Montessori Geometric Cabinet

This sensorial video lesson is designed for 3-6-year-old children. In this video lesson, a child will learn about different shapes using a Geometric Cabinet.

What is a Geometric Cabinet?

A geometric cabinet is a wooden cabinet with six drawers that contains 2D geometric shapes. Each drawer contains geometrical shapes as blue insets with knobs (to remove and replace the shapes back to the holder) in yellow frames. The top tray includes a circle, an equilateral triangle, and a square. The rest of the drawer contains circles, rectangles, triangles, quadrilaterals, polygons, and curvilinear figures. 

The Geometric Cabinets are a vital part of the sensorial curriculum, allowing children to understand 2D shapes by making them tangible objects. It encourages children to engage all five senses (seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling) in their learning. It facilitates the development of concrete ideas from abstract concepts in their environments. It is the foundation for complex problems in geometry.

The clear visual differences between the shapes act as the control of error that helps a child to correct their work.

Purpose and Benefits of Geometric Cabinets

• It exposes the child to a variety of geometric shapes and helps him observe the differences between them. 
• It challenges and shapes a child’s stereognosis sense (ability to perceive and understand objects’ form and nature through touch).
• It helps a child to develop muscle memory by tracing the shapes.
• It helps in indirect preparation for handwriting. Each shape inset has a knob that the child engages a pincer grip to grasp. A pincer grip helps a child to hold a pencil to write.
• It strengthens the hand-eye movement. 

In this video, we will learn to identify 3 shapes in the first geometric cabinet drawer:

1. Circle
2. Square
3. Triangle

How to Introduce Shapes to the child using Geometric Cabinet?

1. Bring the geometric cabinet tray (triangle, square, and circle) to a rug or table.
2. Pick the square shape and lift it out by the little knob with the subdominant hand.
3. Hold the square, exposing the backside, and run the index and middle fingers counter-clockwise.
4. Allow the child to trace the shape.
5. Place the square inset in the respective square holder.
6. Repeat the exercise with a circle and triangle.
7. Remove all the shapes from the cabinet.
8. Pick any shape out of three and ask the child to name the shape.
9. Ask the child to place the shape in the correct inset.
10. Repeat steps 8 and 9 with the other two shapes.

We encourage parents, teachers, and guides to sit with the child and perform this activity with them to build their overall sensory abilities. Watch the video to trace and learn about shapes using a Geometric cabinet.

Related Sensorial Video Lessons:

• Geometric Solids & Bases, 
• Binomial and trinomial cubes, 
• Constructive triangles:
  • Blue Triangle Box
  • Rectangle Box
  • Triangle Box
  • Large Hexagon Box
  • Small Hexagon Box

To watch more Montessori math video resources, click here. 

Video created by Mende Lama

FAQs

• What is a Geometric Cabinet?

The geometric cabinet is a Montessori sensorial material used in early childhood education to teach geometry concepts. It consists of a set of wooden trays or drawers, each containing a set of wooden shapes (such as circles, triangles, and rectangles) in different sizes and colors. By using it, children develop their visual sense through discrimination of shape and form.

• What is the aim of the Montessori Geometric Cabinet?

The aim of the Montessori Geometric Cabinet is to help children develop their visual and tactile senses, as well as their ability to discriminate between different shapes and sizes. It also helps in refining their hand-eye coordination and prepares them for complex writing and mathematical concepts.