Tactile Pairing . . .

Montessori education places a strong emphasis on developing children’s senses, including their tactile sense. The child’s sense of touch is heightened with most of the Montessori materials. Touch is a very important sense for children to develop, as when children touch and manipulate various things, they are learning at the same time. Maria Montessori said, “the hands are the instruments of the mind”.

After looking through my stash of fabrics, I found some textured fabrics that would be ok for making pairing tablets. Then I made a template, and I was ready to begin. I formed a pocket using the calico and after slipping the textured fabric in, I stitched around the outside. 

The Montessori Touch Tablets activity is a sensory-based learning tool designed to refine a child’s tactile senses. Comprising pairs of fabric squares with distinct textures such as smooth, rough, or silky, children are encouraged, often blindfolded or with eyes closed, to feel and compare these textures.

The goal is to match the pairs based solely on touch, honing their ability to discern subtle tactile differences. This hands-on activity not only sharpens the sense of touch but also fosters concentration, vocabulary expansion, and prepares the fingers for tasks requiring fine motor skills, like writing.

When you first introduce this activity to a child, it's best to use similarly coloured fabrics.
This is because children should learn to identify the fabrics by feel and not match them by colour. After working with the Montessori Touch Fabrics, many children will go around touching different items around the classroom or home and describing them. Children may also begin comparing the textures of different items or even grading them by texture. It's really such a wonderful thing to observe.

#MontessoriActivity #TouchTablets #FabricPairing #SenseOfTouch #MariaMontessori