What and How to Present Montessori Color Tablets

Montessori color tablets are a beautiful material used in the Montessori Primary environment. Young children, in the 3-6 year old environment use Montessori color tablet boxes as sensorial materials. Each box has a different focus and isolates a new perception of color. Dr. Maria Montessori says the sensorial materials are keys to the universe. Color tablets isolate the property of color for a young child and open up a world of color in a new way to classify and categorize these new perceptions. In the next sections, I will share how to present all three of the color tablet boxes to a child. I’ll also highlight the differences between each box and some games and extensions.

A graphic of a box of Montessori color tablets and text overlay that says "How to introduce Montessori Color Tablets to a child".

Direct and Indirect Purposes of Work with the Color Tablets

When introducing Montessori materials to a child, it is important to clearly understand the direct and indirect aims of the material and its extensions. The Montessori color tablets are a beautiful material in a traditional Montessori Primary environment. These color boxes have the direct aim of color discrimination. The goal is for a child, using their visual sense, to become conscious of the identities and distinctions between the colors. This Montessori material can also aid in a child’s refinement of their aesthetic sense and will be a direct preparation for later art and design work.

Notes About Giving a Montessori Presentation (Lesson)

As a Montessori teacher for many years, I learned to love the art of giving a presentation to a child. It is like a beautiful gift you are giving them. Each of the color tablet boxes will be presented to an individual child. We start each presentation by offering an invitation to the child. Presentations need to be brief and simple. The direct aims should come across clearly. Often, we like to explain ourselves and everything we are doing. This is not necessary.

A child masters these concepts through their repetition of the work. Present simply and with carefully chosen words. The color tablets are a great example of a material that offers a control of error to the child. For example, if a child matches two color tablets incorrectly, we don’t need to tell them that it is incorrect, becasue the material will give that correction to the child automatically. This is the beauty of many of the self-correcting Montessori materials.

There are many things in a presentation that are not said but simply shown. We model how to carry the boxes to a table, how to pick up the tablets just from the frame, not touching the color, and how to restore the materials back into the box and back onto the shelf. The boxes of color tablets are stored on the shelf with the lid off, allowing the child to observe the beauty of the material at any time.

A hand holding a Montessori color tablet.

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Color Tablet Box I – Primary Colors 

The first box of color tablets is made up of six tablets, a pair of each of the primary colors: red, yellow, and blue. A fun fact is that dyed silk thread was used to make the original tablets. The child’s visual perception will be the control of error for all boxes.

Giving the Presentation

  1. Invite the child, show them where the box is kept, and have them carry the box to a table.
  2. Remove all the tablets from the box and scatter them on the table. Move slowly and model how to pick up and set down the tablets by holding only the wooden frames.
  3. The next step is to isolate one tablet and then find the matching pair.
  4. Find and match the correct tablet, then set that pair aside on the table and repeat with the other colors. Do this for all three colors, then scatter them again.
  5. Allow the child to repeat the presentation by finding the matching tablet for each specific color. Let the child use their visual discrimination skills to correct any mistakes they make.

The Three Period Lesson

You will give the color names to the child within the context of a three-period lesson. The first period is naming. Saying “This is red. This is yellow. This is blue.” The second period involves young learners in a new way by giving simple commands. You will say things like, “Put the red tablet in my hand.” or, “Hold the blue tablet behind your back.”. These little games help to reinforce the names of the colors. Once you feel the child will be successful in naming them on their own you can move on to the third period where we ask while pointing, “What is this?” We will spend the most time with second-period repetition making sure they are likely to be successful with the third period before moving on.

Montessori color tablets placed on a table.

Color Tablet Box II – Primary, Secondary, and Other Colors

The second color tablet box has primary (red, yellow, and blue), secondary (green, orange, and purple), and other colors (gray, pink, brown, black, and white).

Montessori color tablets in a box.

Giving the Presentation

  1. Start by taking out only the primary colors.
  2. Have the child match the pairs of primary colors as they have done up until this point.
  3. Next, scatter the secondary colors onto the table.
  4. Model how to pair the secondary colors, setting them up in a column with the primary colors. If needed due to space, you can create a second column.
  5. Next, take out the other colors and do the same thing.
  6. Once all pairs are matched show the child how to put the different colors back in order of primary, secondary, and other into the color tablets box. 
Montessori color tablets scattered on a table.

Color Tablet Box III – Gradation of Color

We can explore the concept of color further with a child using the third box of color tablets, a wooden box with 9 compartments. Each of the nine colors has seven tablets of gradations or shades of color. Start by removing just one color of gradation that will be easily distinguishable. Order the shades of that color in front of the child and then scatter them so the child can do it independently. Present how to do this with just one color and then encourage them to repeat with the other colors. 

The best way to extend this work further is by playing little games with the child. In the next section, I will go over many simple extension activities available to the child for this box and the other two previous boxes.

Large box of Montessori color tablets.

Extensions and Games for the Child

Distance Matching (Box I & II)

Matching color tablets can be used to play a memory game. With the color tablets in box II, a child can set them out in a random order on the table and match them. Then they can take one of each color and set them on a tray. The tray can be placed in another area of the Montessori environment.

This game can then be played in two ways, through close-ended or open-ended exploration. Close-ended would have an end to the game. In this case, when the child brings each tablet, one at a time, across the room and matches it on the tray, then the game will be over. To play a matching game with open-ended exploration, the child would bring a color tablet to the tray of tablets in another area of the environment, match it, and then return to their spot with the color tablet allowing for more opportunities for matching. 

Environment Color Hunt

Take one tablet of each color out of the box and set it on the table. Choose one of the color tablets and ask the child to find something in the environment that same color. 

Montessori color tablets with various objects matching the color tablets.

Games – Box III 

An extension for box III is to grade more than one set of colors at a time. Another simple game is to remove a color from the gradation. To do this, have the child close their eyes and remove one of the color tablets. Close up the space where it goes so the child needs to use their visual sense to determine where the tablet needs to be placed within the gradation. Another little game you could play is to hide one of the tablets and ask the child which one is missing. The color tablets in Box III have subtle differences that will give many opportunities for the child’s sensory exploration. 

Sunburst 

A beautiful exercise with box III is to create a sunburst of color gradation. Have a child roll out two Montessori working mats on the floor, as this work requires a large space. Then, have them find a round object in the classroom and place it in the middle of the workspace. The sandpaper or continent globes work well. Stay with the child while they do this whole exercise. Begin by finding the darkest shade of each color in the box and place those color tablets around the object. The rest of the tablets can be scattered on the mat and then graded into the starburst. Once you have done this with a child then they could repeat it with a friend who has also received this presentation. 

Montessori color tablets graded in a circular pattern around a globe.

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