The Four Year Old box is designed to support your child's development from approximately 4-5+ years. 

This box includes:

1. Watercolour Paint Set & Art Apron - A beautiful set of 24 watercolour paints. Children 4+ can explore colours and shades as they let their creativity run wild. 

2. Map of Canada Puzzle - Learn about the Canadian provinces and all the unique animals that live in Canada with this challenging puzzle.

3. Tangram Game - An excellent educational game for young children. This game comes with over 100 cards and 4 levels of difficulty. Children learn about shapes, geometry, spatial awareness and spatial vocabulary.

4. Alphabet Puzzle - Your child can begin to explore letters - recognition and formation - by using the puzzle on side and the writing the letters on the back of the puzzle, which is a chalkboard. This is an amazing pre-reading and writing tool.

5. Hama Maxi Beads & Peg Boards - A great activity to strengthen fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and develop focus. Includes a 'design sheet' where child can learn to follow instructions.  

6. Ladybug Dominos - Great for developing number sense and math skills, i.e. counting, matching, sorting, etc. Dominos is also great for strengthening visual discrimination skills.

7. Rhyming BINGO - This game provides a fun way to learn rhyming words and develop early literacy skills. Playing board games also develops social skills. 

8. Lacing Cards - Strengthens and refines fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. These are also a developmental aid that invites the child to learn the practical skill of sewing.

9. Magnifying Glass - Explore the outdoors and learn about nature with this jumbo magnifying glass. Using a magnifying glass encourages children to slow down and observe, refining their attention to detail. 

A Montessori approach is an amazing way to help children develop:

• Natural curiosity about the world

• Love of learning

• Independence

• Confidence

• Critical thinking skills

And it does this in a few simple ways:

1. Less Is More

“The child who concentrates is immensely happy.” - Dr. Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind

While some Montessori materials can be expensive, the beautiful thing about Montessori is that less is more. This allows you to invest in fewer high quality items instead of piles of plastic toys.

Maria Montessori and other researchers have found that children learn through repetition. Performing the same actions over and over help establish neural connections, cementing a concept in a child's brain.

To encourage repetition and keep the playspace to feel less overwhelming, you can setup a Montessori shelf with a limited amount of activities:

• For infants (under 12 months): place 1-3 toys on the shelf at a time

• For toddlers (12 months and up): place 3-6 toys on the shelf at a time

You can also encourage your child to choose just one activity or toy at a time, placing it back in its place before choosing a new activity. This helps children focus and prevents them from becoming overwhelmed by a room cluttered with toys all over the ground.

3. Teach Care For the Environment

Montessori believed that a child's environment is a key component to learning. Yes, there are more strict ways to set up Montessori in your home but if you're just getting started, don't stress about the details.

What's important is that your child learns to respect and care for their things and the things in their environment.

This can simply be reminding them to handle their toys with care, watering the plants, cleaning up after a meal, or making their bed.