Infant Montessori Box (6 - 12 Months)
Includes 9 Learning Materials Designed To Support Your Infant's Development From Six to Twelve Months
This box of learning materials is designed to support your child's development from approximately 6 months to 12 months.
1. Basket with Balls introduces young children to different textures and colours. Exploring the different balls helps to develop a child’s tactile perception and strengthens the hand.
2. Object Permanence Box helps to develop object permanence and hand-eye coordination. The repetitive movements develop a child’s confidence as they master the ability to drop the ball through the hole.
3. Guess Who Knob Puzzles are the perfect "first" puzzle. The three puzzles can be used one at a time or all at once and includes 9 interchangeable image cards that help to develop language skills.
4. Stacking & Nesting Cups develop hand-eye coordination and spatial reasoning skills. Thanks to the holes in the bottom of the cups, they can also be used in combination with water or sand to further the child’s exploration.
5. Egg Cup develops hand-eye coordination and strengthens the hand and wrist as infants learn to remove the egg and place it back into the cup.
6. Rainbow Rings is 2 activities in 1! Use it as a ring stacker and a posting activity. Both activities help to develop fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
7. Tiny Cup is specially designed to fit in an infant’s small hands, making the transition from drinking from a bottle to a cup easier. Made with non-slip silicone to give the infant a more secure grip.
8. Mini Book - Farm Animals is miniature in size and designed for little hands. Introduces the names of farm animals, including rabbits, sheep, pigs, and more alongside photographs of each animal.
9. Wooden Peg Drop is an engaging shape sorter (with a fun surprise!) that develops and refines fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
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“"The Montessori Room curates the most beautiful children’s toys. Highly recommend!"”
"The Montessori Room curates the most beautiful children’s toys. I have now ordered or referred friends to the site a few times and every experience has been a positive one. I really appreciate their carefully selected collection and emphasis on sourcing Canadian-made products. The four car pull train is such a hit with our niece and nephew and will, no doubt, be in the mix for a long time! Great customer service, too. Highly recommend!"
—Jennifer Gleed
"I bought the Munari mobile and the tummy time animal cards and my baby loves them."
"Great selection of items! I bought the Munari mobile and the tummy time animal cards and my baby loves them. Excellent customer service."
—Diana Ojeda
"It has saved us during lockdown!!! They both play with it daily and love it!"
"We purchased the winter bundle (pikler triangle and rocker) for my two kids ,who are 18months and 4 years old, this winter and it has saved us during lockdown!!! They both play with it daily and love it!
The customer service is also amazing. They answered all my questions in a prompt manner and the women working there are super friendly! Highly recommend buying toys there!"
— Jessica Berman
“The highest quality items for your children!”
"It always feels great to order from a company that works hard to ensure the highest quality items for your children! Their products are so well researched, their staff are so knowledgeable and know how to run a great business!"
—Maze Kadish
Why Choose A Montessori Approach To Parenting?
A Montessori approach is an amazing way to help children develop:
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Natural curiosity about the world
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Love of learning
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Independence
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Confidence
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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.
Dr. 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 play space feeling less overwhelming, you can setup a Montessori shelf with a limited amount of activities:
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For infants (under 12 months): place 1-3 toys on the shelf at a time
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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.
2. Follow Your Child's Interests
This concept is so simple but it helps your child develop a true love of learning. If your child shows interest in something, whether it be birds, the beach, or even ice cream, provide them with opportunities to explore that interest.
Don't feel the pressure to create the perfect Montessori-themed shelf for every interest. This can be time-consuming to regularly organize. As parents, we already have so much on our plate!
It can be as simple as getting books from the library on the topic, exploring the topic out in the world (i.e. going for a walk to look for different kinds of birds, taking binoculars and a bird identification book along), printing out some information on the topic from the internet and talking about it, or doing a simple craft related to that topic.
For babies and young children, it can be as simple as giving your child the freedom and time to explore. Dr. Montessori observed that children 0-6 are “sensorial explorers”, which means they want and need to explore the world with their senses.
When they’re under 3, these “interests” will more likely be the development of different fine and gross motor skills - stacking things, climbing, nesting objects into one another, etc. When you notice their interest in a certain movement, simply provide more opportunity for that movement.
For instance, if they are regularly using a set of nesting cups, offer sets of tupperware that fit into each other or pots, if they’re strong enough to lift them.
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.
4. Sit On Your Hands
This one is so simple. It means don’t intervene until your child asks for help or becomes overly frustrated, once you’ve modelled or demonstrated a skill.
This gives them the opportunity to become more independent and enjoy the satisfaction of doing something for themselves.
I will warn you though, it sounds simple but it’s actually quite hard in practice!
With kids and busy schedules it can be easy to jump in and do things for them - dress them, make their plate of food, and clean up their messes - but there's so much to be gained by allowing children to do things for themselves.
Next time your child is working on a task, whether it’s your infant reaching for a toy or your toddler putting on their shoes, simply sit on your hands or count to 10 in your head. Wait to intervene until they become visibly frustrated or ask for help.
Frequently Asked Questions
This box was put together by Laura Berthiaume, owner of The Montessori Room and Montessori Parent, and Katie Lannaman, an Infant Toddler Montessori (MACTE) teacher and RECE. The write-ups for each material were written by Katie, following the method in which they would be used in the classroom.
We've included a short write-up for each item in the box, including the benefits for each item, as well as instructions for how to introduce each item.
The balls in the Basket of Balls are made of felt, silicone, yarn, wood and fabric. Paint, dyes and finish are water-based and child-safe.
The Object Permanence Box, Guess Who Knob Puzzles, Egg Cup, Rainbow Rings and Wooden Peg Drop have finish on them and use toy-safe child-safe paint/dyes.
Stacking & Nesting Cups are made of Silicone.
The Tiny Cup is made of 100% Food Grade Silicone and Nylon (BPA, BPS, PVS, phthalate and latex free).
All of the materials in this box are thoroughly safety tested and meet ASTM standards for this age group.