Experimental Box (presentation one)

What is the Montessori Experimental Box?

The Experimental Box is a wooden box in the Sensorial area of a Montessori classroom. This box contains several different types of blue triangles, for example: There are two small equilateral triangles, one obtuse angle scalene triangle, one right angel scalene triangle, two large right angle scalene triangles and two small right angled scalene triangles.

The directress uses the Rectangular Box in this activity to show the child how the blue triangles fit onto the same triangles as the Rectangular Box.

How is the Experimental Box presented?

The directress brings the Experimental Box to the floor mat, holding it correctly with two hands, while the child brings the Rectangular Box to the floor mat. The directress begins by unpacking the triangles one at a time from the Rectangular Box. She asks the child if he remembers working with the Rectangular Box, where he learnt how to create different shapes from the triangles in the box. She then asks the child if he can create the shapes again using the triangles in the box. She assists the child if needed.

Once the child has created the different shapes from the Rectangular Box, the directress then begins to place the blue triangles from the Experimental Box on top of the coloured triangles. She shows the child that these blue triangles can fit onto the same ones from the Rectangular Box. The child assists her in packing all of the work back into their respective boxes and placing them back on the shelf one by one, holding the boxes correctly and carefully with two hands.

What does the child learn by doing the Montessori Experimental Box?

This Montessori activity teaches the child that all plane geometric figures constructed with a straight line are composed of triangles, it encourages the child to be patient and have a good level of concentration during this activity, as well as it promotes the child’s judgment.

Looking for more Montessori activities?

Here is the full list of the Montessori tasks, including Visual and Muscle Discrimination Sense activities, Tactile Sense activities, Chromatic Sense activities, Auditory Sense activities, Thermic Sense activities, Gustatory Sense activities, Baric Sense activities, Olfactory Sense activities, Stereognostic Sense activities, Geometry activities, and Algebra activities. Just click on the activity you want to learn about to go there.