I’m a Montessori guide. Which means, naturally, I collect and hoard Montessori materials and Montessori-friendly toys and objects… it’s a problem. Seriously, ask any Montessori guide you know - I’m pretty sure we all do this! So when I was recently asked to name a “core” set of Montessori materials I thought it would be a fun challenge to narrow it down and make a list of my absolute favorites for using at home with babies and toddlers.
I do think (as per my reply) that it’s hard to pinpoint a specific set of materials that every family would benefit from, because of several factors! Most Montessori materials are close-ended, which means they have a concrete objective and aim at the development of a specific skillset. This means that a child might only use each one for a short amount of time - from first explorations to total mastery. They make sense in a classroom, because there are several children using them, year after year, and some materials really call to a child while others may not… but at home, getting these close-ended objects can be more of a gamble, especially if they’re only going to be used by a single child (a case could be made for having a larger set of materials to be handed down to younger siblings, or shared within a community - in fact, I think that’s a great idea!). With that in mind, there are a couple of materials that are often used for a slightly longer period of time, and are unique enough - in my opinion - to merit the extra expense and storage needs.
As I was putting this list together, I went through my albums (reference guides you make in Montessori training) and thought of how, in contrast to the 3-6 set of materials which is very specific, including Maria Montessori’s original designs, most of the 0-3 range resembles household objects and common infant toys - designed in a thoughtful way that just makes the object that much more special and interesting to a child. There are also materials (looking at you, Practical Life sets) which are made to mimic household objects that a child would have at home, in a size that’s more suitable for them as they learn to use them - again, this is perfect for a school that aims to be a “home of the children”. In your home, however, you can offer your kid the real things (when safe) - with all the challenges and opportunities that entails. If you ask me, the real family kitchen made accessible beats a toddler-sized one, every time!
So, below are my favorite “official” Montessori materials - ones detailed in Montessori training: 5 for babies and 5 for toddlers (plus some honorable mentions). Most of these can only be bought from specialist retailers, although you could surely DIY them, or find close substitutions that are more widely available. Nowadays a lot of these are also popping up on amazon, etsy and more.
👶 Baby
Topponcino
Okay, so my first material might not fit the exact definition of one (boo!), but I wanted to feature it anyway because it’s such an underrated, Montessori-specific item and I don’t know of anything else that serves the same purposes! The topponcino is a thin oval-shaped mattress or pillow that can be used to hold the baby in the first few weeks, preserving a familiar scent, temperature and feeling - baby’s points of reference, that help her feel safe - and that also works wonders for setting babies down without waking them up. The topponcino also helps babies be more comfortable in a movement area, and can be a good transitional piece between sleeping in a bassinet (or Montessori “cestina” with low sides) and a Montessori floor bed.
Dancers mobile (visual)
There is a scope and sequence of visual, then tactile mobiles for babies in the Montessori “repertoire”. This is typically the 4th visual mobile to be introduced, but in my experience it’s one of babies’ favorites, and the one that tends to stay up for the longest time. The dancers’ body parts move with a gentle breeze in the room, and captivate babies with their shiny colors and the way they reflect the light. The baby practices visual tracking as he follows the moving shapes with his eyes, and focusing on objects at different distances.
Bell and ribbon mobiles (tactile)
These are technically two, but I couldn’t add just one! They are so simple and so beautiful. The bell is the first tactile mobile that we present - as baby starts batting at the mobile with her hands, she gradually makes the connection between her movements and the sound, learning about cause and effect - which is rewarding and intriguing!! The ring is a bit more advanced, requiring the baby to open her hand and close the fingers around the ring in order to move it around, now that she is able to bring her hands to her midline. When babies start trying to grasp, a lot of effort and concentration is needed in order to coordinate the eyes and hands and successfully hold an object.
Bell rattle
After the baby is able to turn her head and coordinate her arms and hands to grab objects from the ground, we start to offer rattles, placed close to the baby. There a couple of traditional rattles for infants in Montessori, of which this one is the most simple. They all share something in common - the actual bells or parts making sound are visible! That way babies can see how the object responds to their movement and produces sound, further developing their fine motor skills and their understanding of cause-and-effect.
Grasping ball
As the baby starts to manipulate objects using both hands, transferring them from one to the other, and bringing them to her mouth, a grasping ball becomes a very interesting object. It is great for teething gums, and the shape of the protrusions lets babies suck as if with a pacifier, but without being attached to their mouths. The protrusions also make it easier to grab from different angles, and help it not roll too far away from baby before she is confidently crawling after it, so that it usually lands just within reach and promotes gross motor development as baby twists, turns and stretches to reach it.
Honorable mentions:
- basket with known objects offer your baby stuff from around the house! rotate through a couple of sets of 3-5 objects from the bathroom, kitchen, office, etc.
- mirror and bar I personally prefer a regular mirror hung low, and a climbing frame like the pikler triangle - for versatility and longevity -, but this montessori classic is also great to have at home in baby’s movement area.
🧒Toddler
Placemat with tracings
Buying or making a placemat with tracings for the plate, cutlery and cup is a simple way to help toddlers set the table for themselves (or for the family, if you have a set). That way they are able to directly see where things go, and check it against the traced shapes. This is something we highly value as Montessorians: objects that provide the child with control of error. This means more opportunities for independence, and less direct coaching or correction by adults - which toddlers don’t usually love 😉
Ball tracker
Alright, I know this material is huge!! And there are definitely smaller versions of ball trackers/ labyrinths that you could buy… So you might wonder why the size. Well, the point of the ball tracker is not only to develop visual tracking skills and hand-eye coordination (or because it’s SUPER fun - even for adults, trust me)… It’s also meant to be used in a standing-to-squatting-to-standing-again way. The toddler has to stand in order to drop the ball at the top, and then squat or crouch to get it back from the slot at the bottom. All this wonderful coordinated, effortful movement is pure nutrition for little brains and bodies. I’ve seen people build similar setups out of cardboard, sticky-taped to the wall.
Ring stacker
A classic if I ever knew one. While there are millions of versions of ring stackers, I chose to feature this material to talk about control of error again. Notice how the stem in the center of this material is cone-shaped? This means that the rings, of different circumferences, will only fit at a certain part of the stacker and in a particular order. There is also a small number of rings, so younger toddlers find it easier to grab one and pull it out. The rocking base helps toddlers fit the rings on the stem as their hand-eye coordination develops.
For a more accessible version, the iconic Fisher price stacker also has this design (although I’d suggest presenting it with only a couple of rings at first, and adding more as your toddler’s skills progress!).
Shape sorter
Shape sorters are a toddler favorite, but most of the commercially available ones try to pack too much into a single object - sometimes with different colors and patterns, or letters and numbers on the sides of the solids, or (maybe you’ve seen this) featuring different activities on every side of the box. In Montessori, we prefer materials that have isolation of difficulty - which means they don’t try to do many things at once, and allow the child to focus on the precise thing they’re trying to do.
Geometric shape puzzles
The first puzzles that we offer toddlers are these framed, single-shape ones. They have large knobs that are easy to grab, and surprise! they also have a scope and sequence. We first introduce the circle (my favorite is one that has a hidden mirror below the shape - babies love finding it!) because it is round so it can fit in any orientation. Once that is mastered, we present the square as it can require some wrist rotation to align it and fit it into the slot, and lastly the triangle which requires the most rotation out of the three!
Once these single shapes are mastered, we offer framed puzzles with different geometric shapes (where the toddler works on figuring out which shape goes where), with the same shape in different sizes (size discrimination) and later start introducing more complex shapes like animals, that will only fit in one orientation. Puzzles with multiple shapes that come together, layers, or jigsaw puzzles come only later!
This is another instance of isolating difficulty: by working on the fine motor, wrist rotation of it all first, we open up the ability to work on more complex cognitive problems.
Honorable mentions:
- push wagon toddlers love to cart stuff around. most push carts / wagons (sometimes called “walker wagons”, although they’re not ideal for learning how to walk - more on that in a later article…) are fine, but they can fall into that “tries to do it all” category. I prefer a plain push wagon, with heavy books or sandbags inside for stability and a gross motor challenge!
- percussion instruments I didn’t feel like this classified as specific Montessori materials, because any safe percussion intruments are awesome for toddlers! egg shakers, small drums, metalophones, xylophones, small steel-tongue drums… it’s a fun way to channel a toddler’s energy, and helps them develop auditory skills at the same time.
- open-close objects in classrooms we provide baskets or trays with bags or containers to practice opening and closing different types of lids, zippers or closures. look around your house for things of this sort and offer it to your toddler! they are fascinated by the mechanisms and eager to master them, and it also helps develop the hand coordination necessary to put on clothes and do more complex tasks.
I hope this was fun to read, and that you learned something about Montessori pedagogy - and how we design and choose materials for kids - along the way! The really cool part is when you start to notice or look for Montessori qualities (like isolation of difficulty, control of error, etc.) in other toys and objects around you, and maybe adapt some existing toys or make some DIY materials based on these ideas.
None of these materials are really necessary, of course, and you can certainly do without them, but I think they’d be my first choices if I was purchasing for a home setting. Remember your home is not, and should not be, a small classroom (no matter what you see on tiktok 😛), but a place that works for the whole family - children and adults - and suits everyone’s needs.
If you want to purchase any material from this list and can’t find it in your area, send me an email! I’d be happy to help ❤️
If you want more personalized advice and suggestions based on your child’s development and your lifestyle and budget, book a call with me here: