Small Hexagonal Box

What is the Small Hexagonal Box?

The Small Hexagonal Box is a small wooden box in the shape of a hexagon in the Sensorial area of a Montessori classroom. This box contains six red obtuse angle isosceles triangles, one large yellow equilateral triangle, six grey equilateral triangles, two red equilateral triangles, and three green equilateral triangles.

How is the Small Hexagonal Box presented?

The directress shows the child how to carry the small hexagonal box to the floor mat carefully with two hands. She unpacks the triangles onto the floor mat randomly. The directress begins with matching the red isosceles triangles by tracing along the black lines of the triangles with her right hand using her middle and index fingers; this forms three rhombi.

The directress then shows the child how to make a hexagon. She does this by joining all three rhombi together. Another hexagon is formed by placing the yellow triangle on top of the red triangle.

The directress shows the child how to form a trapezium by joining all the green triangles together. By joining these different triangles together the child experiences how different triangles are formed, as well as how to compare each one. She continues dividing the grey hexagon to form two trapeziums, the child notices that the green and grey trapeziums are the same, the red triangles form a rhombus, the two grey trapeziums are pushed back into a hexagon, showing the child that by dividing it into three, three rhombi are formed.

This activity requires a tremendous amount of concentration and patience from the child.

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