Maria Montessori described the sensorial materials as the key to the

universe
Discuss this statement and give examples to support your discussion.
The senses, being explorers of the world, open the way to knowledge. Our
apparatus for educating the senses offers the child a key to guide his
explorations of the world, they cast a light upon it which makes visible to him
more things in greater detail than he could see in the dark, or uneducated state
-Montessori Maria, The Absorbent Mind, page 190, chapter 17.

Maria Montessori believed that the natural mental development of a child,

consisted of several sensitive periods, or in other words, a certain disposition
towards a particular subject. For example, a sensitive period for language, order,
refinement of the senses, etc. Before the age of reason sets in, children at some
point (around three to six years of age) display an intense enthusiasm toward
sensorial impressions like texture, sound, shape, colour and taste. At this stage
children depend on their five sensory organs to develop and learn. To Montessori,
the child is a sensorial explorer. They like to touch, feel and manipulate
objects. They unconsciously acquire knowledge through their senses. This
knowledge will lay a solid foundation for their future academic and cognitive
learning.
It is exactly in the repetition of the exercise that the education of the
senses consists; their aim is not that the child shall know colours, forms, and the
different qualities of objects, but that he refine his senses through an exercise of
attention, of comparison, of judgement. These exercises are true intellectual
gymnastics. Such gymnastics, reasonably directed by means of various devices,
aid in the formation of the intellect, just as physical exercises fortify the general
health and quicken the growth of the body. The child who trains his various
senses separately, by means of external stimuli, concentrates his attention and
develops, piece by piece, his mental activities, just as with separately prepare
movements he trains his muscular activities.- The Montessori Method, Chapter
XXI, p. 223
There are many reasons why sensorial training is important. It aids the
natural development of the child and gives the child a sense of self-identity and
security within the learning environment. Sensorial training involves using the
childs hands, senses and spontaneous activity. When a young child sees
something new, he or she will want to touch or hold the object immediately. In
this way, the child is able to fulfill his need to grab hold of objects and this is a
natural developmental step toward the construction of his intellect.
Sensorial training also provides a basis for learning in an orderly manner
that is needed for neurological and physiological development. "With the gradual
emergence of knowledge and volition, it becomes imperative to establish some
order and clarity within the mind and to distinguish what is essential from what is
accidental. ...To satisfy this need, he should have an exact, scientific guide such
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as that which is to be found in our apparatus and exercises."--The Discovery of

the Child p 100, Chap 6. Sensorial apparatus usually requires the child to focus
on using only one sensory organ to emphasize one particular attribute so that
the child gets a clear scientific conclusion on that particular subject. This method
allows the child to understand the differential perception of stimuli and
categorize those differences into an orderly pattern. The stimuli, and not yet the
reasons for things, attract his attention. This is, therefore, the time when we
should methodically direct the sense stimuli, in such a way that the sensations
which he receives shall develop in a rational way. This sense training will prepare
the ordered foundation upon which he may build up a clear and strong
mentality.The Montessori Method, P. 135-136.
The sensitive periods are transitory. Sense impressions are of long
duration. The sensitive periods can be past, but once sensibility has been
acquired, it will be long lasting. It is necessary to begin the education of the
senses in the formative period, if we wish to perfect this sense development with
the education which is to follow. The education of the senses should be begun
methodically in infancy, and should continue during the entire period of
instruction which is to prepare the individual for life in society.The Montessori
Method (1912), p.138. The education of the senses is most important from both
these points of view. The development of the senses indeed precedes that of
superior intellectual activity and the child between three and seven years is in
the period of formation. [The Montessori Method, Page 135].
Another important aspect of sensorial education is that the frequency of
the sensorial activity heightens the senses. As the child is naturally drawn to the
sensorial activity, he or she becomes more and more focused in manipulating
and exploring the material, and this concentration leads to his senses becoming
more refined and tuned to the various smaller differences. He is then able to
discriminate, compare and contrast.
Through the isolation of the sense, the refinement of a particular sense
can be developed by providing organized opportunities for contact with the
environment.
The activities for the refinement of the senses focus the childs attention
and learning The visual sense: