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All About The Pink Tower

The Pink Tower is one of the most recognizable Montessori Materials.  It’s simplicity stands as an example for the beauty of all classic Montessori Materials.  The Pink Tower is a Sensorial work, for visual discrimination.  The child can clearly see and feel that the only difference in all of ten cubes is the size.  While working with the Pink Tower, a child may notice that the weight of the cubes increases and decreases with the size.  Many Sensorial Materials have built-in skills for later math work.  The Pink Tower is ten cubes, increasing in size by exactly 1 cm each.

pink tower

To begin work with the Pink Tower, invite a child (be sure he/she is over the stage of mouthing, the smallest is just 1cm) and name the work.  Show how to carry one block at a time, placing it on the mat in random order.  “This is the smallest cube.”  “This is the largest cube.”  Build the tower from the largest to the the smallest and take the time to admire it.  Take it apart one at a time and place on the mat again.  Carry each cube back to the shelf individually, using two hands.  If the child builds the tower in the wrong order, don’t correct him, but wait until he’s finished and see if he notices that the tower isn’t tapered like it was on the shelf.  Once the Pink Tower is mastered, try pairing it up with the Brown Stairs.  They are the same height, but vary only in width.  So many possibilities with such simple materials!

Jessie is a Primary Montessori Teacher and Mom to twin three year olds and a five year old. Jessie has a Montessori blog at The Education of Ours, and can be found on Twitter. 

Beth

Friday 28th of October 2011

Very interesting. I did not grow up in a Montessori environment, but I have since come to really appreciate so much of their teaching method with my own 3 kids. Thanks for the introduction to the pink tower! I'd love for you to come link up at my Linky Party - http://livinglifeintentionally.blogspot.com/2011/10/linky-party-3.html ~beth

Lori@montessori MOMents

Thursday 27th of October 2011

I love your Montessori posts! I featured this post on Montessori MOMents' facebook page. I have a feeling a lot of people are going to love learning about this wonderful Montessori material. http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Montessori-MOMents/186597394722411

Deb @ Living Montessori Now

Thursday 27th of October 2011

Great post, Jessie! The Montessori sensorial materials have always amazed me in their simplicity and beauty. I love your statement that the pink tower's "simplicity stands as an example for the beauty of all classic Montessori Materials." Knowing the reasons behind the simplicity of the pink tower makes it all the more beautiful!

Pamalot

Thursday 27th of October 2011

I would really like to get both the pink tower and the brown stairs for my kindie classroom. I am in Ontario Canada. any ideas of where to purchase them?

PaniTanguera

Thursday 9th of February 2012

Pamalot, I just received my order from BravoEducation.com. There are located in Toronto, and ship to other places in Canada too. Great communication, great prizes, great stuff! Plus, they do not charge handling, and I paid shipping trough PostCanada only.

Have a Montessori day,

PaniTanguera

girlie blogger

Sunday 23rd of October 2011

Interesting activity. My daughter would love to do this. Plus, we like pink :0)

www.geekettegazette.com www.thegirlieblog.com