This week, our new geodesic dome was built and added to our playground equipment. The children had a blast playing on the dome and they have discovered all sorts of ways to climb it!
After climbing yesterday, we thought it would be a great idea to take some of the shapes from the Geometry Cabinet and see if we could find them out on the playground.
With excitement, the children started to see all sorts of shapes in our outdoor environment. They discovered we have equilateral triangles, rhombuses, hexagons, squares, circles, and rectangles just to name a few, in our outdoor environment alone!
I love how the Montessori environment and materials allows for learning shapes such as these in a way that promotes a love of learning--not to mention that we just love hearing three and four year olds talking about hexagons and equilateral triangles.
The Geometry Cabinet is part of our Sensorial Area of the casa. As we are well aware, children take in absolutely everything without a filter, almost in the same way that a camera takes everything in through its viewfinder. Through refinement of the senses, the child opens the door for more opportunities.
This is truly the beginning of exploration and discovery and these concrete experiences enable the child to have a tangible purpose with which to observe in the environment. The child becomes more conscious and then explores with greater joy, discovery and focus. When the child is given just enough, the result is profound.
