Logan’s first day with the knobbed cylinders.

Logan’s first experience was a lot like Kylee’s, only he had Kylee trying to “help” him.

Two years ago, readers asked many questions about this material after I shared a picture of Kylee beginning to work with it.  The knobbed cylinders are one of the first sensorial materials for the Early Childhood sequence.  They are generally presented around age 3, but some Montessori schools also have them in their Toddler classrooms.  I have even seen variations available that don’t have the smallest, choking hazard pieces, such as these or these**.  I just use our standard blocks, but only make them available under supervision.  I believe that all materials should be supervised at this age unless you want to encourage the creative use of materials.  I prefer school materials be used in their proper way and other things used in creative play so I supervise everything and it is only available during our school time.   

You will notice in the pictures, that sometimes Logan uses a 3 finger grasp and other times he uses a modified 2 finger (thumb and middle generally).  I don’t correct him every time, but I model the correct finger position during our mini lessons and he has been increasingly using it more accurately.  You also may notice that he does not assemble the pieces in order yet.  This will be an added difficulty as we have more “lessons” with the material.

**At this time I have not ordered from this company, but hope to do so soon!  

If you have experience with them be sure to let me know!