Magnetic Stencil Boards

Reminiscent of the Montessori 'Insets for Design', these Magnetic Stencil Boards are a perfect resource for promoting a child's artistic creativity and emerging literacy!

The Magnetic Stencil Board consists of 12 wooden boards with shapes or forms cut out, including:

• Triangle
• Square
  
• Rectangle
• Circle
  
• Ellipse
• Pentagon
• Hexagon
• Rhombus (aka 'diamond' or 'kite')
  
• Trapezoid
• Semi-circle
• Heart
• Star

One of the incidental benefits of this engaging art and literacy experience is that it can help to reinforce recognition of these shapes and knowledge of their names.

A child can use one stencil at a time to trace the shape, or can combine multiple stencils to create patterns or pictures. The set includes a pack of suggestion cards showing different designs that can be made using the stencils. These are just a starting point, as there are countless different images and ideas your child can be inspired to create!

Each wooden board has magnets on the back so that they can be fastened or displayed. For instance, you might use a small portable magnetic whiteboard so that a child could stick on the magnetic stencil and draw with a whiteboard texta as a sustainable way of encouraging endless creativity without using up lots of paper! The magnets also allow for the stencils to be stuck onto vertical surfaces - like a fridge or an art easel with a magnetic board. This is such a valuable addition because the posture and positioning that a child adopts when standing and reaching up to draw engages a whole different set of muscles and motor movements than sitting and drawing at a table. 

Each stencil board measures 14.5 cm wide by 11cm tall. When a child uses the Insets for Design in a Montessori classroom for the first time, the initial step is simply to trace a single shape at a time. To scaffold the child for success, the Montessori teacher will cut the paper to match the shape of the stencil so that the child can keep the two pieces lined up neatly (this is especially helpful if they go off-track midway through drawing and want to realign the corners to complete the shape in the same spot on the paper!) If you want to emulate this approach, simply cut the paper to 14.5x11cm.

As a child progresses with using the Montessori Insets for Design, they start to explore extensions and variations such as drawing freehand lines within the shape (once the stencil is removed) or rotating the shape by 90 degrees at a time until the may a pattern with four shapes at different rotations! These same variations can be explored with the Magnetic Stencil Boards. 

The Magnetic Stencil Boards help to promote ‘writing without writing’. Dr Montessori used materials such as the “Insets for Design” (similar boards with shapes cut out for tracing) to help children begin making the shapes and formations used in letters without the pressure of actually writing the letters. Through these ‘indirect preparations’, children are able to acquire writing skills more naturally and this can prompt what Dr Montessori called a 'spontaneous explosion into writing’ when their hands are ready. Learn more about promoting language and literacy at home in our Blog post here.