Montessori Sensorial Education

Sensorial education begins the mionte a baby is born. He receives impressions through his senses. Mria Montessori believed that there was nothing in the intellect that did not first exist in the senses and the first of the childs organs that begin to function are the senses. During the forst thress years of a child life all the impressions received from the childs environment are stored in the unconscious memeory, The “mneme” A young child receives and perceives everything, both positive and negative and these impressions are stored. A child between two and six years passes through the ‘ sensitive period for the refinement of the senses’. From the ages of Three to six the sensorial impressions tha child received are educated thorugh the Montessori sensorial materials in the prepared environment. Should the impressions remain as is and not be educated, they will remain a scramble in the childs brain. The child is driven to gains all the sensorial impressions by his inner teacher. This drive and the sensitive periods enable the child to absorb all the impressions around him. The sensitive periods are an internal aid that help the child catagorise, utelise and inetrnalise the sensorial impressions. A child learns with an unconscious effort between the ages of borth to three,. The mneme is driven by the ‘horme. The child receives all the impressions of his expierences, they enter his mind and become part of him. Fomr the age of birth to six, is the main period of sensory exploration for a child. The sensorial impressions a child receives are not the same as sensorial education. Sensorial education takes place when the child receives the knowledge to catagorise and use his impressions. Intelligence is built upon by exierences and though process and the development of the intellect is dependent on interaction and contact with environment though his sense.

The aim of sensorial education is to allow the child to use his enses to understyand what heor she sees or