Montessori Christmas List (Birth-18 Months)

Since Christmas is right around the corner...(I can't believe it!!) I've decided to share a 3-part post with Montessori concept toys/activities with the link to fit all the needs of the kiddos in your life from birth-five. You can thank me later!

When Ava was born I would walk through the toy aisle and think to myself "do I really want my daughter putting all this plastic in her mouth?" and "these toys don't call for a child to interact but rather be entertained." With that being said, I am thankful for companies such as Melissa & Doug who make affordable wooden toys. I'm going to share some that I personally bought Ava. Let's start with 0-18 months:

This is 4 part mobile series beginning with the Munari Mobile (3-6 weeks). The Munari Mobile is black and white for the greatest suitable contrast for the infants developing vision. Next, is the Octahedron Mobile (5-8 weeks). "The octahedrons are designed to lay the foundations for future understandings of geometric proportion, relationships and patterns. They are named the ancient Greek philosopher, Plato." -At Home with Montessori Then there is the Gobbi Mobile (8-10 weeks). This mobile is composed of spheres in graduated shades of one color to stimulate the visual sense. Last, there is The Dancers Mobile (0-12 weeks). The dancers are made of really light paper so they 'dance' in the breeze and the holographic paper really gets the child's attention. 

Montessori Visual Series Mobiles

Primary Colors Mobile

Fabric Rattle

Beginning Montessori Complete Package

Rainbow Fabric Ball

Rainbow Ring Clutching Toy

Caterpillar Wooden Grasping Toy

Object Permanence Box With Tray

Infantino Sensory Balls

Kid O Shapes Puzzle

First Shapes Puzzle

Wooden Rocker Stacking

First Sound Blocks

Radio Flyer Classic Walker Wagon

Classic Wooden Rock 'n' Roll

Plan Toy Palomino

Radio Flyer Classic Tiny Trike

Glockenspiel Xylophone

Wooden Bird Shaker

Learning Tower

Baby Silks Set

Picnic Basket Fill & Spill

Jungle Friends Jumbo Knob Puzzle

Early Language

The sensitive period for language is birth to age six. It is our duty during this period to give the child all they need to satisfy that inner desire for language.

There is a 'sensitive period' for naming things . . . and if adults respond to the hunger for words in an appropriate way, they can give their children a richness and precision of language that will last a lifetime. 

-Dr. Silvana Montanaro

When parents and teachers recognize and take advantage of the sensitive periods through which children pass, they can become more effective in supporting their learning and development. 

- How To Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way.  

We should give the child real objects from our environment before pictures whenever possible. One of the first Montessori Language works a child does is object to object matching. I was in our local Dollar Tree and found these lifelike safari animals. I purchased two of each animal so Lucy could work on not only identifying the animal but matching it as well. I placed them in a basket for Lucy to explore and she LOVES them. Using a work mat/rug allows your child the opportunity to learn boundaries with keeping their work on the rug.

Lucy is learning to place the objects back into the basket and carefully walk them to the shelf where she found them.

After a child can successfully match object to object you move on to object to picture. Here is a picture of Ava at age two matching jungle friends to picture cards. I actually took pictures of the figurines, printed them out, glued them on index cards and had them laminated. If you don't have time to make your own....Montessori Services has a ton of already pre-made vocabulary cards that are laminated and ready to go.  

You could also find pictures on the internet through google images and print those out like this. 

Picture borrowed from Dana's Pink Ribbon.

Another great way to immerse your child into language is through books. I purchased most if not all  the Hinkler  and Priddy books . I love the way each real life object is isolated with the coordinating word written underneath. These books are equivalent to flash cards but bound with easy access for the little fingers that will be flipping through the pages. 

My last tip is to S-I-N-G songs and recite nursery rhymes/poems. Songs and rhymes contain rhythm and rhyme, skills that help with speech and literacy development. I used this book of poems in my classroom. 

Here's another great one:

A Bit Of Beading

Bead stringing is a traditional activity for a young child. It's a great opportunity for the child to practice repetition, develop muscular development and concentration which leads to normalization. This type of work can start at the age of 18 months if the child so desires and can move on to patterning which is more complex. Carrots Are Orange has an excellent post with pictures of how to present this lesson to your child.  

Ava has had practice with bead lacing from the age of 2, but has recently discovered her love for patterns.

With that in mind I found this beads and pattern card set on Amazon. The pattern cards act as a guide and control of error. If you'd like to keep this work on a shelf where a child could access it on their own I'd choose a few cards and place them on a tray with a small basket holding the beads (the beads that fit the pattern cards) and string.

I love the concentration on her face.

Proud of her work.

Another work I found which achieves the same goal is made by Melissa & Doug. This bead sequencing set involves placing the beads vertically on a stick rather than a string. There are wooden control cards the child can follow to produce patterns.

I'd like to give you some DIY ideas that you can make yourself. One in particular that many Montessori classrooms use is necklace making with colored pasta. You can allow the child to use their own creative mind to make a necklace or you can make a pattern card with a letter pattern on it such as: AABB.

Borrowed from Trillium Montessori.

Another work you might see is bracelet making with a pipe cleaner and beads.

Borrowed from Tutus & Tea Parties.

How brilliant is this cardboard threading work from The Imagination Tree? You could use empty paper towel rolls or toilet paper rolls and color them...cut them in small pieces...use string and voila! LOVE this idea!!

Here are a few more great ideas to give your child the opportunity to practice lacing/beading.

Borrowed from Money Saving Mom.

Borrowed from Powerful Mothering.

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For Ice Cream

Chris's colleague told him about Simply Natural Creamery a few days ago. Ava LOOOOVES ice cream so we decided to check it out. Simply Natural raises Jersey Cows which provides the milk for the ice cream. There's a small shop with all types of jams, jellies, apple butter, also packaged ice cream, milks and creams. There's a large window in the parlor where you can view the ice cream being made and the milk pasteurized. I've never tasted ice cream that is so thick but very delicious. We're looking forward to visiting again soon!

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Where they make the ice cream

Ava enjoyed her chocolate ice cream with chocolate sprinkles.

Lucy sampled everyone's ice cream.

Ava got to see their 4 day old calf named, Charlie Brown.

I wanted to sample all the jams and jellies hehe