Wooden Montessori Toys for toddlers to 3 years old
If you are familiar with Montessori education, you might be well aware that toys made of wood are a crucial part of the Montessori classroom.
If you are new to Montessori, you might be wondering what is so special about Montessori toys being wooden.
There are a plethora of exciting toys available in the stores that can make your children happy. Some may have flashy lights, some may play music, and some can even teach your child colors and the alphabet.
Are you wondering how wooden toys can be beneficial and make playtime interesting for children?
Simple yet beautifully designed wooden toys capture children’s attention so that they never experience dull moments during their play.
Maria Montessori, the creator of the Montessori philosophy, believed toys made of natural materials are always great for children compared to artificial toys.
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Wooden Montessori toys for children of different age groups
Here is a list of wooden toys inspired by Montessori that you can select according to the age of your child.
1. Wood Teething Toys Rattles with Bells Montessori Wood Baby Push Car
It contains five pieces of wooden toys, including a wooden rattle, a Montessori teether toy, a wooden interlocking disc, and many more. These are ideal for infants. These 5 Pieces Wooden Baby Toys are made of beech wood and are sturdy, safe, and reliable.
Benefits – They help improve the sensory skills of babies, hand-eye coordination, and motor skills. These wooden toys reduce teeth discomfort and improve healthy teeth development.
2. Melissa & Doug Rainbow Stacker Wooden Ring Educational Toy
It consists of 8 smooth, easy-to-grasp wooden pieces to stack on a solid-wood rocking base. This set is ideal for children one year and above. Melissa & Doug Rainbow Stacker is durable and child safe.
Benefits – They help children develop hand-eye coordination, and learn about shapes, color, and size-differentiation skills. They provide a hands-on, screen-free play experience for children.
3. Wooden Educational Sorting & Stacking Toys
This Montessori toy contains colors & geometric shapes. These Montessori wooden toys are great for 1-2-year-olds toddlers and are made of natural materials and non-toxic water-based paint. They are sturdy and durable. These Wooden Educational Sorting & Stacking Toys are easy for little hands to grip and are mess-free.
Benefits – Kids learn color, shape, and number counting recognition in a fun way using these toys. These wooden toys can be used to teach primary skills and concepts, which help develop fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, creativity, and logical thinking ability.
4. Wooden Stacking Boxes-Nesting and Sorting Cups Blocks
These are solid, strong, and multifunctional nesting and sorting cubes in pure wood are suitable for two years old children. Children can make towers by stacking the cups with an adult’s supervision. TOWO Wooden Stacking Boxes-Nesting and Sorting Cups Blocks are a great fun toy with educational value.
Benefits – While children will enjoy stacking and nesting, they will also learn sizes, weight, counting, or drawing their pictures on the boxes. They also help develop creative thinking, motor skills, and sorting skills.
5. Wooden Magnetic Fishing Game 4 in 1 Sorting & Stacking
These include a Magnetic fishing game, Sorting and stacking, lacing beads, and wooden blocks balancing game. Aitey Wooden Magnetic Fishing Game is the perfect gift for your 2-4 years toddler. Toddlers can play fishing or stacking games with the wooden fishing toy.
Benefits – These Montessori wooden toys promote logical thinking, hand-eye coordination, creative thinking, concentration, sorting skills, and fine motor skills that spark curiosity in kids.
6. Montessori Screwdriver Set with Bolt Board
With this set, your kid can enjoy proper tools and real metal nuts and bolts, including two types of screwdrivers, an Allen key, and a wrench. All on a fun fire truck wooden screwdriver board, never seen before on other Montessori boards. The Montessori Screwdriver Set with Bolt Board is perfect for children aged 3-5 years.
Benefits – These real tools will keep them busy for hours while they develop fine motor skills. They are ideal for preschool learning.
7. The Pikler Triangle
It is a simple wooden climbing structure in a triangle with rods across it. The rods act as climbing frames.
It is versatile and can have limitless usage in indoor play for your children. It is foldable, easy to store, and takes up a little space. The Pikler Triangle is ideal for children from 6 months up to five years.
Benefits – It improves spatial awareness and coordination. The Pikler triangle improves gross motor skills, strengthens limbs, and develops concentration in children.
8. Large String Beads Wooden Farm Animal Lacing Threading
It includes farm-themed wooden beads, long strings with safe lacing needles, and puzzles. Toddlers can lace their bead patterns or follow the ones on the finished puzzle to recognize order and predictability. Lovely illustrations make threading engaging and fun. Primary Lacing Beads bring hours of imaginative and developmental play for toddlers and preschool kids.
Benefits – It promotes fine motor skills, problem-solving skills, and hand-eye coordination. This Montessori wooden toy can also help in cognitive development, color recognition, pretend play, imagination, sorting, counting, matching, and concentration of children.
Toys play a crucial role in the development of children. As a parent, it is your responsibility to choose toys wisely for your children to ensure that they reap most of the benefits from their playtime in the early childhood years. When you put your child in Montessori, ensure that they pay attention to your child’s cognitive and motor development by incorporating appropriate wooden toys.
Montessori wooden toys are always a good alternative to other materials for your child. However, if your child’s favorite toy is plastic, do not get rid of it unless it is flashy with batteries or loud.
Why are Montessori wooden toys beneficial?
There are many benefits of introducing wooden toys to children in Montessori classrooms.
Environment friendly
Since wood is a natural substance, it is environmentally friendly. They help children to connect with nature. Children become more conscious of their environment when they play with wooden toys.
They are safe substitutes for plastic which cause damage to the environment as they are not biodegradable and cause pollution.
Safe for children
Infants and toddlers have the habit of putting everything in their mouths. Wooden toys can be a savior as they are non-toxic, unlike plastic.
Plastics are hazardous to children’s digestive systems. Wood is safe when put in the mouths of children. There is no chance of getting an injury from wooden toys as kids play.
Durable
Wooden toys can withstand years of play and can be passed on to generations sometimes. They can survive the wear and tear of your children as they are not easily breakable. Montessori promotes repetition and exploratory learning that can be enduring. Wooden toys support these aspects of Montessori learning as they are highly durable.
Promote sensorial exploration
The wooden toys have a unique texture that has something for the brain and sensory organs to sense. When children play with STEM-based toys like wooden blocks, they develop dexterity, hand-eye coordination, and fine motor skills. Wood imparts valuable information to children as they hold and touch wooden toys.
Their warm and pleasant touch is inviting to the children. The wood remains cool in the air, unlike plastic, and children experience a shift in perspective and dimension in a tactile way. Children can absorb sensorial value while playing with wooden toys.
This information adds to their developmental experience as they explore the world around them.
Aesthetically pleasing to the eyes
Montessori philosophy considers beauty and cleanliness factors for a calm learning environment so that children can concentrate. Wooden toys are visually appealing and can create a profound impression on the child’s mind.
Help children focus with fewer toys
Children get overwhelmed when they get too many choices for toys. Fewer wooden toys can offer sustained and quality plays as they are versatile. The versatile and open-ended wooden toys are also ideal for the minimalist spaces of Montessori. Children naturally form bonds with their toys and dive deep into their play when they have fewer choices of toys.
Open-ended and promoting creative play
The flashy, brightly colored, and battery-operated toys on the market provide fewer or no opportunities to children for problem-solving and imaginative play.
Simple wooden toys provide ample opportunities for open-ended play. This type of play can help in crucial developmental skills and cognitive growth, especially if children are playing independently.
Children explore at their own pace when engaged in open-ended and imaginative play. It also helps to introduce early math and science lessons to children.
Introduce children to Math and Science
Through toys, children learn about how the physical world works. As the wooden toys are not running on batteries and magnets, children concentrate on coordinating their hands and eyes to build and balance the different elements.
They are introduced to early physics lessons as they learn about the cause and effect of their actions while building blocks and rolling balls. The wooden toys also develop problem-solving skills as children perform pattern matching and recognition.
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