Educational Toys: Best Montessori Toys For 3-Year-Olds
Toys inspired by the Montessori method are fantastic for toddlers because they foster imaginative play, independence, and self-discipline. In addition, they help children improve their fine motor abilities, hand-eye coordination, and awareness of their surroundings.
A toy is considered to be Montessori if it inspires exploration and experimentation in the child as a means to further their education. It is ideally something children can hold or maneuver to benefit their development of tactile experience.
These experiences are presented in a fun and engaging manner by using Montessori objects, which also encourage creative expression. So, each toy has a certain purpose and teaches a different lesson. For instance, a child could work on developing coordination with a ball and gain tactile and creative skills by building towers with sets of blocks.
Toys inspired by the Montessori method are suitable for children of any age, but they are particularly useful for infants and toddlers on the cusp of entering their next developmental stages.
Here we will share the best Montessori toys for three-year-olds and why they are ideal for your exceptional little one.
What Are the Benefits of Montessori Toys for Your Child?
Montessori toys are great for kids because they teach children how to explore their environment while they learn about themselves.
These toys stimulate creativity and imagination, which helps develop cognitive thinking skills. You can also keep your child’s play routine fresh by providing a variety of options for them. For example, you can maintain your child's interest by rotating a small number of objects arranged on a low shelf at any given time.
Additionally, Montessori toys encourage kids to play cooperatively and socialize with one another.
Give your child plenty of room to explore and problem-solve on their own while introducing new things to them in a gradual manner.
No electronics or flashing lights
Toys powered by batteries and have buttons that, when pressed, make sounds or light up can seem like a lot of fun at first. However, they should not be the main toys with which your child spends their time.
Your little one could miss out on the valuable opportunity to learn the vital relationship between an action and its outcome when all a toy's functions are performed by the toy itself.
Characteristics of the Best Montessori Toys
Toys that assist children in developing their motor skills, cognitive capacities, and social skills are considered the most effective Montessori toys. Additionally, they ought to be safe for your child to use.
There are many things that make Montessori toys unique and better than conventional flashy toys for your child's development. Some examples are as follows:
Made from natural materials
Rubber that is tacky to the touch, wood that has been polished to a smooth finish, stainless steel that is frosty, and felt that is fuzzy are all examples of useful natural materials for studying differences in texture, temperature, and weight.
The Montessori approach to education centers on creating a sensory-rich environment for the students to learn in.
Aims to master one ability at a time
Montessori-inspired toys encourage your child to focus on acquiring one skill at a time by eliminating unnecessary distractions.
Having excessive functionalities on a single toy can impede deeper learning, just as having a disproportionate number of toys can be overwhelming.
Promotes STEM learning
Toys designed in accordance with the principles of the Montessori Method offer a variety of specialized STEM learning opportunities.
For example, a ball and drop box toy teaches cause and effect when the ball is dropped into the opening by showing what happens to the ball after it is dropped. And a puzzle's varying piece forms are great for developing analytic and spatial skills.
Encourages independence
Children are taught to take responsibility for their own well-being. They are also trained to care for the environment in a Montessori classroom by employing age-appropriate, functional items or child-sized equivalents for those items.
Favorite Picks Of Montessori Toys For Your Toddlers
Scissors Skills
Using scissors to practice cutting can keep children interested for a considerable amount of time, teach them patience, and help them improve their fine motor skills.
Use safety scissors at this point to ensure little hands are protected.
Shape Puzzle
Wooden puzzles are appropriate for children of all ages, you can start to introduce more challenging learning puzzles when your young one reaches 2.5 years of age.
Montessori Sensory Toys
Montessori toys are almost exclusively crafted from non-toxic materials like wood, metal, cotton, wool, or even rock.
They are uncomplicated and free of unnecessary distractions. In other words, there is no requirement for the use of batteries.
Toys that encourage your child to play freely and imaginatively should be at the top of your list.
Jigsaw puzzles
Jigsaw puzzles are created by cutting a printed image on cardboard or wood into a number of pieces of varying dimensions and contours.
Your children can assemble these pieces into the completed original picture to complete the puzzle.
Putting jigsaw puzzles together is beneficial for children of all ages and can also be entertaining for adults.
Sorting Stacking Rocks
This toy improves skills in logical thinking, hand-eye coordination, working together as a team, creative thinking, spatial reasoning, color recognition, motor skills, and sorting skills.
Geometric shapes
Constructing closed geometric objects requires using points, line segments, circles, and curves. These shapes are everywhere in our immediate environment, and keeping them around will teach children how to identify them easily.
Circles, rectangles, and triangles are some examples of geometric shapes. Different examples include other shapes. For example, pizza is shaped like a circle and cut into triangles.
Balanced Bike
The use of a balancing bike is very beneficial to the development of one's gross motor abilities.
Because it does not have pedals but is driven by the user moving their feet along the ground, it acts as a balancing bike and dispenses with the need for children first to learn how to ride a tricycle.
Easel or Doodle Tablet
When children use an art easel, they have more flexibility to explore creativity through drawing or painting. As a bonus, parents can relax knowing there is a dedicated place for messy activities.
Jumbo Nuts and Bolts Set
Give your children these nuts and bolts so they can develop their fine motor skills and learn how to match colors.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some questions and answers about Montessori toys.
What are the benefits of using a toddler dressing board?
Your child will have the opportunity to practice six different practical skills necessary for day-to-day living with these dresser boards.
What is the best gift for a 3-year-old?
Great Montessori-inspired gifts for a 3-year-old include jumbo nuts and bolts, blocks, and child-sized tool kits.
What are balance boards?
Balance board exercises are versatile and can be done for various purposes, including increasing strength in the core, playing sports, and having fun.
What are the benefits of using child-friendly kitchen tools?
More possibilities for healthy eating and cooking will be open to children if they have access to complete sets of kitchen equipment that are both safe and developmentally appropriate. In doing so, they will gain a healthy perspective on their meals.
In addition, a fantastic way for a 3-year-old to get involved in helping prepare family meals is to provide them a safe and engaging way to participate. Using a learning tower will allow the child to feel empowered and equipped to help in every day matters.
RocketBaby Has the Best Montessori Toys Collection for You
Toys modeled after the Montessori approach are fantastic solutions for youngsters still developing their independence, creativity, and capacity for self-expression.
Additionally, they give kids the opportunity to improve their fine motor skills, which will better prepare them when they enter the world.
If you have older children, they will enjoy themselves while playing with the toys just as much as the younger ones will.
RocketBaby provides a variety of toys that are designed to excite, educate, and entertain young children, including infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.