Our Montessori Shelf at 12 Months
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I have loved watching the skill development this past month. I replaced much of the shelf from last month. Many of the items are building on the items from last month, while some others are new. For example, I added the second and third rings to the cone stacker. He mastered the single ring last month. Once he fully masters this I will display the cone stacker undone.
If you do not know our setup we have two Montessori shelves. Originally I had open-ended toys on his bedroom shelf and Montessori shelf materials in the living room. That wasn’t working but I may switch back to it again at some point. For now I have Montessori materials on both shelves.
Montessori Shelf in His Bedroom
His bigger shelf is in his bedroom.
Yitzchak became proficient at single-piece round puzzles. I now have two puzzles on his bedroom Montessori shelf: a round puzzle which I have presented undone and a triangle puzzle which I have presented together. The round puzzle is presented undone since he is more proficient in it. I am switching to presenting materials undone now that he is a toddler and it was a great starting point. He is loving that mirror puzzle. He is still working on mastering the triangle puzzle. I will discuss presentation of single piece puzzles in a post soon but the triangle puzzle is the third one we have done after round puzzles and square puzzles.
I have both of his 3D puzzles on his bedroom Montessori shelf as well. They both came in Lovevery boxes. [Another option here] He is pretty proficient with both of them so I put them together in a tray hoping that would increase the challenge. I think they will be rotating out soon, however. He particularly liked the pincer grasp puzzle this month though.
Next to his 3D puzzles I have a basket of Schleich animals. He got the animals for his birthday and they are being used for language work. He has learned how to say giraffe (or more accurately “geee”). I let him just play with them and also label them and ask him to get me a specific one. The basket has two elephants and two giraffes which, when he is ready, we will begin mother to baby matching with.
Finally, on his bedroom Montessori shelf he has an object permanence box from his most recent Lovevery box. This one has a sliding door and is really fun for him.
Next to his bedroom Montessori shelf, we have his music corner. It has his maracas and drums, including a new maraca from the music set he got for his first birthday. I will be adding more to that corner from the music set as time goes on. I started collaborating with Tiny Earth Toys [Code OnTheWay for $15 off your first box] who sent the xylophone.
We still have the basket of balls, I just moved them off the shelf onto the floor by the mirror.
That’s it for his Montessori shelf in his bedroom, now on to the living room Montessori shelf!
Montessori Shelf in the Living Room
Yitzchak has mostly different materials from last month on his living room Montessori shelf. On the top left is his Lovevery magic tissue box. He got that several months ago in one of his Lovevery boxes. He is loving pulling things out though so I thought it would be a hit again. Instead of using the tissues that came with it I put some Sarah’s Silks in it. These are great for peekaboo when he pulls them out.
Next we have an object permanence box with a clasp. This was also from my collaboration with Tiny Earth Toys. Previously we had a different object permanence box with a door but this one offers a greater challenge. Next to it we still have the basket of teethers. I am not thinking they will be leaving anytime soon.
On the bottom left we have a shape sorter I also got from my collaboration with Tiny Earth Toys. He hadn’t had a shape sorter so I was excited to introduce this one.
The next material on his Montessori shelf is a rainbow stacker. This was a surprise win. I didn’t really think he would be ready for it but I presented it to see. He loved it. He focused for a very long time on figuring out how it worked and then has been stacking since. Seeing how much he loves this one I have my eye on a bigger stacker.
The final material on his Montessori shelf in our living room is the peg drop from Lovevery. I introduced this later this month when he was 12.5 months old. It is the most complicated material currently on his shelf. We have first been working on getting the pegs in the holes and then will move towards mastering how to make them drop (or the bigger challenge- how to reset the dropping mechanism after).
Activities off the Shelf
Off the shelf he has been interested in cars recently. We have one car but I am currently researching some more cars. He loves pushing it around and we use our balance board [code HOMEANDONTHEWAY] to make it move.
A huge hit from his birthday is his new Toniebox. I wrote a review on our experience earlier but we love it. He now chooses what he wants to listen to from three choices, putting them on and taking them off independently. He enjoys both the music ones and the Elmer story one.
Gross motor has been popular around here recently too. Yitzchak is loving his Radio Flyer walker wagon. He took a few steps a week and a half ago but is not yet walking. He loves walking with his walker though and we use it every day to bring out the recycling. He still enjoys his Pikler triangle and his climbing arch. We have been visiting playgrounds and he loves climbing up and down the stairs. He is also constantly rocking on his balance board.
It has been a busy month and I haven’t arranged many activities. I did a sensory activity that was simply warm water and a sponge to work on squeezing the sponge. I also have done some vertical play activities: I did a tape escape with his Schleich animals, taping them to the wall with blue painter’s tape. I also did a sticky note pull (simply sticky notes on the wall) and magnet pull (also simply just magnets on the fridge). As I always reiterate: I am all about simple when it comes to activities!
I have been including Yitzchak in practical life with taking out recycling, washing vegetables (he has his new kitchen for that now!), emptying groceries, and emptying laundry.
Want to see more of our play this month? Check out our 12-month Montessori play on Youtube!
