Many of my readers may not know that I am volunteering for arts and crafts at an organization known in the Czech republic as House for youth and children (Dům dětí a mládeže). Part of my job here is to create different educational kits for children’s activities. This DIY Montessori five senses activity kit for children is my recent creation and I am going to share with you how I made it so you can make yours as well.

What is Montessori education?

The Montessori education is a child-focused approach that was developed by Dr. Maria Montessori, an Italian physician, and it is a method that fosters rigorous, self-motivated growth for children and adolescents in all areas of their development—cognitive, emotional, social, and physical.

Montessori education is student-led and self-paced but guided, assessed, and enriched by knowledgeable and caring teachers, the leadership of their peers, and a nurturing environment.

Within the community of a multi-age classroom—designed to create natural opportunities for independence, citizenship, and accountability—children embrace multi-sensory learning and passionate inquiry. Individual students follow their own curiosity at their own pace, taking the time they need to fully understand each concept and meet individualized learning goals.

What’s this Montessori five senses activity kit useful for?

This kit helps smaller children learn about the different senses. You basically put the big circle with the name of the sense and the indicating drawing, and the kids arrange the pictures that match the sense to the edges of the circle.

You can use the kit as a form of exercise or to teach about the senses first time.

How to DIY your own Montessori five senses activity kit for children?

You will need:

  • 5 paper cut out big circles
  • 25 paper cut out smaller circles (the size will vary depending on your bigger circles, as the small ones will go on top of the big ones as shown in the pictures)
  • Markers
  • Velcro
  • Glue

Steps for recreation:

1- You first draw the body part that represents a sense on the middle of your first circle (don’t forget to leave space for the 5 circles to lay on top of your circle)

2- You are going to draw 5 representations for each sense. 1 per circle. Make sure they are easy to figure out or harder depending on the age group you are working with.

3- Cut out 5 small pieces of Velcro. 1 per circle.

4- Glue the base of your Velcro to the big circle (where the small circles are going to lay), and the top part to the back of the smaller circles.

5- You can decorate your kit however you wish, since I was making the kits for smaller children, I used brighter colors and colored the edges of my big circle. I also added the names of the senses at the top (mine were in Czech)

Conclusion

This DIY Montessori five senses activity kit for children is really easy to make. Use the ones I created for inspiration and get creative with yours. Feel free to share your creations with me on my socials and enjoy creating <3