As promised let’s dive into some of the Montessori Baby Materials that I have on my shelf this week. This week I went more traditional in my choices. You know… the type of Montessori toys that immediately pop into your mind whenever you think of Montessori. (Like those wooden, primary colored, simple, Montessori materials.)

To start, why do we call them Montessori Materials? Aren’t they just wooden toys?

Answer is… sort of. The idea behind the more traditional Montessori Baby Materials is that they were created based off of scientific observations. They are an optimal way to support and enhance a child’s development. So whereas a toy could be created solely for the entertainment of a child, a Montessori Baby Material is designed to enhance their development in some way (while still fostering that inner joyful learner who is curious about their world). And each material has 2 things; a direct purpose and an indirect purpose.

SO…. Let’s talk about WHAT types of materials I placed, WHY I placed those specific materials, and the HOW to place them on your very own Montessori shelf!

WHAT materials are on my shelf for the week you ask?

This week I decided to place some of my favorite Psycho – Sensory infant materials on my magical Montessori shelf! (I love how “magical Montesori shelf” rolls of the tongue but if you know Montessori Pedagogy you’ll know how ironic that phrase is 😉 but we’ll talk about that at a later date..) The Psycho-Sensory “subject” of Montessori Baby Materials is essentially what you would think of when you think about the traditional wooden Montessori Baby Materials.

This week the materials I chose are Egg in Cup, Peg in Pot, Nesting Cups, Rings on a Rocking Base, Slot Box, Circle Puzzle, Triangle Puzzle, and Square Puzzle, Rainbow Puzzle, Open/Close, and Watering Plants.

To give an example of the direct and indirect purposes, let’s use the Egg in Cup material pictured above. Even a simple material like that has a direct and indirect purpose!! So…

Directly…

The child is learning to further refine their grasp to use their thumb in coordination with their four fingers, place an object in and take an object out, and hone in on the motor movements of the action. Also, when you introduce it at just the right time in development, you’ll find that it really gives your child an opportunity to unconsciously increase their concentration.

Indirectly…

The muscles being refined in the hand using that closed 4-finger-in-coordination-with-thumb grasp will later be refined to a pincer grasp. This is step one to refining the muscles needed for more advanced skills like writing and coloring.

The photos above are of my Montessori Open/Close Basket! I absolutely love thrifting or shopping and coming across different small materials that are perfect for this work. My goal is usually to find small tins, bins, lipstick cases, zipper pouches and more that are tiny enough for baby hands and can be presented at various levels of difficulty. The nice thing about having an Open/Close Basket – Montessori Material is that it can be a really inexpensive and easy way to incorporate Montessori into the home!

Now WHY did I place these specific materials on my shelf this week?

Well… these materials are the types of materials I would place on my Psycho – Sensory Montessori Material shelf when I led my mixed age Nido (Infant Montessori Classroom). I had a classroom of Infants ages 3 months – 18 months so I was always observing my children to see what Montessori Lessons and activities would best support my babies within their Zone of Proximal Development. So this week was inspired by that mixed age class.

HOW are you supposed to place Montessori Materials on a shelf?

Actually, there is even a purpose behind the placement of the materials on the shelf! Typically, you place them by level of difficulty from left to right, as well as bottom – up. This is why I placed the easier materials on the bottom shelf in a purposeful progression, medium difficulty materials on the second shelf, and more young toddler type materials on the top shelf. It even coordinates with their stages of gross-motor development! So now going forward when you are considering placing the materials on your child’s (or children’s) Montessori shelf, keep that in mind. 😉

I would love for you to comment below and let me know what types of Montessori Materials are your favorite to incorporate with your baby (or babies 🙂 )?

Much love to you on this Friday evening! Here’s to a peaceful and joyous weekend.

Xoxo,

Bianca, Your Baby Tour Guide