It’s easy to spot a Montessori classroom! When you walk in, you’ll see neatly organized child-focused spaces. Each one is set up to encourage children to explore the world around them. The goal of each area is to help develop a natural curiosity for learning, creativity, and growth. You can recreate this kind of environment at home! Start with the right Montessori-inspired toys. Here are three Montessori toys suggestions we love that can help keep learning alive even after your little one leaves Hudson Montessori School for the day.
Focus on Phonics
Learning our letters and the sounds they make begins early on in the Montessori system. Encourage your child to continue important phonics lessons with wooden alphabet blocks and flashcards. We especially like flashcards with a textured surface. This allows little fingers to trace the shapes while saying the letter and the sounds that it makes. This will get this ready for the all-important step of reading.
Suggested toy: Montessori Lower and Upper Case Sandpaper Letters
These gorgeous wooden letters have a sandpaper texture that helps build muscle memory while learning the shape of the letter.
Count it Up
Along with letters, numbers are an important part of classroom life here at Hudson. Counting and learning numbers can happen through a variety of toys. Older children will enjoy working with wooden numerical rods. Younger children can learn to count through stacking games, counting up the blocks or toys as they build higher and higher.
Suggested toy: Muyindo Montessori Wood Blocks Puzzle Board Set
The counting games are endless with this toy. Great for sorting, counting, and even colors and shapes.
Make Some Music
You won’t find a lot of battery-operated toys in a Montessori classroom. But we still like to make some noise! Music is a central focus of our educational philosophy. Music can help children with their math and reading skills and provide a creative outlet for self-expression. Keep the fun going when you get home with a selection of musical toys. Avoid battery-operated ones and instead, look for drums, tambourines, and xylophones.
Suggested toy: Toddler Educational & Musical Percussion for Kids & Children Instruments Set
This is a robust set of musical instruments made just for kids. Cycle through them, giving your child a few at a time to explore and create some noise.
Fine-Tune Skills
Fine motor skills start to develop at a very young age. Having Montessori toys around help children fine-tune their dexterity. This helps with things like penmanship and other tasks that require small movements from our fingers and hands. Wooden puzzles are ideal for this task. Look for age-appropriate puzzles for your child. Sewing cards are also terrific for fine motor skill development. These are the wooden cards that children lace with string or shoelaces.
Suggested toy: Coogam Wooden Lacing Apple
This bright red apple is ideal for little fingers. They can weave the laces in and out, and it’s even ideally sized for travel.
Get Active
Montessori encourages children to get active! Little ones have lots of energy they need to burn off. It helps them focus their minds on quieter tasks later on, too. Help your child learn to love being active with toys that encourage movement. Tricycles and wagons are perfect for this. Let them explore movement by filling up the wagon or experimenting with different ways to make their tricycle or bike move.
Suggested toy: Radio Flyer Scoot-About
This is a nice little tricycle that encourages children to move around. Ideal for time spent in the backyard or even at the local park.
Need more suggestions about how to fill your home with Montessori toys? Talk to your child’s teacher. They can offer suggestions about Montessori toys your child would love and what could help them build their skills.
