Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Montessori Touch Boards

I have been a little remiss in my posting.  E and I are doing our work each morning, but I don't feel like I have anything new or exciting to share with you.  Until today!  I finally got started on some of the sensorial materials that I want to make rather than purchase, and this morning I made two touch boards while E was doing her rug work.  I have found that it is easier for her to stick with her work if mommy is also working on something.  She is less likely to ask me for help until she's really tried it, and more likely to work for a longer period of time.  So today, E worked on button sorting and stacking cups while I sanded plywood boards and cut papers to make my touch boards.  Then I used some spray adhesive to stick it all down.  E was very excited about the result, and I only let her use the two-texture board.  I didn't finish the four-texture board until it was time for us to go to a playdate.
 
 

Pretty good work for a morning!

The first board is superfine sandpaper on one side, and the shiny side of freezer paper on the other side.

The second board is four different textures: superfine sandpaper, textured scrapbooking paper (kind of like parchment paper, but a bit more textured), plain white paper, and shiny freezer paper.

I have another three boards that are waiting for me to get out my circular saw.  I am going to cut these ones up and make four pairs of textures to match.  The idea is that you use a blindfold with them and just match them by touch.  We'll see if I can get E to wear a blindfold . . . .

3 comments:

Evenspor said...

Nice. Great idea to use the freezer paper for smooth.

Penny said...

blindfold matching sounds difficult! i could never come up with stuff like that!

Musical Mama said...

It is difficult! And I haven't tried putting a blindfold on her yet, so we'll see if it even works. I didn't come up with the idea, it's from the Montessori sensorial materials. I just figured I could make it a whole lot cheaper than I could buy it. :)