Baric Tablets in Box

Description

The Baric Tablets introduce children to the sense of weight, known as the baric sense, one of the more subtle sensorial discriminations in the Montessori curriculum. Working with eyes closed, the child lifts each tablet in turn, learning to feel and compare weight independent of sight, size, or colour.

The set is housed in a wooden box with three compartments, each holding six tablets of a single weight grade: light, medium, and heavy, eighteen tablets in all. Each grade is crafted from a different species of wood, so the difference in weight between grades is genuine and distinct rather than simulated, and each grade is finished in its own colour for easy sorting.

Through repeated handling, children refine their tactile-muscular judgement, build vocabulary around weight, and develop the concentration and precision that carry over into later mathematical and scientific reasoning.