Montessori Encyclopedia: Color Box 1

Montessori Activities

How do you use this material?

Color Box 1 is a small, unobtrusive wooden box in the Sensorial Area, containing six color tablets: two blue, two red, two yellow.

The guide will invite the child to take the box to a table or to a rug, and they’ll examine the contents together.

As this material was originally made with silk threads, which were easily soiled, the guide will demonstrate the careful way of holding each color tablet, with thumb and forefinger on the wooden edges of each tablet.

The guide will remove all six color tablets from the box and mix the pairs. Then, the Guide will select one color and compare against the other tablets before finding the match. The pair will be set together in front of the child.

The guide will pair the other two colors. After pairing all the tablets, the guide will again mix the pairs and invite the child to pair the color tablets.

When the child is successful pairing the tablets in Color Box 1, the guide will present Color Box 2.

The child will also have the opportunity to play games with the color tablets.

What is the child learning?

The child is gaining experience pairing items and identifying colors. Later, we’ll apply language to these colors.

What does a child not know they’re learning?

A child is just beginning to develop their chromatic sense, which will be further refined with Color Box 2 and Color Box 3. The child is also developing fine motor control and self-control when they hold the color tablets in the precise manner, only on the edges.