One set of Montessori materials a child may choose to use in the classroom is called metal insets. These insets come in a variety of shapes including:
- square
- triangle
- circle
- rectangle
- oval
- trapezoid
- pentagon
- curvilinear triangle
- quatrefoil
- ellipse
Children use these materials to create their own collection of work. In addition to the creative experience, when children trace the shapes with a colored pencil, they also are practicing fine motor control needed in handwriting. Kalkin used the metal inset circle to help fit the bird, ginkgo leaf, whale, and person into The New School Montessori’s logo.