The BEST Montessori Sensorial Materials (when you can only spend $125)

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Have you ever looked at the cost of Montessori Sensorial Materials? The full sensorial curriculum can easily run you over $2000 even when purchasing from discount suppliers.

While the full set of Montessori Materials would be wonderful, it’s simply not practical for many of us.

After having reviewed my budget-priced Montessori Sensorial Materials, I wanted to pick what I felt were the most essential and cost-efficient Montessori Sensorial Materials for your dollar. (I’m also collecting several DIY and alternative ideas for every single Montessori Sensorial Material — look out for those posts soon!)

The BEST Montessori Sensorial Materials if you're on a tight budget! This Montessori teacher picks her top Montessori Sensorial materials for doing Montessori at home

Please consider shipping costs as well when planning your purchases — this is why I’ve also provided Amazon links as Amazon often ships free, while Montessori retailers can have a minimum purchase required before free shipping becomes an option.

Pink Tower - This Montessori teacher picks her top Montessori Sensorial materials for doing Montessori at home

The Pink Tower

Really, if you only have one Montessori Sensorial Material, I hope you choose the Pink Tower.

The Pink Tower teaches orderly process, cubing, care of materials, sequencing, visual discrimination, encourages children to consider their hand placement and grips based on differently sized objects, and baric (weight) discrimination.

You can DIY the Pink Tower, but unless you already have access to the carpentry tools or are splitting the costs with friends who are also wanting their own pink towers, I’d suggest purchasing this.

Approximately $36, purchase from: Amazon  |  Adena  |  Montessori Equipment

Check out my review of my Pink Tower from Montessori Equipment here and the lesson here.

Knobless Cylinders - This Montessori teacher picks her top Montessori Sensorial materials for doing Montessori at home

Knobless Cylinders

I think the kids have the most fun with this sensorial material. It has so many extensions and concepts that it easily has seen the most creative reconfigurations out of all of the Sensorial materials.

The best is when you are able to pair them with the Cylinder blocks, but even on their own the knobless cylinders give a varied and intricate understanding of the different dimensions and how they can contrast and work together.

Approximately $48, purchase from: Amazon  |  Adena  |  Montessori Equipment

Check out my review of my Knobless Cylinders from Montessori Equipment here.

Mini Geometric Solids - This Montessori teacher picks her top Montessori Sensorial materials for doing Montessori at home

Small Stereognostic Set

Many Montessori retailers sell a small set of wooden geometric shapes (often referred to as a “mystery bag”) which are meant for guessing shapes with a blindfold (or within the bag), but they can also be used as an economical alternative to the Geometric Solids (though the weight will be different, the weight does not take away from the purpose.)

You can alternatively purchase the Learning Resources Viewthru Geometric Solids.

Approximately $12, you can purchase from: Amazon  |  Adena  |  Montessori Equipment

Binomial Cube - This Montessori teacher picks her top Montessori Sensorial materials for doing Montessori at home

Binomial Cube

The Binomial Cube is (arguably) the most intricate of the Primary Sensorial Curriculum, and it is revisited in the Elementary Sensorial Curriculum and Elementary Math Curriculum.

This acts as a bit of a puzzle, but it is the first introduction to an equation and the parts of an equation in the Montessori Curriculum (cubing).

Approximately $23, you can purchase from: Amazon  |  Adena  |  Montessori Equipment

Check out my review of my Binomial Cube from Adena here.

 

Bonus:

I honestly believe that if you can purchase the Pink Tower, Knobless Cylinders, Small Geometric Solids, and Binomial Cube that you will be very happy with your purchases (on sale, these four items may even come to less than $100). Your children will get great use out of these materials if presented and used properly.

However, if you can add one more item to your purchase, I would add the Cylinder Blocks. The price is hefty, I am not going to play that down — the cheapest I have ever seen a set of the four blocks is $100. But they provide fabulous extensions with the knobless cylinders, provide unparalleled fine motor/pincer grip practice, and train your child’s eyes to perceive incredible visual discrimination — making them the only puzzle you will ever need to buy.

 

If you happen to have a slightly bigger budget or manage to purchase some materials used, the two materials I would add to your shopping cart are:

  • Geometry Cabinet (ranges from $130-145)
  • Colour Box 3 (ranges from $28-35, though you can DIY)

The BEST Montessori Sensorial Materials if you're on a tight budget! This Montessori teacher picks her top Montessori Sensorial materials for doing Montessori at home

 

Many of the remaining Montessori Sensorial Materials can be DIYed or replaced with cost-efficient alternatives.

What do you think? What are your must-have Montessori Sensorial Materials?

If you’re interested in learning more about Montessori Sensorial, be sure to check out my main Montessori Sensorial page:

 

Montessori Sensorial - everything you ever wanted to know about Montessori Sensorial, including the best materials, honest reviews, lessons, and more!

 

 

Also, here are some fabulous Montessori Sensorial posts from some of my fellow Montessori bloggers:

 

Natural Beach Living ~ The Natural Homeschool ~ Living Montessori Now ~ Planting Peas

The Kavanaugh Report ~ Mama’s Happy Hive ~ Sugar, Spice and Glitter ~ Child Led Life

Every Star Is Different ~ Grace and Green Pastures ~ The Pinay Homeschooler

12 months of Montessori Learning

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18 Comments

  1. This is a lovely post for what and where to buy sensorial Montessori materials! I love this list and the links to where to purchase on a budget. Thank you!

  2. There’s a lot of people asking which Sensorial materials to prioritize on a budget, so this is a great article to address that frequently-asked-question! Awesome post!

  3. I love this post Jennifer! The only one thing I will do differently for my child is that I will get the knobbed cylinders for one simple reason, her pincer grip is weak and the full size knob cylinders are great for strengthening this. However, all things being equal, where your child doesn’t have a specific area of need, the knobless cylinders are definitely more diverse and a WHOLE LOT less expensive! Thanks for this post!

  4. Allison Montessori now carries a mini version the pink tower and brown stairs, as well as knobbed cylinders. Do you believe these would work just as well or is scale a factor? could the scale aspect be accomplished solely with the Red rods? I’ve seen where the pink tower and brown stair correspond to each other in terms of size. Some of the links here aren’t taking me to the page and the prices have increased in the past couple of years, but I really appreciate the post, it helps a ton. I wish I could find a site with more DIY for the AMI language exercises.

    1. I actually think that mini items don’t serve the purpose – for most of these items, the size is very important to it’s function – in both visual size discrimination, feeling the different weights between the blocks, etc. These things are near impossible with the miniature versions/toddler versions. By making these materials “mini” they really only work for their secondary attributes.
      TBH I am disappointed Allison’s would offer them – I’ve seen them in a lot of discount Montessori suppliers, and

  5. Thank you so much for this informative post for those of us transitioning to Montessori!! My friend just recommended your website because I was wondering which items to prioritize for my next purchase.

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