The Beauty in Colour

I think that I am having a sensitive period for colour right now. Perhaps, it is because I am so "done" with winter and I find this time of the year bleak and murky.

We have been into a tremendous amount of sensory work in the class room this past month. We're exploring the geometric cabinet, touch tablets, red rods, broad stair, pink tower, and colour tablet boxes.

Some of the things I enjoy so much about the sensorial materials is that they are so beautiful, colourful, shiny and oh so inviting to the tiny hands

that reach for them everyday.

In this post, I am showing how one boy took out the third colour tablet box and found a few different ways to exlore the colours in the box.

I always find it fascinating to watch the delicate way in which each tablet is carefully touched and picked up and placed into the work at hand. This is such an important part of the process. I was reminded of that this week as I had a conversation with my collegues about whether or not we should ask a child to vacate a sensory bin which was very new to our classroom and that they were exploring for more than 45 minutes! Many other children were coming up to other teachers and saying it was taking too long to get a turn with that work. What do you suppose happened?

Well, let me tell you....One of the teachers asked that child to leave his work and choose something else and so a great debate ensued. My argument was that we were, in that moment, disturbing a very sensitive period for touch and we would never ask a child who was doing pouring work to stop and put it back to the shelf so that another child may have a turn. The other teacher said it seemed unfair to the other children who were waiting a very long time to get into the sensory bin. When we started to look at it from a pedagogic stand point, it made sense not to disturb the work or the child. After all, we must be true to our Montessori roots and we would not be honouring the child if we allowed such distruptions.

Not only is it important to learn patience and turn-taking but also respect for our peers who are working. "All of this waiting," I said, "was very important, as the child is not just standing there but watching, taking in, and absorbing all of the aspects of that work and touch, and learning how to touch and handle work gently is a very big part of it."