13 - 15 Months

Abracadabra! The magic behind Montessori toy introduction

It’s Play Kit delivery day!

Now what? There are so many ways to start digging into your Play Kit. Some parents set the whole box on the floor and let their toddlers open everything at once, while others like to pace it out a little bit. We’re for whatever excites you and your toddler 😉

If you want to introduce toys gradually, read here about the Montessori philosophy of toy rotation. There is also a method for how you can introduce a new toy to your toddler.

Montessori refers to certain learning toys as “materials” and how they are manipulated as “work.” When introducing a material, each element of the work is broken into little steps. A teacher demonstrates each step slowly, without speaking any words. The idea is not to distract the child with language while they are trying to absorb what they are seeing.

Here’s how to introduce The Flexible Wooden Stacker:

Deliberately take the first ring out of the base, examining it carefully to demonstrate to your toddler that there is a hole in the ring. You can look through it and slowly put your finger through.
Set this first ring back in its place on the base.
Slowly show your toddler how to remove one ring from the post.
Then take off each subsequent ring one at a time and place it on the floor.

Try to give your toddler lots of uninterrupted time to work for as long as they like. When they are done playing, encourage your toddler to put everything back where it goes. If they have moved onto something else and you don’t want to interrupt their focus, you can put it away and show them next time.

If your toddler starts throwing the rings, you can redirect them, saying something like “the rings aren’t for throwing. If you want to practice throwing, let’s get your soft ball.”

A tip for storage is to take the rings off the stacker and leave them in a basket or small container on the shelf for next time. Sometimes things that are “undone” are more inviting for your toddler.