Montessori Activity: Mystery Bags (Touch Sensory)

Age: From 1.5 years old

Activity Duration: 5 - 10 minutes

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Objective(s): To give your child a fun way to practice in identifying and naming objects only through the sense of touch.

Materials:
1. 2 identical drawstring bags.
2. 2 sets of different small objects such as apple, orange, animal figures and geometric objects such as cube, pyramid, prism, etc.

Directions:
1. Get your child to hold one bag and you hold the other.

2. Put your hand inside your bag and select one of the objects, say the cube, bring it out and show it to him.

3. Ask him to put his hands inside his bag and try to find the same shape, using only his sense of touch. He is not allowed to look inside the bag.

Video Demonstration:

http://www.ehow.com/video_4940979_matching-mystery-bag-montessori-activity.html

Additional Information:
I quickly prepared these bags, while Daddy was giving J a bath. I placed in each bag a goat, a penguin, a dog, an apple, a figure of 10 shape, a cube, a triangular block, a oblong block, a crescent block and a roof block. For more ideas on Mystery Bags/Boxes, click here for a good post from http://www.mymontessorimoments.wordpress.com/

J (2Y1M28D) tried this game this evening, and he enjoyed it. There were times when he kept taking out the wrong object, while searching for the cube. He then laughed and finally asked me to help him, which I did. But he had no problem finding the goat and the dog.

References:
- Montessori Play and Learn by Lesley Britton
- http://www.suite101.com/content/the-montessori-mystery-bag-a182138