked is a package of sandpaper here with various grit if visiting Home Depot isn’t for you.

5. Size

Often children will put smaller objects inside of cups, buckets, or bags to judge the sizes of each. Natural play and exploration will cater to teaching the child the concept of size in their natural environment. The classic Montessori exercise for this is a set of Russian nesting dolls. The dolls are colorful and fun and are usually made out of natural materials. With smaller children, I would control the collection by removing the larger dolls, so only three are available to the child to practice with. Once the child masters the smaller set, add one more doll as needed until they can use the entire set of nesting dolls. Sometimes relatives and thrift shops can have the most interesting collections of Matryoshka Dolls. Nesting buckets and other materials can work for this concept as well.

6. Sound

Listening exercises with children can be purely magical. One of our favorite activities is sitting in the middle of the forest, listening carefully, and whispering about each sound we hear. Often our mornings are spent on the front patio, taking in the sound bath. A rooster crowing, a cow in the distance, honking of ducks, sounds of various birds, and so much more. To formally introduce sound at home, use instruments to set the tempo to simple songs. Then sing the song loudly, and then very softly. As you go through the day, notice if the child is becoming too loud for an indoor environment. Speak to the child with a whisper, they will have to quiet themselves to hear what was said and will usually re-adjust their level also. A CD full of common sound effects to listen to and talk about is here, on Amazon. Books on Cd or audible only stories are great prompts for listening as well.

7. Smell

We smell things often and daily here on the homestead. The sense of smell can be powerful and can determine other factors like mood, appetite, even awareness. You can practice smelling just about anything non-toxic around the house, and it becomes a sensory experience. Everyday scents to an adult can be a world of new to a young child. The Montessori classroom uses smelling jars on the shelf to address this sensory need for a child, like this one. Our favorite way to formally experience smell at home is essential oil jars. With adult supervision, teaching a child to gently woft the scent of the jar toward the nose with a wave of the hand is an exciting activity for little noses. An added benefit is those little fingers can practice fine pinching while trying to get those lids off, remember to put the full jars up out of reach of little hands when the activity is over.

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