Montessori DIY sensory toys for babiestoddlers

Today I'm going to show you how to make a few simple sensory toys for little ones using inexpensive materials. Montessori toys can be very expensive and I thought I would make a few little activities for my 13-month-olds without shelling out the cash. The Montessori philosophy is based on encouraging children to explore the world around them. Sensory play is a key part of that exploration as children learn by touching and playing with objects. A Montessori toy is one that stimulates learning by encouraging kids to experiment. It should be a toy that they can hold and touch as learning to manipulate objects is key in helping children develop their fine motor skills. The toy should also give them the opportunity to work independently at their own pace and use their creativity. Now these sensory activities are geared for babies around 9 to 18 months so they're really simple. I had the idea to make these because my son's favorite thing to do is put things inside small openings. I found all of these wooden objects at Hobby Lobby for pretty cheap. They have all sorts of wooden balls and shapes and things. Just be sure to choose large enough sizes so they won't be a choking hazard. This toy is based on the Montessori object permanence toy which can actually be for babies much younger than mine. Object permanence is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be perceived. According to this view it is through touching and handling objects that infants develop object permanence. For this toy and most of the others that I made I just used an X-Acto knife to cut out the shapes out of his container. This one is just an old box I found lying around and I bought these sticks at Hobby Lobby cut holes in the top with X-Acto knife and I think this is actually his favorite one. This one's just my version of a simple color sorter. The typical ones with all the different shapes are just too advanced for his age so I just made this using a shoebox, construction paper, and glue. So I will just demonstrate once or twice how to use the toy and then just let him be. If he seems confused you can help him out but as you see he's playing with this in his own way and that's great. Don't step in and try to get them to do something the way that you think it should be done. Just let them explore the toy whatever that looks like and just observe. You can step in and re-demonstrate it if it looks like they're getting frustrated but I always err on the side of not interrupting the play at all. And this one's just an old Tupperware that I sliced a square into with these little square wooden blocks. Again it's just easier for their age to have something with maybe just one shape as opposed to you know all the different six or seven shapes that are on the typical shape This one's pretty self-explanatory. It's a little more difficult for this age group and don't take the toy away if they're not able to do it. Just let them struggle. Let them sit there and figure it out. This one's always great fun. It's just a paper towel tube with some pom-poms and he usually will find some other things to stick through there as well.