D’Argosy has used me as a Consultant for nearly ten years, and it is always pleasing to see staff members attend the Workshops that I conduct from time to time in KL, as it means that they are understanding the purposes for which Dr Montessori designed the various materials. The equipment is made to Nienhuis patterns and standards, but is so much cheaper because of the lower cost of labour in Malaysia. D’Argosy holds good stocks of almost all of the 3-6 and early Primary materials, as well as puzzles etc for the Under 3s, and comprehensive Reading and Grammar Kits. Some of the materials are now made in plastic (Geometric Cabinet, Insets, Constructive Triangles) because of the necessity to save the Malaysian rain forests, and to avoid the problem of wood warping in the humid climate. Following are some of my recent observations, which may answer some of your questions if you are thinking of ordering. Practical Life: Lovely dressing frames at around $20 each; and a great PL resource, “Fun Cooking for Under 6”, which is a colourful collection of PL exercises, easy recipes, activities involving Culture, Maths and Language etc, written by a Montessori teacher and a paediatrician.

• Knobbed cylinders beautifully made in wood, with secure knobs!
• “Pink” Tower also available in a natural wood finish.
• Tactile Boards available with varying textures of (wall)paper (according to their purpose). State that that is what you want rather than the grades of sandpaper.
• Geometric Cabinet – wooden cabinet and drawers; shapes are made in blue plastic set in a dusky frame. (State if you want this instead of the bright yellow.) Following Nienhuis, there is a right-angled trapezium instead of a trapezoid, but this will be corrected with the next manufacturing run.
• Tessellations – D’Argosy seem to be the only ones in the world making them! There are lots of shapes, ‘metrically compatible’, all in separate plastic boxes (labelled). Every class should have a set!!
• Binomial and Trinomial Cubes are available in both hinged and non-hinged boxes. State which one when ordering. Binomial ~$85; Trinomial ~ $110.

Language:
Letters are available in sandpaper or a textured thin felt, brown on pink (consonant) and blue (vowel) cards. All print form, no cursive. (MWEI has only 4 sets of “BEST” cursive letters left!)

• The Large and Small Moveable Alphabets are the best I have seen anywhere – made in acrylic with a paper backing, so that they are always put the right way up. Right-sized ‘user-friendly’ wooden boxes.
• Reading Kit 1 contains all the materials for the Pink Level (objects, pictures, words, lists etc).
• Reading Kit 2 contains all the materials for the Blue Level. (objects, pictures, words, lists etc).
• Reading Kit 3 contains about 19-20 green boxes of phonograms and rules, + lists and ‘family’ packets.
• Grammar Kits 1& 2 (sold as one set ~ $280) contain the Britain’s (UK) animals for the Phonetic Farm; all associated nouns, adjectives and verbs on black, blue and red cards; black box of classroom nouns; verb cards to act; Singular & Plural objects and word cards.
• Grammar Kits 3 & 4 (Non-phonetic, sold together ~$500) contain a good collection of Britain’s quality farm animals and objects with associated cards for all parts of speech; black cards for the 10 rules for forming English plurals, Masculine & Feminine (3 boxes); Verb action cards and commands; Adverb cards; Preposition Exercise; Conjunctions and Pronouns ….. in fact, in Grammar Kits 3 & 4 are all the materials for everything in the red MWEI Manual “Primary Grammar I”. Grammar symbols are available separately.

• The Sandpaper numerals are all correct, and also the best I have seen in recent years.
• Spindle Box comes as a single unit or two pieces. (State when ordering) Spindles are flat.
• Good, inexpensive large and small number cards for Th, H, T, U. Up to 9,000.
• Golden Beads are a “browny”-gold moulded plastic (not threaded individually), but good quality and a good price for buying large quantities. Wooden squares and cubes also available.
• Coloured bead bars are also good quality; single sets (~$5) are set in a wooden frame for an extra $10.
• All other 6-9 Maths materials are available – the Bead Frames are “à la Nienhuis” (set sideways), but may be changed to the flat vertical format with the next run … or alter the frame yourself!
• Good Fraction Circles (plastic) – whole up to tenths - on stands are ~$200.

Culture:
All Continent maps are available – well produced, laser-cut in coloured acrylic for ~$125 each. D’Argosy has now developed a special secure knob system, so that the knobs don’t come out!! They have also solved the problem of the globes separating from their inside connection; so these are the same as Nienhuis, but of a better construction!
There are 10 moulded trays for the Land and Water Forms for ~$280.

If you wish to know more about MWEI (Aust) workshops and demonstrations in Australia and New Zealand, please Contact MWEI.

©2002 MWEI (Aust) Email: mwei@bigpond.com         Phone: +61 08 6296 7900