How to Make Montessori Color Tablets at Home

Have you ever heard of Montessori color tablets? Probably not! But I bet your kids have. These are an essential part of a Montessori learning space. So first, let’s understand what Montessori color tablets are.

What are Montessori color tablets? They start with red, orange, yellow, and green, then add blue and purple. Montessori color tablets are designed to help kids learn about color mixing, how different colors can be combined to make other colors, and how you can use these colors together to create an infinite variety of hues.

The color tablets are pretty easy to make at home, and they can last for as long as they are well taken care of. Let’s dive into the procedures;

What You Will Need

Step 1: Trim Around the Rough Edges

Use your craft knife to trim around the edges of your paper. Be sure you use a straight edge, such as a ruler or measuring tape, while doing this step. 

If you have any rough spots on your paper that were cut with scissors or other tools in the past, trim those off as well.

Step 2: Lay out Each Color With a Wooden Tablet

As you lay out the colors, some patterns will be more effective than others. Here are four ways to do it.

In a grid pattern, lay out the colors in a simple grid formation, with each row and column containing one color. 

In a circle pattern, you can create a circular design with your tablets by bringing them together in one place.

Step 3 – Center the Piece on the Wooden Tablet by the Side to Know Where to Cut

The third step is to center the piece by placing it on top of the wooden tablet. 

This will allow you to know where to cut your paper so that it fits perfectly into the center of each side of your wooden tablet and ensure that you won’t lose any pieces.

Place one end at each corner and mark where they meet in the center. Cut out this part so that you have one-half of a perfect square. Glue this piece onto one side of your wooden tablet.

Step 4 – Glue the Pieces Together on the Wooden Tablet

Once you’ve traced your pieces, it’s time to glue them in place. Apply a small amount of hot glue with a glue gun (or craft glue) onto the back side of each wooden piece. 

Press firmly into place without getting any on the front side of your tablet. If you do, wipe it away with a damp cloth. Don’t use too much glue or apply it too thickly. You don’t want to warp or crack your tablet.

Activities to Perform With the Montessori Color Tablets

Color recognition: The Montessori color tablets are a great way to introduce essential color recognition and matching.

Counting: Once you have mastered the colors, you can also use them for counting practice. Each block has a number that corresponds with its corresponding color tile in your set of Montessori color tablets.

Sorting: One of the most important concepts to teach your children is mental and physical order. 

The Montessori method teaches children how to sort by shape, size, and color to build their spatial reasoning skills (and confidence!). 

This helps them make sense of their environment because they can recognize patterns while learning how they fit into that system as individuals. 

Pattern making: Once your child has learned how sorting works with regard to shapes/colors/sizes etc., they will begin learning about creating new patterns using those same blocks. 

For example, You could tell them that they should “make” a blue triangle on their tray, but they need only find 3 red squares or circles that are all next to each other (or touching)

Create a rainbow by arranging colored rectangles in order of hue: Using the color tablets, you can create a color wheel. 

Use the red tablet to make an arrowhead at the top of your color wheel, then place its matching yellow tablet so that they touch and create a circle. 

Continue doing this with all your colors, moving clockwise around your circle until you’re back at red again.

Color mixing puzzle: One of the easiest ways to use color tablets is to create a puzzle. Simply take two tablets, one for each player, and place the pieces face down on each other. 

Then, flip over all pieces at once. If you want to make it more challenging, try turning only three or four pieces rather than all six. 

The goal is for players to match up to their color tablet with its corresponding side from another tablet. They can turn their piece over and keep playing when they do so successfully. 

Importance of the Montessori Color Tablet to a Child

A Montessori wooden tablet is an important tool in the Montessori classroom. These wooden tablets are used to teach children the names of colors and shapes and help with early writing skills.

The child uses each side of the wooden tablet differently, depending on their level of development and interest. 

The left side has a picture representing a color or shape; the right has a corresponding letter from the upper case alphabet (the big letters). 

Using this tool at different times during their preschool years helps them understand that there is more than one way to label something. 

You can either say, “this is red,” or draw a red circle on your paper. Even though there are many ways for children to label objects with words throughout their daily routines, such as calling out someone’s name vs. writing it down, sometimes it may seem easier to skip over these tasks altogether.

Conclusion

It is safe to say that Montessori Color Tablets are a valuable tool for teaching young children one of the essential tools for learning: the color wheel. Accusing colors with words and objects can be beneficial when reading or writing when trying to identify unknown items and at any point in between.

FAQs

What is a touch tablet in Montessori? This is a part of sensorial Montessori, which aims to teach children how to identify their environment using the five senses.

How many colors are there in the color box? The color box contains 22 colors with a range of pairs of blue, red, purple, black, white, gray, pink, and white.