Artfully Montessori: Young Children Unravel the Secret of the Classic Roman Arch!

THE GENIUS OF MONTESSORI IS SEEN IN YET ANOTHER AMAZING ACTIVITY FOR THE YOUNG CHILD: THE HANDS-ON DISCOVERY OF THE SECRET OF THE CLASSIC ROMAN ARCH. Was I ever surprised to find a giant Roman Arch at the Children's Museum that reminds me of the Montessori Roman Arch activity!

During my recent visit to the Discovery Museum with some preschool aged friends of mine, we stumbled upon a giant "Montessori-style  Roman Arch Activity". Our youngest one dived right in and discovered the secret pretty quickly, since she is a real whiz at puzzles of any kind! 

I love the size of blocks for this Roman Arch Exploration. And, the big wooden pieces are outlined with a rubbery textured material that makes them adhere to each other. There are even the control parts (support blocks) that hold up the pieces until they are all assembled so that they then hold each other up. That's when you can take the control parts (support blocks) away! 

Hooray! The Classic structure of the Roman Arch!

What's the secret that causes the blocks to stay in the shape of the arch even when the control parts/support blocks are removed? 
According to Wikipedia:

"An arch is a pure compression form. It can span a large area by resolving forces into compressive stresses and, in turn eliminating tensile stresses. This is sometimes referred to as arch action. As the forces in the arch are carried to the ground, the arch will push outward at the base, called thrust. As the rise, or height of the arch decreases, the outward thrust increases."

When a young child works with blocks that are designed to create a free standing arch, the parts must first fit together according to the angles of the wedge-shaped blocks and then the center block of the arch (called the "keystone") is the very last one placed so that the tension created makes the blocks keep the arch shape!  

However, you will delight in watching this Montessori child putting together the Montessori Roman Arch Activity with amazing finesse and he uses his own technique that works perfectly...without even using the support blocks and without placing the keystone last! How did he do that?

Yet another reason I really love the wonderful way that Montessori children learn through the art of play!

I'm so happy to have you visit my Blog today, and I hope you got some ideas for your own group! 

Don't miss out on any new articles or special deals from Magical Movement Company...join our email list and you'll receive a complimentary copy of my eBook, "Musically Montessori, The First Lessons."  (retail value: $12.99 at my TpT store)

Simply fill out the subscriber's form on the sidebar of this blog!

JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST

I always love posting my blog article each week at the Montessori Monday Linkup at Deb Chitwood's site, Living Montessori Now. Today there are posts from Montessori educators on a wonderful array of topics. Living Montessori Now not only has daily free activities at their Facebook page, but I very much appreciate that Deb invites so many of us to share our ideas on her platform that reaches hundreds of thousands of folks around the world. 

Also, I hope you didn't miss Deb's workshop presentation at the Trillium Montessori Homeschool Summit. YOU CAN CHECK IT OUT AT THIS LINK!

Advertising Disclosure: Magical Movement Company may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. Thanks for your support!

SHARE: