What Montessori Activities to Do with a 15 - 18 Months Old Toddler
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In my previous blog post, we looked in detail at what your young toddler works on and how we can support them during this stage of development. The needs of a 15 to 18-month-old are pretty much the same so if you want to see how you can support your toddler beyond offering the right educational toys, read more here. If you’re only looking for inspiration for activities for this age group, let’s jump right in.
Montessori Toys for 15 - 18 Months:
Top shelf left to right: Box with Bins, Introduction of crayons, Coin Box. Floor left to right: Opening and Closing, Shape Sorter, Vocabulary basket
Box with bins is a wooden box with three colored drawers (red, yellow, blue). This toy helps refine your toddler’s eye-hand coordination and wrist motion as they open and close the drawers.
Place a small (and safe) item in each drawer and have your toddler take it out and replace it. Use the items in the drawer to give your toddler a language lesson. Describe each item in detail - how it looks, how it feels in your hands, what’s the name of the object.
You can introduce this toy between 14 to 16 months.
Introduction of crayons - scribbling
Before children learn to write, they scribble. Scribbling is not only fun. It’s an important activity that helps children to develop their pre-writing skills.
Read more about this activity HERE.
The Coin Box helps refine eye-hand coordination and fine motor skills. It also helps your toddler understand the concept of object permanence (=things/people exist even when they are out of sight) as they place chips into the slot.
Pinterest offers many tutorials on how to make a DIY Coin Box.
The Coin Box was one of the most favorite toys Emma used to work with.
You can introduce this toy between 15 to 18 months.
Opening and Closing
Another simple DIY activity that is popular among babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. It’s opening and closing various containers.
The best thing about this activity is that you can probably put it together in a few minutes using stuff you have in your own home.
Find more about this activity HERE.
Shape Sorter
If you decide to introduce a shape sorter to your toddler, choose a simple one. Montessori materials (toys) introduce one new concept at a time. That’s why we want to avoid shape sorters that are too busy. Monti Kids offer a perfect shape sorter (The Mailbox) in their Level 5 kit.
If you find yourself with a shape sorter similar to mine, you can adjust it to your child’s needs. You can choose one side of the sorter and tape the remaining ones. Then offer your child one (ideally round) shape of the side. Once the child masters the round shape, you can add more shapes of the same side. Next, switch to the next side. Once your child has gone through all sides, you can give them all shapes to sort.
Vocabulary basket
A vocabulary basket is a basket with objects of the same category—for example, trucks, kitchen tools, or farm animals.
The objects need to be safe to be explored with your child’s hands and possibly their mouth. Let your child feel each item with their hands. While they do so, name each object. For instance, say: “cement mixer” or “This is a cement mixer.”
Once they’re more familiar with the objects, you can ask them to find you a particular one. For example: “Can you find the dump truck?” If they found the dump truck, you can say: “You found the dump truck.” If they hand you something else, you can say: “You found a cement mixer.” Do not tell them that they’re wrong. Your child’s response is information that you need to give them the word “dump truck” again next time.
Avoid testing your toddlers by asking, “What is this?” This kind of questioning puts too much pressure on toddlers.
Note: Our shelf is here just for your inspiration. You don’t need all these toys, and your toddler might not enjoy all of them. Observe your child first and see what she needs and what she is interested in. Also, remember that your toddler might be ready for some of the toys earlier or later.
What are your toddler’s favorite toys? Please share them in the comments.