Botany Cabinet: Leaf Shapes
The botany cabinet is a small chest of three drawers holding 14 to 24 green leaf shapes, each in its own frame. A child of about 3.5 who knows the geometric cabinet traces each leaf and its frame, learns names like round and heart-shaped, and goes outside to find real leaves to match.
Sourced from the texts, not yet presented at home
| Typical age | 3.5 to 6 years |
|---|---|
| Area | Cultural |
| Before this | |
| Materials | |
| Direct aim | To see and feel the shapes of leaves, learn their names, and recognize them in real plants. |
| Control of error | The frame. Each leaf fits only its own opening. With the cards and real leaves the eye judges the match, as with the geometric cabinet's cards. |
| Leads to | Later lessons in this line are in preparation. |
| Time | About 10 minutes, plus a walk (our estimate). |
| Grouping | One child |
| Parent prep | Low. Choose two or three contrasting leaves for the first lesson. |
| Cost | Buy about $130 to $382. Make: hard to make accurately. |
| Other names | Botany leaf cabinet, Leaf cabinet, Leaf shape insets, Botany insets |
What the work teaches
Direct aim. To see and feel the shapes of leaves, learn their names, and recognize them in real plants.
Indirect aims, the ones you will not see at once
- Close observation of nature
- Preparation for botany: parts of the leaf, then classification of plants
- A light tracing touch, preparing the hand for writing
- Vocabulary for shapes found in nature
Set it out before you invite the child
A wooden cabinet of three drawers. Montessori Outlet's and Nienhuis's hold 18 leaf shapes, Alison's 14 and The Montessori Room's 24 in four drawers.
Each shape is green with a small knob, set in a square frame, like the geometric insets.
Leaf shape cards, often in three series like the geometric cabinet's: filled, thick outline, thin line.
A basket for collecting real leaves outdoors.
The botany cabinet isn't in Montessori's books from 1912 to 1917. It comes from later practice and borrows the form of her plane geometric insets.
Presentation, step by step
- 1Take out one drawer and choose two or three very different leaves, such as a round one, a long thin one and a heart-shaped one.
- 2Lift the first leaf out by its knob and lay it below the frame.
- 3Trace its edge slowly with two fingers, all the way round, then trace the frame.
- 4Put it back and name it: "This leaf is round."
- 5Do the same with the other leaves.
- 6Give the second and third periods: "Show me the heart-shaped leaf." "What is this one?"
- 7Take a basket outside and look for real leaves with the same shapes. Lay them beside the insets at home.
Details that hold the child's attention
A real leaf laid on the inset, matching its shape.
The point at the tip of some leaves and not others.
The edge of a leaf: smooth on some, toothed on others.
Leaves of one tree that are all the same shape.
How the child sees a mistake
The frame. Each leaf fits only its own opening. With the cards and real leaves the eye judges the match, as with the geometric cabinet's cards.
The words come after the hands
| Words | Shown with |
|---|---|
| round, oval, heart-shaped | The first contrasting shapes. |
| long and thin, arrow-shaped, palm-shaped | Common shapes, named as they appear in your cabinet. |
| tip, edge, stem | Parts of the leaf. |
| leaf | Name it outdoors as often as inside. |
The three-period lesson, scripted
You need two very different leaf insets, such as round and long and thin.
| Period | What you do and say |
|---|---|
| 1. Naming | Trace each: "This leaf is round." "This leaf is long and thin." |
| 2. Recognition | "Show me the long thin leaf." "Put the round leaf in its frame." |
| 3. Recall | Point and ask "What shape is this leaf?" |
Montessori began names with two strongly contrasting forms. The leaf names work the same way; use the names printed on your cabinet's control cards.
Extensions and variations
- Matching leaf insets to the three series of cards
- Collecting leaves outdoors and sorting them by shape
- Tracing a leaf inset on paper and filling it in with colored pencil
- Leaf rubbings with crayons and real leaves
- Pressing real leaves and labeling them by shape
Variations
- Real pressed leaves glued on cards, instead of insets
- One drawer only, for a child who tires
Make it or buy it
| Material | Make it | Buy, approx. |
|---|---|---|
| Botany Cabinet | Hard to make accurately | $130 to $382 |
Prices noted . Approximate US street prices for home-use versions; they vary by maker and change often, so recheck before buying.
Making it at home
Press real leaves of different shapes, glue each to a card, and trace its outline on a second card.
What to check when buying a set
Check that the leaves drop into their frames easily and that the knobs are firm. Count the shapes; makers range from 14 to 24.
Printables for this age
This work needs only the material, so it has no printable of its own. The shelf plan below places it among the other works for the same age.
- Shelf plan for age 3PDF, 1 page, 250 KBEvery work for this age on one page, in order, with a column to date each presentation.
Every printable for one age, by email
The shelf plan and the lesson printables for your child's age in one email, then three short emails on the first lesson, what to make or buy, and what comes next.
Signs the child is ready, and signs it is done
Ready for the first presentation
- Places the geometric cabinet's shapes easily, tracing each first.
- Notices leaves and picks them up outdoors.
- Names circle, oval and triangle.
- Enjoys sorting.
Ready for the next lesson
- Places every leaf shape without trial fits.
- Names several shapes and finds them outdoors.
- Matches insets to the thin-line cards.
- Asks about the parts of a leaf or a plant. That's the cue for botany nomenclature.
Fitting it into a home, not a classroom
| If you have | Do this |
|---|---|
| A tight budget | Skip the cabinet. Press real leaves of different shapes and glue them to cards, with a traced outline card for each. |
| Winter | Use pressed leaves collected in autumn, and evergreens and houseplants for live ones. |
| A city flat | Street trees, park hedges and houseplants give plenty of shapes. |
| Two children | One holds up an inset; the other finds the matching real leaf in the basket. |
When it does not go to plan
| When | Try this |
|---|---|
| Two leaves look the same to the child. | Trace both, slowly, and lay them side by side. Go back to the very different shapes for a while. |
| No matching leaves outside. | Normal for some shapes. Leave the inset out and look on the next walk. |
| Leaf names are hard to remember. | Use two or three names only. The shape matters more than the word. |
| Knobs come loose. | Glue them back before the next lesson. |
Hazards to check before each session
Teach that leaves are for looking, not tasting; some garden plants are poisonous.
Wash hands after collecting outdoors.
Where other sequences and standards place it
We have not bought the paid homeschool curricula, so they are not listed here.
| Framework | Where it sits |
|---|---|
| This site's Cultural sequence | Lesson 8 of 12 published, after Geometric Cabinet (Plane Geometric Insets). Checked in: the scope and sequence |
| Montessori, The Montessori Method (1912) | The plane geometric insets the botany cabinet borrows from: wooden figures in frames that only they fit, traced with a finger, with three series of cards. Checked in: Chapter XIII, Education of the Sense of Vision |
| Montessori, Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook (1914) | Children who have practised with the insets begin to make discoveries in their environment, recognizing forms they know. Checked in: Sensory Education |
| Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework, preschool | P-SCI 3: the child compares and categorizes observable phenomena. Checked in: www.in.gov |
Botany cabinet: questions parents ask
What is the Montessori botany cabinet?
A small chest of drawers holding green leaf shapes in frames, like the geometric cabinet but with leaves. Most hold 14 to 24 shapes in three or four drawers. The child traces each shape and learns its name, then finds real leaves to match.
What age is the botany cabinet for?
About 3.5, after the geometric cabinet, and on this site it runs to 6.
Do I need a botany cabinet?
No. Pressed leaves glued on cards and a few traced outlines do the same job. The cabinet is lovely but not necessary.
Is the botany cabinet in Montessori's books?
Not in her books from 1912 to 1917. It's a later material that borrows the form of her plane geometric insets.
Sources cited by book and chapter
- Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method (1912)
Chapter XIII, Education of the Sense of Vision
To the tray of insets is added a set of white cards in three series: the form cut from blue paper, the contour in blue paper one centimetre wide, and the contour outlined by a line.
In the exercises with the insets the control is absolute, since the figure can only enter the corresponding frame.
Chapter XV, Intellectual Education
Lessons in nomenclature begin with two strongly contrasted forms, such as the square and the circle, using the three periods of Seguin.
- Maria Montessori, Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook (1914)
Sensory Education
The child is made to touch the outline of the inset and of the corresponding aperture, and only then to put the inset back in its place.
After long practice with the plane insets the child begins to make discoveries in his environment, recognizing forms already known to him.
Language and Knowledge of the World
The botanist sees in every plant the qualities classified in his mind, assigns it its place and gives it its exact name, which distinguishes him from the ordinary wayfarer.
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What to offer next
Once the child chooses this work unprompted and finishes it without help, the next lesson to prepare is Flags of the World.
- Sink and float3 to 5.5 years
- Living and nonliving3.5 to 6 years
- Botany cabinet3.5 to 6 years
- Flags3.5 to 6 years
- Plant parts3.5 to 6 years