Think of a favorite memory from your childhood. What sensory experiences do you associate with that memory? I fondly remember going to Ocean City, New Jersey, with my grandparents in the summer. My Pop-Pop always walked to the bakery to get cheesecake, which we’d eat for breakfast. The smell of the salty sea air, the calls of the seagulls circling over the nearby boardwalk in search of crumbs, the sweet taste of cheesecake, and the comfort of my Pop-Pop’s big lap are all wrapped up together like a gift in my brain.
Today, whenever I travel to the beach or taste that first forkful of sweet cheesecake, my mind travels back to those carefree, warm summer days. Memories like this, which are linked to multiple sensory experiences, are powerful. Each sense activates a different area in the brain, resulting in excellent retention and rapid recall.
The Development of Multisensory Learning
Maria Montessori was born in 1870 in the small town of Chiaravalle, Italy. While growing up in Rome, she received an excellent education and enjoyed visiting the different libraries and museums. She was an avid reader like her mother and developed a strong quest for knowledge.After graduating from medical school, Montessori became one of the first female physicians in Italy and her first medical experience was in the field of psychiatry. After working with children who had special needs, she became interested in education and began studying the philosophies of education and principles of teaching.
Multisensory Learning Is Good for Kids
Multisensory learning is one of the most effective ways to engage children in the learning process and works well with students of all ages and developmental stages, as well as gifted kids and children with special needs.
When children engage multiple senses simultaneously when learning, they have the opportunity to make more and stronger connections between concepts, experiences, and facts and are more able to process, understand, and retain that information for easier recall later.
How to Incorporate Multisensory Learning Into Your Homeschool
Children are naturally curious, and as they grow and develop, everything is new, and discoveries are everywhere. This is why multisensory learning is such an effective strategy. It taps into your child’s innate curiosity and encourages sensory exploration.Incorporating multisensory learning into your homeschool is relatively easy, especially when you begin with a core element of the Montessori Method—engaging in Practical Life Activities such as washing dishes, helping to prepare meals, caring for a pet, or planting and caring for a garden. These activities—which require a child to concentrate, follow a set of steps, make good choices, complete an activity from beginning to end, persevere when problems arise, and solve those problems—are all essential skills needed to master the core subjects of mathematics and language arts.
To aid your child in mathematics, offer him or her manipulatives such as small plastic cubes for counting, pencil and paper to illustrate a word problem, or yummy fishy crackers for tasty basic facts practice. Adding in music and movement makes good sense too (pun intended). Kids can practice saying multiplication tables to the beat of a drum or a pot from the kitchen or perform jumping jacks, clap, or march while skip counting.
For language arts lessons, make homemade scented playdoh and encourage your kids to say letters of the alphabet while forming them with the dough. Or as a visual aid, introduce simple ABC flashcards containing pictures of objects beginning with each letter; kids can draw and say the letter, draw the object, and say its name.
