LB Ms Hfc YD 23300 B ^ 577 08^ The Montessori Didactic Apparatus [ QD[=]G i\=}m Copyrighted, 1913. by the House of Childhood (Inc.) . ' ir WE SUCCEED IN GIVING THE LOVE OF LEARNING. THE LEARNING ITSELF IS SURE TO FOLLOW" \£i■.-^;■^i>■.^;>■.x.■■■ ^ iSdaniif actur ed and Sold by 200 Fifth Ave. XhC House of Childhood New York City INCORPORATED I c- n i- ""E HAVE received many requests for certain parts of the Montessori Didactic Apparatus. Some say they want the "geometric insets;" others the "sandpaper letters;" others the "long stair," etc. We firmly believe with Dr. Montessori that there would be very little educational value in the equipment if used in such a way. The Montessori Didactic Apparatus is distributed only in complete sets, for several reasons. There is not only a practical, but a scientific reason, for each piece of the material. The equipment is designed largely for sensory training; for the developing of initiative and self-control in the child. While the sequence is not dogmatic, yet the material is so closely connected that to discard part of the equipment would simply mean that the child would lose that phase of the training for which that particular material was designed. If you expect to apply this apparatus according to Dr. Montessori's ideas, YOU WILL FIND NOTHING SUPERFLUOUS. Again, we wish to say that the material is designed to aid the child in his natural and normal development, and you will find a distinct use for each piece of the apparatus when applied according to the principles of the Montessori Method. The House of Childhood (Inc.) 200 FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK CITY THE MONTESSORI DIDACTIC APPARATUS Is designed to aid the child in the most critical period of his life. It is made from the child's point of view, to satisfy that innate craving for activity. It is especially eifective in the developing of the senses, and has been called by some educators, "sense-training material." But it is more than this. Because the child really un- derstands what he is doing and because of the self-correcting element that prevails, there is developed in him, initiative, self-control and concentration. As Dorothy Canfield Fisher, author of "A Montessori Mother," well says, "This fascinating educative material meets an inner need of the child's nature and it continues to interest him month after month, covering as it does nearly all the range of indoor interests possible to a child." A great many mothers and teachers who are well grounded in Doctor Montessori's book, "The Montessori Method," are progressing splendidly in the use of this apparatus. 266901 [1] ^THBIMONTESSORI DIDACTIC APPARATUS .••: ': I ..: A ..) Dressing Frames AMONG the first educational gymnastics used in the Montessori Method are exercises for the development of co-ordinated movements of the fingers. These are accomplished by means of a set of eight frames which prepare the children for exer- cises of practical life, such as dressing and undressing themselves. "SI^^H^^HH^^^Hi H^^^^^^HI^I d'^^^^^^^H ^^^^^^^ il^^^^l ^^H. o- ^^H 9 9 /-'■ » 1 j 9 ,/■ 9 \ 1 ^' 1 ^ [^ 9 [-•1 ON SIX wooden frames are mounted six pieces of cloth of varying qualities, to be joined by means of large buttons and buttonholes, auto- matic fasteners, small buttons and buttonholes, hooks and eyes, colored ribbons for bow tying, and lacing through eyelets. There are two similar frames mounted with leather pieces, one of which stimulates shoe lacing and the other mounted with shoe buttons to be fastened with a button hook. [3) THE child learns to dress himself without his really knowing that a lesson is being taught. When the children have mastered this work, their first desire is to make a practical application of their new ability. [4J THUS the use of these frames not only teaches the children to dress themselves, but makes possible the simpler motor correlations for training the child in the use of his hands. Indeed, this is the primary function of these materials. 15] SOLID GEOMETRICAL INSETS THESE are three series of wooden cylinders set in corresponding liolcs. In the first series, height is constant, diameter varies; in the second series, diameter is constant, height varies; in the third series, the cylindrical form alone is con- stant, height and diameter vary. In these exercises the child first begins to fix his attention upon differ- ences in dimension and form. They present chiefly an exercise in visual perception in differences. The material controls the error. EC] WITH these insets the child, working independ- ently, learns to discriminate objects according to thickness, height and size. If he places the next-to-the-largest cylinder in the largest hole, he will find himself in the end with the largest cylinder for the smallest hole. If he places the tallest one in the shallowest opening, it sticks out and extends above the surface. The child working with these fixes his atten- tion upon dimension and upon form. B B ^ ^ [T] THESE cylinder sets prepare him for the more diffi cult exercises that are to follow. This material is truly auto-educational. The child cannot fail to realize an error, and to see immediately how to correct it. UAAliis MkaHMMMiMHtti [^i THE TOWER THIS forms the first in the three series of blocks. It consists of a set of ten wooden cubes painted rose color, decreasing regularly in size from ten centimeters to one centimeter. These are used by superim- posing one upon the other from the largest to the smallest. The general dimension of size is learned from "The Tower.' is self-corrective, as a misplaced block breaks the line. This, too, THE BROAD STAIR This is the second set in the three series of blocks. It is a set of ten rectangu- lar wooden blocks decreasing in height and width, length only being constant. Its function is to-teach the dimension of thickness and it is another exercise for visual perception of differences of dimension. ra] THE LONG STAIR THE "Long Stair" is a set of ten wooden square rods, which vary only in length. The first is one meter long, the last one decimeter and the intervening ones diminishing one decimeter each. They are marked ofi" in decimeters which are painted alternately red and blue. The set teaches first of all the dimension of length, and is later used in the teaching of numbers, addition, subtraction and decimals. It offers a very evident control of errors through the regularity of the decreasing length of the stairs as well as through the alternate colors. Children take great delight in solving the little problems of the "Tower," the "Broad Stair" and the "Long Stair," which are of inestimable value in the teaching of classifications and discriminations. [10] r i L - r^ t " .J !■■■ -■ " ''^^ ' PPP 1 1 1 1 COLOR BOXES THIS set consists of two duplicate color boxes containing in all one hundred twenty-eight color spools for use in the chromatic exercises. There are eight colors, each presented in a series of eight shades. These colors are not presented to teach stand- ards of color, but to enable the child to make very fine color discriminations. Colors are first presented to the child in shades strongly contrasting. There is a regular presentation of these color spools and the training gives the child very large sensory impressions and asso- ciations. Montessori children show the most exquisite apprecia- tion and knowledge of colors. A great variety of games is made possible by these two boxes, and the Montessori children very quickly acquire a proficiency at which we stand amazed. ■'. n ^ -. .k i 1 H5! ^ n "^ "^ .■; % g » « ^ ■/. i » ■ g :.. 1 1=S 7. ., . H ■ ^S a ■ . o ■ ■■ m ■ , 1^ L — ^,1 k n— - — . — «" — e a « ^ i, ., , g J te ta o a ■ ■ — — "^ -;■,. . ,.,...„ ...tk-% ' ...■: >g.l,...liLII H £111 MATERIALS FOR TEACHING ROUGH AND SMOOTH FOR the training of the tactile sense are provided two small boards. One board, one-half of which has a smooth, polished surface, has on the other half a sandpaper surface. The other board is covered with alter- nate strips of sandpaper, and is alternately rough and smooth. These two pieces offer the first training of the tactile sense, and are a direct preparation for learning the sandpaper letters. [12] THE FABRIC BOX THIS set consists of a collection of fabrics arranged in a com- pact little cabinet with draw- ers. There are samples' of velvet, wool, silk, fine and coarse cotton, and fine and coarse linen. These materials are used to stimulate and to train further the tactile sense, adding knowledge regarding equality, as coarse, fine, soft, etc. There are duplicates of each fabric which increase the possibilities of presentation. [131 PLANE GEOMETRICAL INSETS IN WOOD THIS set consists of a specially designed six-drawer cabinet, thirty-two geometrical insets, four plain wooden squares, and a pattern in an adjustable frame, making possible any desired combination of forms. 1. A series of four plain wooden squares; Rhomboid and Trapezoid. 2. A series of six Polygons. 3. A series of six Circles diminishing in size. 4. A series of Quadrilaterals containing one square and five rectangles. 5. A series of five Triangles. G. Oval, Ellipse, Flower Forms, etc. [Ill [15] THESE insets are used in the education of the stereognostic sense. The insets are mixed up and the child puts them into place. The child learns to set the inset into its place both by sight and by touch. To develop the sense of touch and the muscular sense, the children are blindfolded. This makes the exercise more complex Trav tor W ooden Insets [16] Afi/i;:iO''fi..:0::; PLANE GEOMETRIC FORMS Reproduced in Three Series of Cards ^ 1 THROUGH the games with these the child A passes from a concrete to an abstract form. In the first, the forms are mounted in soHd blue on the card; in the second, a thick outline of the form; in the third, the outline of the form is represented by a thin blue line. The child mixes up a series of cards and a series of solid wooden forms, and then arranges the corre- sponding wooden pieces upon the card form. Here the control lies in the eyes. The child must recog- nize the figure and hide it with the corresponding wooden form. The child, through these series of cards, is passing gradually from the concrete to the abstract. He has passed from solid object to plane figures and finally nDDDDD lololol lololol DDnDDQ i t to a mere line. [20] E9QE9Dn DDDDn □ DDDn DDDD [21] ■;..^ii^3£SSiSV PLANE GEOMETRICAL INSETS MADE IN METAL THESE are used by the child in his first exercises in design. The child draws around the form and then fills in the out- line with colored crayons. The only new step is the handling of the crayon. This is a very definite prepara- tion for writing through design. Box (or Mertl hisels [22] ACCOAIPANYING the metal insets are two little tables with sloped tops, large enough to hold three of the metal insets and intended to be placed by the child on his own table. 123] ALPHABET BOXES Two cases containing in various compartments all the letters cut in script from some stiff paper. The consonants are in rose color while the vowels are in blue. These boxes contain five com- plete alphabets. wms, rrruM/ m TiJ^^sirm [1:4] 3 » 3 3 > 3 ■> ALPHABET Consisting oj Script Letters in Sandpaper THESE sandpaper letters arc of little educational value in themselves, but as the last step in a long series of sensory and motor correla- tions, they teach children to write an almost perfect script. [23] Two counting boxes containing fifty specially designed counting sticks and sandpaper num- bers mounted on smooth cards. These counting sticks succeed the "Long Stair" in teaching elementary mathematics and give the children a concrete basis for abstract processes. The child associates the symbol with the concrete objects. I-'C] BARIC SENSE TABLETS THESE are small wooden tab- lets of three different weights for the education of the baric sense (sense of weight). Their use induces very keen susceptibility to the variation of weight. [27] CYLINDRICAL SOUND BOXES THESE boxes contain different substances and when shaken produce various sounds, and are used in training the sense of hearing. This is the first exercise in develop- ing the sense of hearing and is followed by other materials more complex. Case for Sound Boxes [2S] 40¥ COUNTING CASE A CASE with sliding shelves containing cards from which number combina- tions from 1 to 100 may be formed. Mk Ml fo\^ [29] SUMMARY Eight Dressing Frames, size 12" x 12". Three sets of ten cylinders each, three bases, size 15>^" long, 21^" high. Ten Tower Blocks, graduating from 1 to 10 centi- meters. Ten Broad Stair Blocks, graduating from 1 to 10 Centimeters in width, 8" in length. Ten Long Stair Blocks, graduating from 1 deci- meter to 1 meter in length, 1" thick. Two color Boxes, each containing 64 spools silk. Two Rough and Smooth Boards, size 6" x 12". One Fabric Box, containing 14 fabrics, size of box, 10>^" X 8K" X lyi". One Wooden Insets Cabinet, size 18" x 12" x 63/2". Thirty-Two Wooden Geometric Insets and Four Blanks, size 5^" x 5^^". One Wooden Insets Tray, size 11 ]4" x \\}4" . Ninety-six Cardboard Geometric Form Cards, size byi" x 5K"- Ten Metal Insets, size bW x 5^". Metal Insets Box. Two Drawing Tables, size 24" x 7". Two Alphabet Boxes, size 17" x 14". Five A4ovable Alphabets. One Sandpaper Alphabet. Two Counting Boxes, size 10" x 7". Fifty Counting Sticks, 6" long. One Set Sandpaper Numbers, in box. One Set Sixty Baric Sense Tablets, 20 blocks each, basswood, oak, lignum vitae, in partition box. Six Wooden Sound Boxes, in carton. One Complete Counting Case, size 20" x 6>^". t-toi u Q O O X Q 1—1 "J •t-' C ^ ►Jh ii o §s KOI W O a. 60 1> to "5- a o c 1 3 u P. g ^S ai TJ C C lO CO t^ ^^ 11 m rt -M 13 nj o '^ -a o -T3 n c« -a u o «J z '-' c , to d Q O O c; ■s; Q M <" o u CXI ^ O S 60 J 3 >-i )-H X C ^ ( ; > -* K (N ^ s w K (U H S -13 < 2 C G ^ / f \ ;: I"! V THE cost of The Montessori Didactic Apparatus is 150.00 F. O. B. New York City. There is included in each order, without extra charge, a copy of "The Montessori Method." The apparatus is carefully packed and weighs, when ready for shipment, approximately 110 pounds. There is no separate material fol home use. Since the work is almost entirely of an individual nature, the same apparatus is necessary for one child that is re- quired for a class of twenty or thirty children.