Material Highlight: The Pink Tower
April 16th, 2025
By Ms. Amanda, A Primary Teacher
The Pink Tower is part of the Sensorial area of our classroom. This area is the “education of the senses.” The Pink Tower is designed for the education of the sense of visual dimension. It consists of ten pink, wooden cubes that grow from 1 cubic centimeter to 10 cubic centimeters. One cube at a time, the child brings all ten cubes to their work rug. They are placed scattered upon the rug. The child then must build the Pink Tower from largest cube to smallest cube. Once completed, they take it down to return it back to the shelf in the proper order.
What is Happening Within the Child? The child is getting concrete experience with the difference in dimension. They see and feel the difference between the sizes of the cubes. The tower may topple if it’s not put in the proper order (or, it may not! How interesting!). They are gaining gross motor control as they carry the varying sizes of the cube across the room to their work rug. It is lovely to watch a child determinedly carry the largest (and heaviest!) cube. They’re gaining fine motor skills as they pick up the smallest cube. They are gaining control of their muscles and willpower; it is very challenging for a young child to gently place the smallest cube on the top. They must practice a lot of restraint and gentleness.
Once the child is building the pink tower, we offer them language to describe what they’re experiencing (“This is the LARGEST. This is the SMALLEST.”). Your child is getting an indirect preparation for their work in mathematics by noticing the cubes are in a factor of 10 (which is how every material in the mathematics area is presented) and by showing the child how the “degree of difference” is between each cube is exactly 1cm3. We increase the challenge to the child’s memory by having them build the tower across two rugs spread far apart, or by building the tower in a group, where they have to memorize which cube they’re holding in order to place it on the tower at the right time. This seemingly simple material truly grows with your child and offers layers of learning for their whole time in the Primary Environment!
