Looking to get some Montessori gifts for your sweet baby or toddler this Christmas? Look no further – I make my personal recommendations below!
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Full disclosure: I despise the materialism of our society when it comes to Christmas.
That being said, the origins of gift-giving around Christmastide are quite extensive all over Europe, spanning centuries of traditions and customs that truly were Catholic in their practice.
I see no problem with gift-giving around this time…I pretty much only buy clothes and toys for our family once or twice a year!
If you’re like me and waiting around for the biggest sales of the year to do most of your shopping, then keep reading!
Newsflash: most baby toys are junk!
Flashing lights, buttons that play music – these are things that have been proven1 to hinder language development, not to mention they prevent the child from developing those fine motor skills you can only achieve when playing with natural toys that they can manipulate.
Most cute and cuddly stuffed animal Christmas gifts on the market today carry a host of toxic substances2 you’d be running to get your child away from (although there are better alternatives).
So why Montessori gifts?
I’ve been researching the Montessori method for almost 6 years now (since my oldest were about 6 months old), and while I don’t own every single “toy” in the method, I own a few essentials.
My children have benefited greatly from “Montessori toys“, they play purposefully with toys and are able to “figure out” more complex toys due to the sequential nature of the Montessori curriculum.
Which brings me to this: what I love about the Montessori method – besides being inherently Catholic – is that the curriculum has gift ideas for practically every age, starting from birth!
It breaks down a child’s learning and development into different learning areas – practical life, sensorial, math, language, geography, science, art, music, and history – and provides activities or “work” that isolates each skill and scaffolds onto other skills!
I think around this time of year people are tempted to buy their children and family members the stuff they see in the store, but most of it is plastic, flashy and doesn’t really teach them anything! Why not actually invest in Montessori gifts for children that actually aid in their learning?
The Montessori method is also wonderful for special needs children that could benefit from a more tactile learning method that respects their freedom of movement.
***Beware that many advertisers will say their gifts are “Montessori” just for the higher price tag – many times they are not found in the traditional curriculum or just useless.
Montessori gifts have a few different features – ideally they are made from natural materials, isolate one particular skill and have a control of error (meaning the child can tell on their own if they made a “mistake” due to the design of the toy).
Take advantage of the hours of research I’ve done to truly distinguish what is and isn’t Montessori – find your babies age range below to find the Montessori Christmas gift ideas that I recommend.
Montessori Baby Gifts – 0 to 3 months
Munari mobile – this is a black and white mobile which helps with visual development. In the beginning babies are very nearsighted and can only distinguish between black and white colors. It can be hung no more than a foot away from them. You can find it here.
Octahedron mobile – another aid for visual development, this mobile features 3 different colors (primary colors) with reflective paper. You can find it here.
Baby books – board books that introduce real life images, with one picture per page are the best. I’ve enjoyed all the books from Priddy Books, they have smaller ones for babies that are just perfect. Touch and feel books are a bonus as they provide further sensory stimulation.
Interlocking discs – this develops fine motor skills and the ability to reach and grasp for an object. When the baby gets older they will hand to hand transfer, roll it on the ground, and develop greater interest in it.
Gobbi mobile – this mobile uses color gradation with about 5-7 balls hung from a string that increase in length. It aids with further visual development.
Montessori Baby Gifts – 3 to 6 months
Grasping beads – simple wooden beads that further assist and motivate the child in developing the ability to grasp
Ring on a ribbon – this offers an impetus for the child to reach and grasp easily. Many wooden baby gyms could be used for this activity as they feature wooden rings suspended from a beam, I love this one as it is simple, foldable and made with all natural materials.
Rattle/shakers – as children begin to play independently they develop the ability to manipulate objects themselves, and a rattle is perfect for making this fact known since as soon as they shake it they realize “Oh, this makes a sound when I move!” I like this set here which also includes the interlocking discs and rolling rattle.
Montessori Baby Gifts – 6 to 9 months
Egg in egg cup – a classic Montessori activity that helps the child practice removing and replacing an object into its own container. Aids in hand-eye coordination, I like this set here.
Object permanence box – this box is useful when the child begins to notice that an object “disappears” when placed in a container. Aids in hand-eye coordination, in the beginning they will only use it for picking up balls but later on (closer to 12-18 months) they will learn how to place the ball inside the hole. This is an activity that grows with your child! I also recommend getting the ones that feature primary colors, those are the actual “Montessori” activities versus the other cute pastel kinds. The reason is because primary colors are the first colors babies usually can distinguish, so these activities will further refine that visual development as well.
Spinning drum with mirror – perfect for when they start batting at things, they will see the colors flash as it rolls, as well as themselves in this mirror!
Ball tracker – a visual, auditory toy that also includes gross motor movement, initially you will show them this activity but closer to 12 months they will learn themselves how to place the ball on the tracker. The classic Montessori kind are the ones that look like the one in the link I included – primary colors as well as an open “track” which the ball is able to roll slowly down. This aids in their visual tracking abilities.
Montessori Baby Gifts – 9 to 12 months
Box with drawer – another aid with object permanence…with a twist! They have to open the drawer to find the ball. Find one here.
Vertical Ring stacke its good to use wooden rings that are much larger than the dowel in the very beginning so they can easily remove and replace the rings. There are some large ones here.
Shape puzzles – start with easy shapes like circles, triangles, and squares with knobs for easily grasping. Again, primary colors! You can purchase the shapes separately or you can find them together here.
Coin box – a more difficult version of the object permanence box, this one is a classic that they will use again and again, even into their 1st, 2nd and 3rd year of life!
Musical instruments – so many of these are junk 🙁 sad to say! I like getting real percussion instruments. I recommend these ones here.
Also – the only actual xylophone I will recommend is this one. Another Montessori mama recommended it to me and it’s actually pitched at A=440 (meaning the notes will match your piano and be in tune). Fully chromatic, meaning it’s not just the white keys on the piano but the black ones too! I like that these are all the same color so they can learn to distinguish that different positions have different notes.
Galt pop-up toy – a classic in every Montessori home, this helps the child with a skill called “posting” (putting an object in a container or hole). A bonus feature is that once the child gets older they’ll figure out that there’s a spring on the bottom of each hole so that when they push the little stick-man in far enough he’ll “pop” out. Beware of your children losing the pieces in and under your couch 🙂
Baby walker – this is helpful when it is weighted to prevent the child from falling over. These ones are great as they also include activities on the walker itself. Also, I never recommend putting children into a “seated baby walker”, you know the ones that roll around while they’re seated inside with the “bumper” surrounding them. That actually HINDERS their ability to walk as they are not actually walking using the weight on their feet. This walker is a much better idea to keep your child entertained while they hone that skill of walking! Ikea has a great alternative for only about $30.
Montessori Baby Gifts – 12 to 24 months
Chalk – the chunky kind is better to develop that writing grip, these ones are also no-roll. IKEA has an awesome easel and some chalk as well…
Paint – this is a fun and organic alternative to your regular acrylic and finger painting…veggie finger paints! How awesome is that???
Dowel with rings – I own these below and they have been amazing. These are wonderful for developing the skill of “crossing the midline” – a super important body awareness skill for children that is great to develop early on!! It aids in body coordination, reading and handwriting skills later on. These parts are small and pose a choking hazard so do NOT leave your child unattended with them, but work with them individually. There are ones here and here.
Object permanence box will ball push – a variation for older children that never gets old! This one is a ball push, tracking and object permanence activity at the same time.
Knobless cylinders – a sensorial activity that teaches children to distinguish between different dimensions of thickness and height. That being said, anything by Adena Montessori on Amazon is amazing, the quality is superb every time I’ve ordered from them and they’re way cheaper than most mainstream Montessori suppliers.
Montessori Toddler and Elementary Gifts – 2.5 to 6 years
Baric tablets – this teaches the child to distinguish between three different weights of tablets. They close their eyes and “weigh” two tablets at a time per “round”, and open their eyes at the end to see if they were right. Then they move on to weighing three tablets.
Sandpaper letters – these are incredible as they teach children how to trace letters using the different texture of “sandpaper”. So good to invest in! Find some here. Here is a print version here.
Golden beads – this will help the child conceptualize 10, 100 and 1000 using the golden beads and cubes. Also called the Golden Bead Bank.
Math bead material – while you can DIY these, it takes a long time…I’m still finishing mine, years later! I’m sure if you worked on it day in and day out you could probably finish making these in a few days.
Color box 1, 2 and 3 – 3 different color boxes that teach the child to distinguish colors and increase in difficulty as your child gets older. Here’s Color Box 1, Color box 2 and color box 3. If you’re going to get one color box then get color box 3.
Moveable alphabet – sandpaper numerals are the first introduction to letters and there are tons of DIYs out there. HOWEVER, once children know all the letter sounds they begin to use this alphabet to “write” words even though they can’t actually write letters yet. They “write” by compiling short CVC words (consonant-vowel-consonant). This moveable alphabet allows them to do just that. Here is a print version too.
CVC Word builders – while not technically “Montessori” they are definitely Montessori aligned as they work on building CVC words (consonant vowel consonant words like bat, cat, run, etc.). Here’s one activity, and here’s another.
Small wooden number cards – it’s good to invest in quality up front, that way it can last through multiple children. They begin by learning to substitute beads for number cards, then exchanging beads for an identical number. This is an activity that they will use in multiple ways with other activities as well in the future. Find the one I have here.
Addition Strip Board – the addition strip board is perfect to give children a really solid grasp of addition and subtraction, but it’s really important that they have a firm grasp of concrete quantities from the Golden Bank material as well as fluency with numbers 0-20. You can find this really wonderful material here.
I hope you enjoyed this resource, I’ll be adding more to it later on! God Bless you.
1. “Electronic Toys May Hinder Baby Language Development.” NPR, NPR, 27 Dec. 2015, https://www.npr.org/2015/12/27/461173092/electronic-toys-may-hinder-baby-language-development.
2. “How to Choose Safer Plush Toys.” The Tot, https://www.thetot.com/baby/how-to-choose-safer-plush-toys/.