Sensorial Curriculum

The Montessori approach provides enriched development to the senses

That Overwhelming Feeling

Our day-to-day lives consist of multi-sensory experiences. Processing multi-sensory experiences are different for each person.

Do you tend to fidget with an object during a long meeting or notice your lack of concentration when there are various voices speaking around you? These are multi-sensory experiences that your brain is struggling to process. In some cases, children experience these multi-sensory exchanges in the classroom. When they do, the use of a personalized sensorial curriculum can help them maintain the ability to organize their behaviors in the classroom, develop an attention span, and engage in peer relationships. Montessori curriculum focuses on the importance of manipulating objects that isolate different visual, auditory, and tactile stimuli and developing the five senses through a series of increasingly complex memory games.

Developing Senses Through Play

A child’s sensory experiences begin at birth. As children grow and develop, their senses help them investigate and make sense of the world around them.   Sensory play is the activity that helps children engage their senses (touch, smell, taste, movement, balance, sight, and hearing) in their learning experiences. This allows children to use their senses to explore and understand the world around them. It includes activities that help them study objects, colors, textures, tastes, numbers, and the world around them.

Sensory Processing Disorders Explained

Throughout the day, children are bombarded with messages from all five of their senses, and may not make sense of it all on their own. At the end of the day, they have attempted to process vast amounts of information, streaming from multiple senses, leaving them overwhelmed and exhausted.  For some children, this can also be related to a condition called, “Sensory Processing Disorder” where the brain has trouble processing, receiving, and responding to information that comes through the senses.  The first step is to work with an Occupational therapist (OT) to explore whether the child has a Sensory Processing Disorder. If the child has been diagnosed with this disorder, the next step would be to work with the OT to design a “sensory-diet”, which consists of a personalized activity plan that provides the sensory input a child may need to stay focused and organized throughout the day. Creating SMART goals for the child will help them know what to expect and how to process what they are feeling. Each child is different but this resource is a great introduction to Sensory Processing Disorder. 

Sensorial Curriculum in Montessori

Montessori curriculum focuses on the importance of manipulating objects that isolate different visual, auditory, and tactile stimuli and developing the five senses through a series of increasingly complex memory games.  Here are ways a Montessori environment is in alignment with a sensorial curriculum:

1. Montessori schools expose children to the outdoors as part of their learning experience while learning through touch and interaction rather than just bookwork 
2. Montessori gives children a routine and provides guidance for independence so they can choose activities they want to work on/helps children learn how to transition from one task to another with ease and confidence
3. Montessori classrooms are big into socialization—kids in different age groups work together  
4. Montessori focuses on sensory and hands-on play

The more your child has access to a sensorial curriculum, keeping anxiety minimized so that they can focus, the more opportunities for learning and growth will present.