Purpose of a Workmat in a Montessori House of Children
Purpose of a Workmat in a Montessori House of Children
What is the purpose of a Workmat in a Montessori classroom
Workmats are not just an additional accessory in a Montessori Classroom. They have huge psychological implications.
Welcome to the Centre for Montessori Teacher’s Training. We bring you another interesting secret of how a Montessori classroom runs so perfectly with so many little children all exercising their right to freedom and still maintaining an order at All times.
Walk in anytime into a Montessori classroom, and you will see children neatly and systematically working with their material, with never a piece scattered on the floor.
One of the main secrets is the use of Workmats.
“Besides the physical convenience of providing a comfortable setting on the floor, there are various other psychological factors that come into play while working on a Workmat.”
In Montessori Houses of Children, you will find large Workmats neatly rolled and placed in a container or on a shelf. The children walk into the classroom, pick up a Workmat, carry it to wherever they wish to work and unroll it.
They then go ahead and bring the material they want to work with and place it on their Workmat. These Workmats are not just used in Eastern Countries where sitting on the floor is part of most cultures, but also in Montessori schools in Western Countries. The classrooms also have tables and chairs but there are certain activities that children prefer to work with at the floor level, on the Workmat.
1. It clearly defines the child’s workspace.
Once the child carries and brings the material he wishes to work with, he makes sure that no part of the material is placed on the floor. Let’s say, the child is working with Colour Tablets. Then, not a single tablet will be placed on the floor. Each and every tablet will have to be on the Workmat. If he works with material that does not fit on the Workmat, he will need to place another Workmat, or an extra sitting mat alongside to extend his area of work. But under no circumstance will the material be on the floor. This way, the child inculcates a sort of respect for the material.
All of this area of the Workmat now becomes the child workspace, clearly defined for him. He does not step outside this boundary.
2. It provides the child his own psychological space for which he is responsible.
The area defined by the Workmat is now the child’s responsibility. It gives him this psychological area to work within. It becomes more comfortable for the child to concentrate as the area is well defined. Let’s say, for example, the child is looking for a matching colour or picture for the Pairing Activity. Then he knows he has to look for it only within the area of the Workmat.
But this Right over the area also comes with Responsibility. If he spills some grains while pouring or some material rolls off, the child is responsible for it. He will be required to make sure that after he is done working with the material, he returns it all to where he picked it up from. So, all that is on the mat is his responsibility.
“The Workmat reinforces Montessori’s principle of ‘Freedom within limits’.”
3. It reinforces Montessori’s principle of ‘Freedom within limits’.
The child has the freedom to move the material around anywhere on the Workmat, but he cannot go beyond that limit. He cannot place material around the mat, on the floor. The Workmat thus sets Limits to his Freedom of movement.
4. Nobody else is allowed to encroach upon his area.
The child who is working on a Workmat has complete authority, a right over the material he has brought to work with. No other child passing by is allowed to touch his material. Another child who desires to also work with his material cannot sit alongside with this child and touch his material. You will not have, for example, two children together building the Pink Tower.
The child who has taken the mat has total right over the material. If another child wants to work with the same material, he will have to wait till the first child puts the material back on the shelf. The second child will then have to unroll his own mat and carry the material to his Workmat to work with it.
So, once these rules, this discipline, regarding working with the Workmats are strongly inculcated in the children, it goes a long way in maintaining order around the House of Children.
Originally published May 2, 2019