Sandpaper Numerals are a Montessori math material for exploring written number symbols. The material consists of green wooden rectangles bearing the numerals 0–9 in fine-grit sandpaper.
Tracing and naming
The guide invites the child to work at a table and may trace a numeral while saying its name several times. The child is then invited to trace and name it too. The rough shape provides tactile feedback: the child can feel when the tracing movement leaves the sandpaper.
Recognition rather than a memorized sequence
A three-period lesson may be used to introduce the numerals. The guide and child do not necessarily work through them in numerical order. Recognizing a written numeral is a different task from reciting a familiar counting sequence.
This work focuses on identifying number symbols. The relationship between those symbols and the different quantities they represent is part of the wider mathematical understanding described alongside the material.
