Maria Montessori recognized that hands and skin are used for more than just discerning textures. They also can discern heat, an important safety skill. The Sensorial curriculum has activities that refine the ability to distinguish temperatures.
Identifying the Thermic Sense
Children must first be able to discern between hot and cold. The ability to do this can prevent the child from burning himself. He is introduced to hot and cold through the Thermic Bottles.
The Thermic Bottles are six metal bottles that the directress prepares ahead of time. Two of them are filled with very warm water, two with tepid water, and two with cold water. It is important to not use hot water, because the child could easily get burned.
For the initial presentation, the directress will simply hold and name the hot bottle, then pass it to the child to touch. Next she will hold and identify the cold bottle before passing it to the child. Later the term “warm” can be introduced.
The child can then go around the indoor and outdoor environments and identify things that are hot and cold.
Matching Temperatures
The child will then learn how to match the Thermic Bottles based on how they feel in his hands. He will pick up one bottle in each hand to see if they feel the same. If they match, he will set them to the side. If they don’t match, he will keep one in his left hand and try another one in the right hand until he finds the match.
The thermic sense can also be developed by matching the Thermic Tablets. These tablets are uniform in size and made out of different materials. They may be metal, stone, glass, plastic, or wood. Two of each are in the box.
To match the temperatures of these tablets, the child closes his eyes. He picks up one tablet in his left hand and one in his right hand, then lifts them to his cheeks. (Your cheeks are very sensitive to temperature.) If their temperatures feel the same, he sets them aside and moves on to the next pair. If not, he keeps the left one in his hand and picks up a new one in his right hand until all are matched.
Grading Temperatures
Once the child can discern between the temperatures of hot and cold, he can then move on to grading temperatures from cold to warm to hot. Grading the thermic bottles is the simplest way to do this, as there are only three temperatures to grade. The thermic tablets tend to consist of five different temperatures.
The child can then apply his knowledge of temperature to other materials in the environment. He can also apply it to scientific observations of the weather and states of matter.
The Thermic Bottles and Thermic Tablets in the Montessori Sensorial area are designed to teach the child to discern between hot and cold. This skill can teach the child to better observe his world, as well as to provide safety skills.
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