What Is the Pink Tower?
The Pink Tower is one of the most iconic Montessori materials found in Toddler, Bridge, and Primary classrooms. It is made up of 10 pink wooden cubes ranging in size from 1 cubic centimeter to 10 cubic centimeters. Students stack the blocks to form a tower, beginning with the largest block and adding the next largest block. Each block decreases in size by 1 centimeter.
The Value of the Pink Tower
Dr. Maria Montessori recognized that sensorial tools like the Pink Tower help children form a better grasp of the world by engaging several senses at once, in this case, touch and sight. All of the blocks in the Pink Tower are the same color and texture which allows children to focus on two differences: size and weight.
Students carry the blocks to their work mat one-by-one, beginning with the smallest cube. They bring the blocks, scatter them randomly around the work station, and start by selecting the largest cube to begin the stack.
Correctly forming the Pink Tower directly develops a child’s three-dimensional size discrimination, fine muscular coordination, and visual perception. This tool indirectly fosters language and math skills by adding words like “large” and “small” to their vocabulary and more specific words like “smaller” and “largest” when describing blocks 1 through 10. Students are also absorbing the concepts of length, width, and height, which will eventually translate to volume, area, and algebra.
Why It’s Pink
Dr. Montessori experimented with several colors for the tower before settling on pink. All of the children were drawn to the Pink Tower far more than any other color. The bright color is intriguing to children across the globe, while the simple, classic design is welcoming and unintimidating.
The Montessori in a Minute Series
Montessori schools like Hudson Montessori School utilize specially designed tools like the Pink Tower to promote experiential and sensorial learning that students can repeatedly practice at each age level. Often, these tools are self-correcting, allowing the child to check their work and adjust accordingly.
This Montessori In A Minute series regularly explores the unique benefits of these fundamental materials.
To learn more about Hudson Montessori School’s interdisciplinary, theme-based learning approach to education, the Montessori philosophy and methodology, or how the school fosters the love of learning for children age 2 to sixth grade, sign up for an open house tour most Tuesdays at 9 a.m.
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