Montessori pink tower is one of the most popular pieces of equipment used in Montessori learning environments around the world. It’s often one of the first things a new Montessori learner will see. This article is going to go over what it is, why it looks like it does, and what purpose it serves.
What is the Montessori Pink Tower?
Pink Tower consists of ten pink wooden cubes in three different dimensions. In terms of size, the smallest is 1cm cubed, and the largest is 10cm cubed. The pink cubes progressively get bigger in the algebraic series of the 3rd power. It means the 2nd cube equals eight of the first (2cubed), the 3rd cube equals 27 of the first (3cubed), and so on.
It is considered a sensorial material that was created to help little ones refine and understand all of their senses.
The Purpose Of The Montessori Pink Tower
Introduced into the Montessori setting when kids were 2.5 to 3 years old, the Montessori Pink Tower has several purposes.
1. Develop A Child’s Fine Muscular Coordination
The Pink Tower is a fun and easy material for little ones to manipulate. It helps them control their hands and fingers and is perfect for developing the fine motor skills needed for writing later in their education. It also helps develop their sense of touch, as they explore with all of their senses.
2. Helps Develop Visual Discrimination:
When children play with the Pink Tower, they’re able to explore and understand the different geometric shapes that make up the cubes. They can distinguish and compare these differences in size and shape. It is beneficial for their development of visual discrimination.
3. Help Children Gain A Sense Of Sequence
They begin to see that numbers organize objects into numerical order. They will also see the hierarchy of objects — those bigger, those smaller, and so on. The Pink Tower is a wonderful tool for helping children learn about the sequence.
4. Preparation for Math
The Montessori Pink Tower prepares the mathematical mind. It indirectly introduces the Decimal System, as your little one works with ten cubes which represent the numbers one to ten.
5. Provides An Understanding Of Density
The Pink Tower is a great material for helping children understand density (which is defined as mass per unit of volume). The Pink Tower allows them to visually measure density and discover that a cube of a certain size is denser than the same cube of a different size.
6. Helps to Introduce Language
Big or small, tall or short, the Pink Tower is a perfect material for aiding children in developing the vocabulary they need to describe objects and sizes.
7. Helps To Improve Patience
The Pink Tower is a fairly simple material. Children will need to take their time and not rush through it. The Montessori approach emphasizes learning in a calm, focused way. This material is perfect for helping children understand the importance of patience while they learn new things.
The Montessori Pink Tower is a great example of how Montessori materials require kids to use multiple senses at once. They are designed in such a way to compliment your child’s stage of development, where they use all important senses to learn.
Initial Presentation of the Montessori Pink Tower
Now that we have covered the general information about the Pink Tower, let’s continue to talk about how to present and use it in your Montessori setting.
- Establish a Place For It. Roll out a mat as a workstation. Then invite your little one to the sensorial area and tell him this is the “Montessori Pink Tower.”
- Starting at the top, with the smallest pink cube, pick up one at a time, with one hand on top and one underneath. Bring the cubes to the mat and arrange them randomly.
- Once all pink cubes are on the mat, sit on your little one’s dominant side.
- Start to construct the Montessori Pink Tower by picking up the biggest cube with the fingertips of each hand on either side of the cube.
- From time to time, stop and pause to compare a cube to the next smallest one to make sure you select the appropriate next one. Additionally, take the time to the center using a bird’s eye as your measure.
- When complete, check the centering using a bird’s eye view again.
- Randomize the pink cubes again and offer your little one a turn. Keep in mind that they are just staring, so it’s normal for them to commit mistakes. But with practice, they will perfect to judge size.
- Don’t forget to continue to maintain your work with teaching counting using the cubes as a reference. This also means that you need to keep fun at hand; this will help them learn more quickly.
- Repeat this process often (once a day), so they will get the hang of it. And you’ll see they will naturally keep building more and start understanding how they put the cubes back in order.
Extension
Once your little one has seemed to master the building of the Pink Tower, you can have them work on recreating patterns with the pink tower. Pattern cards are available online from Etsy and other Montessori sites for purchase.
Why is the Pink Tower Pink?
You already know that Pink Tower is the iconic Montessori material designed to help kids develop all of their senses. But why is the Pink Tower pink?
Well, the Montessori Pink Towers can be any color you desire. However, Dr. Maria Montessori did not do anything randomly; she designed all her materials intentionally. She selects pink because the best of all the colors to attract a child’s attention is pink. So, here’s the origin and meaning behind the Montessori Pink Tower.
Final Thoughts
From the foregoing discussion, it can be seen that the simple Pink Tower is a Montessori material that serves many purposes. The Pink Tower helps develop your child’s motor, sensory, visual, and mathematical skills. The object teaches students how to see the world in a new way, as it allows them to practice counting with size and grouping objects by color. It builds their patience as they must pick and choose which cube goes next based on a bird’s eye view.
Here at Montessori Academy, we believe that children learn through hands-on experiences. The Pink Tower is a great way to give your child a chance to explore the world around them and develop their cognitive skills. It’s also a great tool for parents who want to help their child develop into an independent learner. If you want to learn how you can make learning fun for your child and get them ready for school, contact us today.