Educational Project

"The child does not "learn ", but builds their knowledge through experience and relationships with the environment that surrounds them." (Maria Montessori)

PREMISE

The sensory project stems from the desire to assist children in discovering the five senses, with the aim of favouring both the acquisition of perceptive abilities and the expression of sensations and emotions. In this period of their life, the child relates to others and to the environment through their whole body, in fact they are constantly in contact with a reality characterised by various stimuli: tactile, visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory. The sense organs collect the information selected from the central nervous system and coming from their own body and environment; since the first months of life, in fact, the child knows how to distinguish the internal stimuli (those coming from his body) from the external ones: while the internal ones serve to learn to know each other and form the self-image, those from the outside world favor the exploration of the surrounding environment and recognition of the main characteristics of the objects. All the information received is then recorded in the memory, so that it can be recognized later, turning it into an experience that can be used by the child. The sensory experiences performed by children are fundamental for their psychophysical development and for the formation of their personality and therefore, in nursery school, touching, experimenting, discriminating various stimuli, helping the child to make a good use, educational experiences and educational opportunities are fundamental based on the principle of "doing to know". It is therefore essential to accustom the child to recognise the various stimuli, helping them to use them in the best way through rich and fun educational experiences. Starting from the knowledge of themselves and their bodies, through sensory experiences, the manipulative body language, verbal and pictorial graphic and, through the use of the senses, children will explore the reality that surrounds them and they will go on to discover the environment and nature in order to make learning concrete and constructive.
The playful relationship with the objects of the world, which awakens in children the awareness of their senses and makes them curious, is the key to embark on the journey: play and curiosity constitute the handle that opens a window on the world. This path will begin with the discovery of a letter written by a bear in which he will ask all the children to help him find the five lost senses. Children will then explore the sensorial world accompanied by a fantastic character who will stimulate interest and participation through meetings of discovery, knowledge and use of the senses. The project includes a series of experiences, activities and sensory-perceptive games, through which children can recognize, discriminate, select, classify and internalise experiences coming from the 5 senses.

MATERIALS

For educational activities various tools will be used including: posters, drawing paper, coloured pencils, wax crayons, felt-tip pens, paint brushes, fabric, watercolours, recycled materials, manipulative material, books.

TIME

The project is aimed at all children who attend kindergarden and will be held during the school year from October to June.

GRADING

Verification of knowledge and skills will take place through the systematic observation of children in situations of free play, guided, in programmed activities, in conversations (individual and group). At the end of each learning unit the summary of the experience will be drawn up.

The project will take place both in Italian and in English.