Children begin the process of exploring the world in their early years. Play is an essential part of that exploration, as children learn by touching and playing with objects. Therefore, the Montessori philosophy was formed and toys based on that principle also gradually became an important part of helping children develop themselves outside of the classrooms.
What are Montessori toys and their benefits?
The Montessori Education Method involves children’s natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods, emphasis on hands-on learning and developing real-world skills. Based on this educational approach, Montessori toys are designed to encourage kids to explore their natural interests and develop their imagination and motor skills at their own pace.
Montessori toys are mostly made of natural materials such as wood, cotton, or sometimes rocks. With this approach, it is likely to do no harm to the environment and is totally safe for children to play with.
Generally, as a type of educational tool, Montessori toys have some outstanding benefits:
- Develop soft skills: Through interacting with the toys, kids have a chance to grow and solidify some essential skills – independence, fairness, adaptability, and positivity.
- Allow learning while playing: To educate children at a young age is no easy task. During this period, young minds only do what they think is fun and have no concept of listening and following. Therefore, traditional education methods at this time just won’t work. On the other hand, Montessori toys, which allow kids to learn new things while keeping up the fun, appear to be a more optimal measure for the parents.
- Safe design: Montessori toys are created for educational purposes and children’s usage; therefore, safety for kids is the top criterion for every single Montessori toy. Using wood as the most common material is evidence of their safety design.
Top Montessori toys at Melli’s Kids
At Melli’s Kids, we aim to provide children with the best quality toys that are fun to play with and a tool to stimulate their learning. Educational toys are inspired by the Montessori method, which means our educational toys are interactive, long-lasting and simple. Our Montessori toys can be divided into the following ages:
1. Age 6 months+
Wooden Baby Rattles
Rattles are a great tool for babies to develop fine motor skills. They learn to grasp and hold the rattle, improving their cognitive growth. Babies can hear the rattle sounds as they move their hands and start understanding the concept of cause and effect.
2. 6 – 12 months+
Permanence Box
The Montessori Object Permanence Box is a great tool that allows young children to develop cognitive ability. The rule of this toy is quite simple: you drop a ball inside the hole and it disappears, only to reappear on a different part of the toy. This process allows young children to understand that objects continue to exist even when they are not in view or heard.
Also, it could help with children’s visual development as they track moving objects. According to Jean Piaget’s theory, object permanence is one of the important developmental milestones that children will learn during their first year. Recent research shows that babies start to understand object permanence between 4 and 8 months.
Puzzle (Shape puzzle, leaf puzzle)
Puzzle play is a great way for children of all ages to have fun and learn new skills, but it can be a challenge to keep coming up with new and exciting puzzles for them to enjoy. Instead of buying your next puzzle, why not try making one for yourself?
Here are some great puzzles with various shapes for your choice: The shape puzzle and the leaf puzzle. Be sure to check out our Puzzle Collection.
3. 1 – 2 years+
Busy board
Children learn best by playing and exploring their surroundings. A busy board is a Montessori Toy that allows children to experiment and learn through play. It is a toy that a child can touch and hold, which helps them develop their fine motor skills and learn new things by sensing surrounding objects.
Montessori Wooden Busy Board encourages play-and-learn excitement with locks, latches, buttons, and gears. Montessori Felt Busy Board is a toy for preschool teaching, a home educational tool, and a parent-kids activity toy. Because it is compactly folded for travelling, parents can easily carry it.
Egg colour matching
A great toy to exercise children’s hand-eye coordination. Also, it encourages kids to recognize colours’ names, and how to match the egg with the corresponding colour. As a toy for preschoolers, this egg colour matching will help build simple skills like counting, sorting and matching, preparing for future school years.
Rainbow Stacker
A stacking toy can accompany your child through his/her childhood. Any age can play with this kind of toy, but they are mostly attracted to and enjoyed by babies (around 18+ months). Minimalist-designed, environmentally friendly water-based & non-toxic paint finished by hand exercises a young child’s imagination and gross motor skills and safety with kids.
Forest Tree
The Wooden Forest set from Melli’s Kids is great to combine with other toys, such as wooden rainbow toys or other wooden building blocks. Moreover, with a reasonable arrangement and combined with other building block toys, The Wooden Forest set could become a perfect in-house decoration. Your kids could now design their own future accommodation all by themselves.
4. 2 – 3 years+
Balance Stones
Balance Stone toy sets assist in developing hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, observation, logic, and inspire creativity. They are the perfect Montessori toy for children’s playrooms, nurseries, or home decor.
Sensory Bin Tool
Sensory bins are hands-on tools for children, providing opportunities to explore multiple senses, including sight, sound, touch, smell, and their world. Have fun creating unique sensory bins your children will love!
Loose part toys
Loose parts toys are open-ended toys that can be moved, controlled, carried and built with unlimited imagination and creativity. They provide a creative space for your child to assemble, combine, sort, and thus create new things based on their favourites.
How do you play with loose part toys? Multiple ways and activities: building your own city, cooking, shopping, … Whenever your children decide to change the shape or use of the toy, remember to support, encourage, and provide an active environment.
Train set
The endless ways of assembling a train set to boost your child’s developmental stages from problem-solving skills to imagination, communication, and fine motor skills.
At Melli’s Kids, we stock a wonderful range of toys and resources for all ages. You can check the age recommendation of any product before purchasing and please contact with us if you have any questions or concerns. Melli’s Kids team is always happy to help.
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