As the great philosopher quoted “The most effective kind of education is that a child should play amongst lovely things;” the toys that children play and the activities that they do are worth a while of discussion. Kids gets familiar with their surroundings either at home or in classroom through play activities. Montessori training based education focus on creating intentional environment that supports
children’s urge to acquire learning skills through various play activities and allow them to visualize their world through their own eyes independently. Montessori training strictly restricts conventional ideas of filling dead information into children’s brain by adults. Montessori toys which are often referred as ‘smart toys’ are specially designed with customized ideas to favour kids in numerous learning
activities. With the help of these toys’ children can procure wide range of skills which are beneficial in growing up as a happy, confident, and successful adult. Parent can really trust and buy these Montessori toys to deeply encourage children to boost up their skills in motor and cognition development to emotional and social intelligence. Some of the advantages of buying Montessori toys over conventional toys are:
• They are generally based on real life activities
• Mostly are made of naturally available materials
• No requirement of electronics
• Ensured emphasis on single skill at a time
• Prioritize ideas and skills rather than being materialistic.
• Finely encourages independence and self-esteem
Below are some suggested Montessori toys that can foster potential skills categorized according to their power in moulding behaviour of children.
For nurturing social and emotional intelligence
Evolving ability to identify, assess, control and manifest everything in a healthy manner is key prospects of nurturing emotional intelligence. Certain toys hold huge power in triggering different kinds of emotions in children. Activities like preparing kindness cards with quotes,making gratitude charts can enhance emotional intelligence. Additionally, purchasing toys or games which focus on sharing, kindness, expressing gratitude pointing emotional intelligence will be
an add on benefit. For boosting problem solving skills and reasoning
Coordination of memory and development of hands to brain connection can be achieved by various educational toys like puzzles, Jenga games crosswords, building blocks, Rubik’s cube etc. which can in terms uplift IQ and problem solving skills of children. Pikler triangles and flashcards can also capture attention of children fast and helps in effectively activating cognitive and reasoning skills utilising different senses.
For enhancing motor skills
Encouraging fine gestures of hand movements and coordination of hands on learning are huge part in development of children. Holding and grasping are two most important motor skills which children should start from early ages. For cheering up these skills, toys like Baby beads, baby rattles, toy winkels, interlocking discs etc. can help in a huge scale. Various stacking and nesting toys in different shapes can also assist in prospering problem solving, visual development and hand-eye coordination activities. All the Montessori based toys helps in one or other learning activities.enabling hands on learning technique which engages children for a long period of time. Diverse learning environment and introduction of fun atmosphere helps Montessori education to capture the minds of children irrelevant of their ages. Instructors which can be parents, caretakers or teachers can indulge children in activities with manipulatives, movable alphabets, blocks etc. to instigate counting and reading skills. The pre-set environment makes sure to use real life tools and actual house hold materials to provide realistic learning of cooking, dressing, gardening, and other common social duties.
As children grows and are capable to digest more learning skills, introduction of more practical and logical activities will be helpful. For example, checkerboards and cubes are thoughtful for visualization of math problems and algebraic equations, colourful beads and rods can help in shape identifications, decimal systems etc. Puzzle maps, even though they are confusing, are best option to envisage locations according to their placements.
Montessori classrooms also use materials like blocks, shapes, cards etc. to seize the attention of kids. Most citable advantage of a Montessori classroom over Montessori home classroom is its room for providing opportunity to interact with other kids of similar age. Below listed are some Montessori based products which are helpful for children to enjoy their fun hours.
