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Montessori Monday – DIY Geometric Shapes

December 5, 2011 By Deb Chitwood 11 Comments

DIY Geometric ShapesThe Montessori geometric cabinet and metal insets are among my favorite Montessori materials. They can be expensive for homeschoolers and environments other than Montessori schools, though. Fortunately, there are inexpensive alternatives.

Although the geometric cabinet is considered a sensorial material and the metal insets are a language material (preparation for writing), you can create materials that will work for both. Here are some great ideas from around the blogosphere for making your own geometric shapes that can be used instead of a geometric cabinet and metal insets. To isolate the difficulty, it’s best if you keep the shapes the same color and size, varying only in shape.

DIY Geometric Shapes and Supplementary Materials

DIY Geometric Shapes (Photo from OurMontessoriHome.wordpress.com)

DIY Geometric Shapes (Photo from OurMontessoriHome.wordpress.com)

Jenny from OurMontessoriHome.wordpress.com won the geometric cabinet in my giveaway sponsored by Alison’s Montessori. Before she won, she had started to make her own geometric cabinet. Here is her tutorial: DIY Montessori: Geometric Cabinet.

DIY Geometric Shapes (Photo from Noor Janan Homeschool)

DIY Geometric Shapes (Photo from Noor Janan Homeschool)

Noor Janan Homeschool has Geometric Shapes and Shelf (shelf made using a hot glue gun – no nails or screws).

Seedpod Craft Studio has Homemade Geometric Insets.

DIY Baby Stuff has DIY insets using mounting board covered with contact paper and a glued-on board pin for the knob.

Triangles 3-Part Cards (Image from Montessori Print Shop)

Triangles 3-Part Cards (Image from Montessori Print Shop)

Montessori Print Shop has free Triangles 3-Part Cards and inexpensive Geometry Cabinet Cards and other geometric materials.

Montessori Materials has free geometry downloads.

Montessori Mom has free insets for design printouts.

Geometric Shapes Presentations and Extensions

Montessori Primary Guide has Geometric Cabinet presentation.

Montessori World has Cabinet of Geometrical Plane Figures presentation.

Montessori Primary Guide has Metal Insets presentation.

Metal Inset Designs (Photo from The Education of Ours)

Metal Inset Designs (Photo from The Education of Ours)

Jessie from The Education of Ours has a post on Metal Insets, Lesson and Suggested Order and a post at Mommy Moment on The Aims of Metal Insets.

Umamah Learning Academy has a post with polygon 3-part cards and an activity making shapes with beads.

Working with Metal Insets Blindfolded (Photo from The Moveable Alphabet)

Working with Metal Insets Blindfolded (Photo from The Moveable Alphabet – blog is no longer available)

Montessori Mama has Metal Inset Art with examples and a free download of shapes and directions for creating an ellipse.

Montessori-Inspired Sticky Paper Shape Sorting and Counting

I have Montessori-inspired sticky paper shape sorting and counting for a fun variation for toddlers and preschoolers.

NOTE: See my DIY Montessori Materials post for DIY roundup posts for many Montessori materials.

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Filed Under: Activities - Language, Activities - Sensorial, Activity of the Week, Montessori Homeschool Classroom and Materials, Montessori Monday Tagged With: DIY geometric shapes, DIY Montessori materials, geometric cabinet, geomtric shapes, metal inset extensions, metal insets, Montessori

Previous Post: « Thank You’s for November 2011
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Discovering Montessori says

    December 5, 2011 at 5:12 am

    Thank you so much for hosting Montessori Monday. I am definetly about to check out the links you provided for the Moveable Alphabet blog. Thank you again for sharing

    Reply
    • Deb says

      December 5, 2011 at 10:50 am

      Thanks, Discovering Montessori! The Moveable Alphabet has some amazing extensions … I had a lot of fun just reading through them! 🙂

      Reply
  2. Jen says

    December 5, 2011 at 6:58 am

    Perfect timing! I’ve been thinking about how to get creative and do metal inset activities…without buying the expensive insets. Thanks as always for a fabulous post!

    Reply
    • Deb says

      December 5, 2011 at 10:50 am

      Thanks for your kind comment, Jen! I’m so glad the timing was right! 🙂

      Reply
  3. Lisa says

    December 5, 2011 at 8:04 pm

    What a great place to link-up! Thanks so much for featuring me on Facebook!

    Lisa

    Reply
    • Deb says

      December 6, 2011 at 7:44 pm

      My pleasure, Lisa! Thanks so much for linking up your Montessori project! 🙂

      Reply
  4. Ronald Lee says

    December 6, 2011 at 6:47 pm

    Thanks Deb – very nice post indeed. I’ve always wanted to get insets for my 2 year old toddler Charlie but they were too expensive.

    Off now to check out the links that you’ve shared…

    -Ronald

    Reply
    • Deb says

      December 6, 2011 at 7:45 pm

      Thanks, Ronald! I hope one of the DIY projects works well for you! 🙂

      Reply
  5. Katie says

    December 8, 2011 at 2:42 pm

    Awesome link up! I’m your newest follower on GFC and Facebook. I’m a speech pathologist, blogger, and mama to a Montessori preschooler! I also host a linky party. Thrifty Thursday, bringing educators and parents together to share FREE or nearly free learning activities. Feel free to stop by! 😀

    http://www.playingwithwords365.com/category/thrifty-thursday/

    Reply
    • Deb says

      December 8, 2011 at 7:12 pm

      Thanks, Katie! I just linked up! Thanks so much for linking up with Montessori Monday – and for following me! 🙂

      Reply

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