The Phonetic Object Box is a Montessori language material for reading words and matching them to familiar objects. It brings written language into a concrete activity, with opportunities for writing labels as the work develops.
Objects and their written names
The box contains objects and labels selected by the guide. Its appearance and contents can vary from classroom to classroom. For this activity, the guide chooses words in which each letter corresponds to a sound the child can hear, such as d-o-g.
A first presentation
The guide and child take out the objects and name them one at a time. Naming comes before reading so that the child knows what each object is called before trying to match it with a written word.
The guide then writes the name of one object on a slip of paper. With the guide’s help, the child sounds out the letters, reads the word, and looks for the object it names. The task connects a written label with something the child has already identified aloud.
Prepared labels and variations
After working with handwritten labels, the child can read the prepared labels from the box and match each one to its object. The guide observes the child’s interests when considering what to introduce next.
Variations include writing new labels, labeling other objects in the room, or continuing independently with the prepared objects and labels. The guide may rotate the objects to provide further reading practice.
