Montessori Monday – DIY Color Tablets

DIY Color Box 1 (Photo from Teacher Weena)

I’ve been focusing on DIY Montessori materials the last few Mondays. First it was smelling bottles, then sound cylinders, and now color tablets. These are all Montessori sensorial materials you can make at home inexpensively.

DIY Color Tablets for Home Use

You’ll notice that Montessori color tablets (purchased or homemade) don’t vary in size or shape – only color. That isolation of difficulty makes it easier for preschoolers to understand the difference in colors.

For home use, you really don’t need to purchase color tablets. Here are some lovely ideas for making color tablets for a homeschool.

Teacher Weena made color tablets from laminated paint samples and folder slides (photo at top of post).

DIY Color Box 3 Variation (Photo by MaryLea at Pink and Green Mama)

Pink and Green Mama made color tablets from red oak sticks, paint samples, and Mod Podge. These did require help cutting the wood into rectangles. The photo is a variation of Color Box 3 for grading colors from darkest to lightest.

Maybe Montessori made color tablets from balsa wood, paint samples, and Mod Podge.

Life is Bella, using the NAMC Montessori 3-6 Homeschool Program, made color tablets from embroidery floss holders and paint samples.

DIY Color Tablets (Photo from Chestnut Grove Academy)

Chestnut Grove Academy also made color tablets for Color Boxes 1 and 2  and Color Box 3 using embroidery floss holders and paint samples.

Tinkerbean made a Color Gradient Matching activity using paint samples and clothespins.

Merrilee Liddiard shared a tutorial for DIY Wooden Gradient Blocks at Handmade Charlotte.

11 Pairs of Color Cards Free Printable (Image from Montessori Print Shop)

Montessori Print Shop has both free and inexpensive color cards that can be simply printed out, laminated, and cut apart. Here are instructions for preparing the cards.

Polestar Montessori has free printables for Color Box 1 and the red tablets from Color Box 3 available for download.

Montessori Primary Guide and Montessori World have directions for presenting the three color boxes.

School Version of Color Box 3 (Photo from Leptir)

Leptir has detailed directions for presenting the three color boxes along with photos of the school-quality color boxes.

Here are two helpful videos about presenting color tablets:

Note: for home use, you would only need to make Color Box 2 and Color Box 3. For younger children, you could have an extra box or basket for the red, blue, and yellow pairs of tablets (Color Box 1) until your child is ready for the 11 pairs of color tablets in Color Box 2.

My post on “How to Make Your Own Montessori Materials” has resources for making lots of other Montessori materials.

Linked with Mommy Club Resources and Solutions

Montessori Monday Link-Up

If you’re wondering why I used Montessori Monday in the title instead of Activity of the Week, it’s because I’m now co-hosting Montessori Monday with Nicole from One Hook Wonder! Montessori Monday is an awesome link-up that Nicole started.

My Monday post will still be my activity of the week, but I’ll have the linky at the end so you can sign up either at One Hook Wonder or here. If you have some Montessori ideas/lessons to share, please link up below. Please also place the Montessori Monday button (using the code from the right sidebar) in your post or put a link back to this post. Thanks for participating!