Touch Tablets
Materials:
A wooden box
Five pairs of tablets: each pair is covered with a different grade of sandpaper that matches the grades of sandpaper on Rough and Smooth Board 3
A blindfold (to isolate the child’s attention to one sense. Without the blindfold this cannot be a tactile exercise)
Sensitizing Fingertips activity
Purposes:
Refinement of the tactile sense for textures
Muscular control for lightness of touch
Indirect preparation for writing
The purpose of the blindfold is to isolate the sense
Age: 3 – 4
Preparation: The child has worked with the Rough and Smooth Boards
Presentation 1: Pairing
**Prepare materials with the roughest, least rough, something in the middle as the first three tablets in the box.
Introduction: Greatest Contrasts
Invite the child for a lesson on the Touch Tablets.
Sensitize the fingers.
Show the child how to carry the tablets, return them to the shelf and have the child take them to the table. You will bring a blindfold and 2 tissues.
Choose 3 pairs of tablets (the greatest contrasts of the gradation and one from the middle) and place them in a pile on the bottom right of the table. Place the box in the upper right corner and turn it around.
Close your eyes and stroke one tablet from each set. After each tablet, allow the child to feel and move it to the left side of the table making a horizontal line.
Pairing
Explain to the child what a blindfold is and why we use it. Place a tissue in the blindfold and cover the eyes.
Choose a tablet from the pile on the right and feel it.
Move the tablet underneath the first tablet in the line. Feel the bottom tablet, then feel the tablet above to compare. If it feels the same, make a pair by placing it on top and slide them to the upper section of the table, out of the way. If not, bring awareness that it’s not the same, then slide it over to the next tablet and repeat until a match is found.
Repeat with each tablet until all are matched.
Remove the blindfold, and separate the tablets to do a visual check.
Place one set off to the right side in a pile and line up the other in the center of the table.
Invite the child to put on their blindfold and pair the tablets.
**Once the child is comfortable working with the first three sets of pairs, you can invite them to take out all five sets and pair.
Presentation 2: Grading
Invite the child for the new lesson, sensitize the fingertips, take materials, and blindfold to the table.
Remove one of each of the five pairs and place them mixed on the right side of the table.
Put on the blindfold with a tissue. Feel each tablet to find the roughest and place it on the left side of the table.
Feel to find the next in the gradation. Set the new tablet to the right of the first tablet and feel both to compare.
Continue to feel and compare with the previous tablets, switching around if necessary, placing in a horizontal line.
When finished, remove the blindfold, and do a visual check. Move the graded set to the top of the table.
Take out the second set of tablets and mix on the right. Invite the child to grade their set. When finished, they can compare to your gradation as a control. Encourage repetition.
When working alone they can grade just one set.
Control of Error:
The child’s own judgment/visual discrimination of the shade and texture of the sandpaper
Language: Given after the child can grade the materials- Comparatives & superlatives of rough (rough, rougher, roughest)
Memory Games:
Distance Game: Pairing-one set on one table, another set across the room
Grading- build gradation on tables apart from each other
Comparative Language Game: (“Bring me a tablet that is rougher than this one.”)
Pedagogical Notes:
Arrange the box ahead of time with the two extremes and one in the middle.
Never force a child to wear a blindfold. They can close their eyes if a blindfold makes them uncomfortable.
Do this on a large table.
Your eyes are open to manage the table but closed when feeling the tablets.