“Where did she go? She was just here!” This is something you’ll ear quite often in our house these days. My Munchkin has mastered her crawling skills and moves fast. Apart from that, she pulls up to stand as well at most places she gets a grip. This is a time to be careful that they do not hurt themselves a lot. She is moving around the entre time she is awake and it’s quite difficult to get her to stop.

So we decided to finally setup her Montessori shelf. We put a shelf in her room with a few activities on them. She developed and instant interest in it and moved to explore what all was there. She now spends quite a bit of time throughout the day working with things on her shelf. Unfortunately, I do not have an image of her first shelf but below are the things we put out for her.

Bead Mover

The Bead Mover is a good toy for fine motor skills and developing concentration. My Munchkin seemed to enjoy working with it immediately and I must admit she had a fair amount of concentration while working with it.

There are various designs available in the market and online. I selected something that is not very complex and preferred the wooden ones. The one I am using is a Skillofun Bead Shuttle I purchased online.

Basket of balls

We continued with the same basket used earlier which was a basket with 5 to 6 balls of different sizes and textures.

She still has a lot of fun playing with these. It also develops gross motor movements.

Ring Stacker

This is another one she enjoyed. Although she was unable to put the rings initially, she would remove them and put 1 or 2 back. A few months later, she did the whole thing well.

A stacker with 5 to 7 colourful rings. In the beginning, give them only the large ring and maybe one smaller one. Slowly, keep adding in more rings. This activity is good for hand-eye coordination and also discrimination of sizes.

I purchased mine online. There are many options available online.

Books

She had four hardbound books on her shelf. Two were touch and feel ones and two were images of animals and birds.

We have been reading to her earlier as well and she has been looking at picture books so this was not new to her.

Music

We opted to put a Xylophone on her shelf for music.  This was purchased online too. Very simple to use and she picked up only with showing her how to use it once. We do supervise her when she uses this as she tends to put the stick into her mouth a lot.

There was a lot of fun and discoveries we had this month as well.

Bubbles

A very simple toy that most children loved and my Munchkin loved too.

We took out the bubble wand and kept blowing them into the air. Initially she was confused but two to three attempts later she got a huge smile on her face and started to try catching them (and eat them!).

Eating herself

We have been giving her a lot of finger food for the past few months but she now is eating better on her own. Most things dry, we let her eat by herself now.

She does use a highchair most of the time. Traditionally, in Montessori we would use a small table and chair for meal times but we have been more comfortable with the highchair so are using it.

Outdoor Play

We generally go for a stroll everyday and look at the plants, people, pets and most things around. This month we used the park for the first time. My Munchkin had her first go on the slide and the swing. Yes, you guessed it right she loved it! So now it is the beginning of using the park, which is a great way to develop their gross motor skills.

Peekaboo

There were a few times when my munchkin threw things down from her highchair and gasped, when she realized it had fallen down, and then on after she threw it, she would look for it. This was the time she started to enjoy playing ‘Peekaboo’ as well.

When something is gone from sight, it no longer exists for a child. Thus, with games like ‘Peekaboo’ a child begins to understand that things exist even when they are not seen.

I captured my munchkin playing ‘Peekaboo’ with her grandma which is when I thought this would be a good time to introduce her to the Imbucare Box.

My next article will have a great DIY for the Imbucare box – an extremely good developmental activity for your munchkin. Do come back next week and read it.

Till then, what is your Munchkin doing this month?