Early Childhood Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Early Childhood Education - Essay Example The development of the senses of the child in its formative years, which is between three and six years of age, precedes that of the higher intellectual powers.   Montessori believes that their sensorial curriculum can aid the development of the senses of the child in its early years.   The aim is not to sharpen the senses but rather to refine the child’s senses so that he can differentiate even the slightest differences in order to truly observe and appreciate the world around him.   The training will help him understand what he sees, hears touches, tastes and smells.    Montessori further breaks down the five basic senses into nine isolated senses namely: visual/seeing, auditory/hearing, olfactory/smelling, tactile/touch, and gustatory/taste, chromatic/color, baric/weight, thermic/temperature, and stereognostic/tactile-muscular.   Several sensorial materials and activities are used in the Montessori method.   One of them is the Color Boxes which is directed towar d the visual and chromatic sense.   Children learn about the colors of the earth and their visual sense is refined.   Color Box 1 teaches the three primary colors: red, blue and yellow. The initial lesson is merely matching the three sets of col s, to demonstrate an ability to distinguish between the three.   Color Box 2 is similar to Color Box 1, except that it includes eleven colors: gray, black, white, pink, brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.