The article game
What materials are needed for The article game?
For the Article game, the directress needs The article box. This box contains different small objects e.g. various buttons. She also needs pieces of paper, a pen, and The article symbol.
The article game
How is this activity presented?
The directress invites the child to work with her and brings the materials to the mat. She unpacks each object one by one on to the mat, naming each one as she does so. The directress then asks the child to pass her the duck. The child follows her instruction and passes her the duck. She repeats in the same manner with the felt and the clip.
The directress then asks the child to pass her the button. The child follows her instruction and passes her the button. She then tells the child, “no, not that button, please pass me THE button”. She refuses each button until the last one.
She then tells the child to count how many ducks, pieces of felt, and clips there are, the child does so and realizes there are only one of those objects. The directress explains to him that there is only one of those objects, therefore so they can say THE clip, THE felt, and THE duck. If there is more than one object like here they have four buttons. They cannot say ‘the’, they must say ‘A’.
If the child has grasped the concept, the directress can introduce the symbol for the article (a small light blue/grey triangle).
The directress then writes a label for each object, for example, The duck, The clip, and The felt and A button. She places each label next to the corresponding object and reminds the child that ‘A’ and ‘THE’ are articles. She also reminds him what the symbol is for the noun and what the symbol is for the article.
She consolidates what was learnt that day, and thanks the child for working with her.
What this activity teaches the child?
This activity teaches the child the function of the article as well as it increases his vocabulary.
Looking for more Montessori activities?
Here is a list of all the Montessori Language activities. These include Early Language, Pink Language Materials, Green Language Materials, Later Language, and Grammar. Just click on the page you want to learn about to go there.