Do you know the Montessori Imbucare Box?
The Imbucare Box is a very simple sensory aid for Montessori children. All you need is a box with a hole in the top and a cube to fit the hole and you can start your child’s play activities. It is suitable for children around one-year-old and is used to train children’s hands, hand-eye coordination, and fine hand movements and to introduce them to the concept of object permanence.
How to use Imbucare Box：
This tool is very simple to use. Children practice grasping the cube with their palms or clips and placing it into the hole at the top of the box, and in the process, they learn that only the corresponding shape will fit the object into the box. Adults can provide encouragement at this point to help children solve problems and try different ways to fit the cubes into the appropriate holes.
During this process, the child will also recognize the permanence of the object. When they successfully place the cube in the box, the cube will disappear from their sight and they will no longer be able to see the object, but that does not mean it has disappeared from the world. The adult can guide the child at this point to open the box and find the cube hidden inside.
You may think that such a simple activity has a limited educational impact on your child, but in fact, when your child successfully places the cube into the box and hears the distinctive sound of the object falling, he gets a sense of satisfaction and is encouraged to repeat the process over and over again. You will see their accuracy and speed improve as their brains are exercised to grasp and understand new things.
As your child grows older, you can also try mixing different cubes to make the game more difficult for your child. Remember to take this process step by step, as activities that are beyond the child’s ability will quickly bore the child, making it more difficult than it is worth.
