stereognostic sense

What is stereognostic sense and how can we develop it?

It is the combination of tactile and muscular memory in which a child can recognize things by just feeling it.  As Montessori says;

“When the hand and arm are moved about an object, an impression of movements added to the touch. Such an impression is attributed to a special, sixth sense, which is called a muscular sense, and which permits many impressions to be stored in a “muscular memory” , which recalls movements that have been made”

By doing different kinds of sterognostic exercises, the child can recognize things by touching/feeling them in his hands. Different materials are used to develop this sense such as, Geometric solids, Mystery bags, Sorting Trays, Puzzle maps, and Sandpaper Globe.

How to develop stereognostic sense:

Stereognostic sense is very important sense as it helps children to discriminate between different size and shape by feeling the objects. It allows children to make a mental picture through the use of touch the object.

These activities are first done with open eyes but afterwards child feels the object by blindfold. There are a lot of exercises which can be done to develop stereognostic sense. The directress does all exercises in front of the children.

Exercise: Sorting trays:

Material:

A tray with three bowls or dishes:

Ø  Small dishes are filled with buttons and beans; one type in each bowl.

Ø  One large dish will be placed empty in the middle of the tray.

Ø  Material should be different in shapes and size.

Exercise:

Ø  Place tray in front of the child.

Ø  Pick up one of the largest item in the bowl and close eyes and feel it by using both hands. And tell child that it feels different when the directress closes her eyes.

Ø  Then ask child to feel the object with his eyes opened and closed. And place it in the large empty dish.

Ø  Repeat it again for other items.

Ø  The child first checks all these things by their hands and feels them. Introduce names of each item.

Ø  Then child closes his eyes or used blindfold, again feel the items, named it, and then put it into the second tray.

Ø  Then ask child to open his eyes and sees how perfectly he has done.

Ø  Invite children to repeat it.

Exercise: Mastery bag:

Material:

Ø  A cloth bag

Ø  10 to 20 small objects different from one another such as, a key, a cotton ball, a button, a small basket etc.

Presentation:

Ø  Ask the child to come and work with you.

Ø  Show and tell the name of mystery bag to students.

Ø  Ask them to sit in the semi-circle.

Ø  Take all objects out of bag and place them on the table and ask children to handle them in their hands if they wish to do so. When they get familiar to the objects, and then put them back in the bag.

Ø  Then put one hand into the bag and feel an object and tell children about what you feel, for instance, soft, fluffy, light, etc. also name the object in a loud voice, i.e. I think this is a ball.

Ø  Then, pull the object out of the bag and checked whether you were right or wrong. If right then say, yes! That’s right.

Ø  Repeat it with all children till all objects are done.

To sum up, stereognostic sense exercises are very helpful for children to develop stereognostic sense.