Touch Tablets

From Montessori Album
Jump to: navigation, search
Touch Tablets
Sensorial - Tactile Sense
Level Primary
Age 3 - 4
Prerequisites Touch Boards
Materials 5 pairs of boards with different grades of sandpaper

This activity teaches the child to distinguish degrees of roughness. Using the Touch Tablets also prepares the child for using the Sandpaper Letters.



  1. Take out five boards, one of each pair.
  2. Touch each board (one at a time) using your right index and middle fingers.
  3. Allow the child to experience what you are feeling.
  4. Take out three pairs with the greatest contrast.
  5. Mix them up and place them in a pile in the middle of the table.
  6. Take the board from the top and place it directly in front of you. Feel this board using two fingers.
  7. Tell the child, “I’m going to feel for the one just like it.”
  8. Place the next board from the pile next to the first board.
  9. Close your eyes (or use the blindfold) and feel the first board, then the second board.
  10. If they do not match, tell the child so. Then place it off to the right side. Then bring the next board from the pile over and continue until you have found the one that is just like it.
  11. If they do feel the same, allow the child to feel. Then place them on top of each other off to the left side.
  12. Replace any discarded boards back into the original pile.
  13. Repeat until all of the pairs have been matched.
  14. Mix up the tablets and allow the child to match. (Offer him a blindfold.)


  1. Take just one board of each of the five pairs.
  2. Step two
  3. Step three

Points of Interest[edit]


Refinement of the tactile sense to discern the fine distinction between rough and smooth. (The blindfold will help the child to focus on his attention upon one sense.) Preparation for writing.

Control of Error[edit]

In the material: the difference in color and the grain of the sandpaper.
There is a one-to-one correlation in the tablets.

Variations and Extensions[edit]

  • Matching from a distance
  • Grading from an extreme
  • Grading from a midpoint
  • Matching to the environment


Comparative: Rougher/Smoother Superlative: Roughest/Smoothest


One box with graduations of roughness, containing five pars of rough tablets of the same gradation as the Rough and Smooth Board 3 Touch Board Using one of each pair, the child grades the tablets.

Where to Buy[edit]

Thinkamajigs $24.95