DIDACTIC MATERIAL:

[Basic List in (Dr. Montessori’s Own handbook, Bently 1966) pp 18ff. Could this be regarded as minimum essential list?

it is therefore necessary that the environment should contain the means of auto education. These means cannot be "taken at random"; they represent the result of an experimental study which cannot be undertaken by all, because a scientific preparation is necessary for such delicate rok ... (Advanced Montessori Method I, Kalekshetra 1965) p. 59

... objects - approximating to a scientific apparatus - which will make such liberty possible. (Advanced Montessori Method I, Kalekshetra 1965) p. 60

... excessive quantity of the educative material; may dissipate the attention, render the exercises with the objects mechanical and cause the child to pass by his psychological moment o f ascent without perceiving it and seizing it. ... such objects are then futile. ... what is necessary and sufficient ... (Advanced Montessori Method I, Kalekshetra 1965) p. 64

... too great a profusion of objects.... demands "other objects” and then again other objects” ... p. 65

Over-abundance debilitates and retards progress; this has been proved again and again by my collaborators. (Advanced Montessori Method I, Kalekshetra 1965) 65

If ... the material be insufficient, and the primary auto-exercise incapable ... there will be no explosion of that spontaneous phenomenon of abstraction which is the second stage of an auto-education ... (Advanced Montessori Method I, Kalekshetra 1965) p. 65

The same fundamental phenomenon of absorbed and prolonged attention which leads to repetition of the acts, guides us in determining the stimuli suitable to the age of the child.