Set Of Knobless Cylinders

Material name: Knobless Cylinders (Montessori Knobless Cylinders)

Area: Sensorial – Visual & Tactile

Purpose & developmental benefits:
Knobless Cylinders help children discriminate and compare size across multiple dimensions (diameter and height) through ordering and seriating cylinders without knobs. The absence of knobs requires children to rely on their whole hand and visual judgment, refining visual perception, tactile awareness, and spatial reasoning at a more advanced level than the knobbed Cylinder Blocks.

Skills supported:

• Discriminates and compares diameter and height visually

• Orders objects in ascending and descending sequences (seriation)

• Develops perception of size by isolating variables (large/small, tall/short, thick/thin)

• Refines fine motor control and hand–eye coordination when placing cylinders accurately

• Builds concentration, perseverance, and self-correction

• Expands mathematical and descriptive vocabulary (thickest/thinnest, taller/shorter, etc.)

Recommended age: 3–6 years (Casa),
introduced after the child is confident with the Cylinder Blocks

Material & design:

• A set of four wooden boxes, each containing 10 colored wooden cylinders (40 cylinders in total)

• Each box represents one size variation, corresponding to the Cylinder Blocks, but without knobs

• Box lids are painted to match the cylinder color:

  • Red: varying diameter, constant height

  • Green: varying height, constant diameter

  • Yellow: diameter and height both increase

  • Blue: diameter increases while height decreases

• Smooth wooden finish with clearly defined dimensions

• Separate boxes support orderly storage and independent use

Use in the classroom / at home:
Children open one box at a time, place the cylinders on a mat or table, mix them, and then reorder them correctly using visual and tactile judgment.
Once confident, children may:

• Combine two boxes to classify by different variables

• Match knobless cylinders with their corresponding Cylinder Blocks

• Play memory or blindfolded checking games to further refine discrimination