This month, we continued with the regular shelf work we have been doing so far. There was nothing new introduced to My Munchkin in terms of an activity.

Lately, she has been working a lot with the blocks, animals (and cards), transferring activity. She still shows a lot of interest in the current shelf activities and hence we decided to let her continue with them. After all, it is not necessary to have something new for them all the time; it is more about what they are enjoying working with.

Animal Names

My Munchkin is enjoying working with her set of farm animals and even the wildlife animals. She lays them out in a curve and makes sure she has each one standing without anyone helping her.

At times, she even uses the cube from the school Pink Tower to make her animals stand on them. She constantly asks for the names of the animals and even hears them when we read books. Hence, she is beginning to recognize a lot of them by their names.

Vocabulary

I cannot stress enough about how IMPORTANT it is to read with your child and to speak to them in correct language. They pick up everything the see, hear, taste or feel. My Munchkin is growing her vocabulary by the day. It amazes me sometimes as to how expressive they are if we actually try listening. She is able to convey everything she wants – be it about what she wants to eat, which books she wants to read, whether something is hurting her, going to the washroom and more and more.

Nature Walks

During one of our evening outings, we went looking for birds and animals. The delight when she spotted a dog, cat, crow and many more was fantastic. We now try to do these kind of nature walks often (in the limited space we have).

Raksha Bandhan

Raksha Bandhan fell during Month 19 and we did not want her left behind. So My Munchkin tied her first Rakhi to a little boy who is a family friend’s son and also very fond of My Munchkin. We see a great bond growing between them since.

Do Homeschooled Children Socialize?

Isn’t this a very familiar question and concern? The answer is a simple YES!

At 19 Months, My Munchkin has lots of friends of all age groups. She interacts well and is not shy at all. She even enjoys playing with the children during school hours.

Children are very friendly by nature if we let them be. Some may initially be shy and then ease out but normally they love playing with other children irrespective of being homeschooled or going to regular school.

Do you have any such worries with Homeschooling your Munchkin?

Further to my post on Month 17, where I mentioned about exercising Maximum Effort, babies tend to have a big urge for this as new walkers. Trying most aspects of Maximum Effort helps them develop and perfect their motor skills. We saw in the previous post, one such way was to lift heavy object when walking. Another one is perfecting their walking skills and gross motor movements.

My Munchkin does not sit still for even 5 seconds (I am sure most of you know how this feels). She always wants to climb on things, walk, beginning to run and just be on the move all the time. This was the perfect time for the Balancing Beam to be done from my Montessori list of things to do. I looked up various designs and found it to be quite simple to get made.

Luckily I had spare wood at home from the making of our wardrobe. My husband organized for a carpenter to make the Balancing Beam for us. The length of this is 4 feet and on the base (to hold up the ground), we used three strips of 1 foot each. (You can probably do it without the center support but that would depend on how sturdy your wood is). Very simply cut the pieced and nailed them together (someone with the tools can make it themselves).

My Munchkin was thrilled to see something new for her to use. We of course have helped her walk on it initially and now she walks holding the wall or one of our hands. So initially they will hold on to something with both hands and slowly move to using one hand (holding the wall or your hand like my Munchkin). I am yet to see if she does it without holding on to anything.

In the beginning they may also walk with one foot on the beam and one on the ground. Its best to let them explore all the ways they find possible on their own.

Age: Around 14 to 16 months (once they are walking independently and steadily)

Purpose: Gross motor development and maximum effort.

I hope you are able to make this DIY for your Munchkin. Do let me know if they enjoy using it.

From starting to walk independently to gaining more balance and equilibrium, My Munchkin has been on her path of perfecting her walking skills. A visible difference in coordination can be seen as she tries running a little as well now.

We have been having more outdoor time with her as she enjoys being able to exercise her new skills. As every other Munchkin, she loves the park. We have a small sand pit in our park which we would avoid putting her in earlier as she put everything in her mouth. This month we let her explore the sand pit, sitting close by just in case she decided to taste the sand. The sensory exploration of sand was new to her and she took her time, picking some and trying to hold it in her hand over and over again. She also used some of the toys other children had trying to collect sand.

My Munchkin got another shelf as we were falling short of space for materials/toys with just one. This meant an addition of things for her to play/work with. Our new additions in Month 16 are highlighted below.

Opening and Closing of Boxes

This is a DIY with various boxes that My Munchkin could open and close by herself. This is the perfect age for such an activity and it keeps them occupied for quite some time. I will post a DIY for this soon.

Farm Animals

We had farm animals on the shelf earlier as well, but then I came across big ones that looked like the animals actually do. So I replaced them with the smaller ones we had on the shelf and what a difference it made! My Munchkin was super excited with this set.

Pop Up Toy

A great toy for hand-eye coordination as well as colour recognition. The baby presses down each of the heads and they pop out of their places. It is a fun activity for them. They develop their coordination when putting a finger on each head and pressing it down to pop out. Also, when they put the pop ups back into the holes on the stand. Initially, they will not match the colours as it takes time for them to pair colours. This skill comes closer to 20months or so.

Vehicles

We added some cars and a digger she received as gifts. My Munchkin loves see the cars pass by and also watches a construction site close by so recognizes the digger, cement truck and more.

Pull Toy

We added a pull toy as well to encourage her to walk at home too. This is not very Montessori but My Munchkin seemed to like it. We made sure it was not one of the noisy battery operated ones when purchasing it.

Tracker Toy

This was another DIY we did for her as the actual one is very expensive in India. I will admit I ended making this late and so My Munchkin did not play with it as much. More on this and the DIY in the coming blogs.

Shape Sorter

A very simple shape sorter with the basic shaped of circle, square and triangle. Children enjoy this one a lot and there are many options available. I suggest to take a simple one that focuses on just the shapes and there are no other distractions.

Do not be surprised if your munchkin just lifts the lid and puts all the shape blocks inside (instead of putting each one through the respective place on the lid). This is quite normal with most children in the beginning. To be honest, that in itself is commendable as they figure a way to complete the activity.

Did your Munchkin play with a shape sorter? Did they do the same as My Munchkin? I would love to hear about it.

Walking is our biggest milestone and the highlight of this month. My Munchkin had been holding and walking for a while now but did not have the confidence to walk independently. We were in no hurry and let her take her time to get there. As mentioned in my Month 14 post, we got her a Walker Wagon (detailed review coming soon), which helped her a lot. She mastered the art of walking independently by herself.

So what happens when they start walking? It’s a higher level of independence for them. They can access and reach so much more without waiting for us to help them get there. They can go after that cat they always wanted too without having you make you take them there. They can walk in the garden, touch the plants and flowers on their own, for however long they want. They can do so many things and this excitement is evident in first walkers.

Apart from walking, there have been more activities in the kitchen with My Munchkin enjoying and making the most of her Learning Tower. She does a lot of transferring activities whilst assisting me in the kitchen. For instance, we were making some fries the other day and she was transferring the cut fries from the water into the strainer. Of course there was a big mess and water all over the place but nothing unmanageable. And don’t messes show how much a child has actually acquired from that experience.

It was also the end of school year for our 3 to 6 year olds at Little Thinkers Montessori and we planned a picnic to the Zoo. My Munchkin accompanied us on the picnic and it was her first visit to the Zoo. What a lovely experience it was! Her curiosity to see each animal and know more about them was equivalent to the school children. She did not miss out on a single opportunity to look at the animals, searching for the lion, watching the monkey, pointing out to the animals when they made sudden movements and lots more.

Today is a short write for you. But I would like to know if you took your Munchkin to the Zoo? How did he/she enjoy it?

My Munchkin seems to be gaining more independence with each passing day. She pretty much eats by herself now, with me feeding her a few bites in between (if she lets me). She also gets involved while bathing and tries to soap herself. It is absolutely remarkable to watch the efforts she puts in and the level of independence she is gaining. In fact, she does things cheerfully when she can do them by herself – just the fact that she is able to do a thing she sees us do brings her joy.

Independence at this age does not mean they do not need you. They need you the most – nothing changes that! Independence means fulfilling their urge to be able to do things like we do. Independence means allowing them to be a part of day-to-day activities. Independence means giving them a chance to complete things without us doing it for them. Independence means many more things like these.

What is our role in their independence? Watching carefully and giving them opportunities to exercise their independence and develop their motor skills and concentration. We simply give them activities / opportunities and then take a step back and allow them to work independently.

How did My Munchkin exercise independence this month?

Art

Though art is regularly included in our activities, this time we took it to our balcony. It was a beautiful day and so we decided to do some painting. I quickly made some homemade paint and got out the art supplies and we were all set.

My Munchkin had a great time, painting her canvas and herself. We showed her how to use the paintbrush once and then stayed back and watched her explore the colours, holding the brush, dipping it in the paint, making strokes. The concentration was incredible too and we tried our level best to not break it when trying to get some candid moments!

Stacking Cups

This is a newbie on her shelf. I have shown her how to use it and she does work with it trying to understand how to get the activity done. I will let her be to figure this out by herself like she does for everything else.

Farm Animals

I added a small crochet basket (gifted by a friend) with Farm Animals and left it for her to explore. She removed each animal and looked at them closely. This, however, was replaced soon as I found farm animals in bigger sizes. I will cover more on that in the coming posts.

Outdoor Play

Walker Wagon

We purchased a Wagon for her this month (late but I’m glad we finally found it). She took for it immediately and used it to cruise around the entire house. I will give a full review on this soon.

Coin Box

This has been her favourite recently. She initially had a difficult time getting the coins in but soon figured her way out and since then regularly uses it. I get to see some good amount of concentration when My Munchkin is working with her coin box. What do I do? I try to not disturb her. Watch her in the video below.

What do you do to encourage independence in your Munchkin? Would love to have more ideas.

From around 10 months onwards, My Munchkin started becoming extremely curious and interested in what I did in the kitchen. She’d often crawl over to me, pull herself up and start tugging at my clothes for me to pick her up. It would get quite difficult to manage carrying her around and work in the kitchen one-handed. It wasn’t always the safest thing to keep her on the kitchen tabletop. I sometimes wonder how our mothers would manage!

At the same time, I wanted her to be involved in what I did. To be able to give her the opportunity to develop her skills and participate in simple activities. I often read about the Learning Tower / Kitchen Helper but it was extremely expensive to order these to India.

My husband and I finally decided to get My Munchkin one made locally and we had this done somewhere after her first birthday. It did not come cheap however we made sure it was safe for her to use and her safety in the kitchen was our first priority. 

The main reason I choose to get this for My Munchkin was Safety. Of course, they can use a chair to access the kitchen table or a step stool for that matter. However, I wanted her to have something that she could use without having to worry about balancing. At the same time, I wanted something that I knew if she was on, I did not have to worry of her falling off and could continue with my work.

As Maria Montessori quoted, “To assist a child, we must provide him with an environment which will enable him to develop freely.”

I looked up various designs of Learning Towers and Kitchen Helpers and we finally decided to make our. Some basic features we included:

       ·  It is extremely sturdy and made of pine wood so that My Munchkin does not cut or hurt herself by any

          part of the tower when using it.

       ·  It has a wide enough step for her to use to access it. From the beginning, she could independently get

           in and out of the tower.

       ·  It has a wide base for her to stand on comfortably. It also has railings on all four sides. She uses this to

           access the kitchen at least two to three times daily.

     ·  The height is adjustable so we can lower it once she becomes bigger. So she reaches the kitchen

          tabletop height.

        ·  It is easy to clean, as it does get messy very often.

       ·  It is not light in weight so will not topple over. At the same time, it can be easily moved around in the

          kitchen.

Every time I am in the kitchen cooking or finishing some household chores, My Munchkin climbs up on her Learning Tower to make sure she does not miss out on the action. 

She is still a little young to help with many things but she usually does transfer the vegetables into the water, remove them from the water into a strainer and simple tasks like these. She makes sure to have a little snack too choosing what to munch on from the veggies or fruits being cut. I try to talk to her as much as possible about what I am doing as well.

I am sure when she is a little older, we will have a lot of fun trying to cook and bake together. Till then, My Munchkin can use her tower to be up there with me, observe and even participate.

How does your Munchkin access the kitchen? Have you thought of getting a Learning Tower yet?

She’s officially 1 year old! The phrase ‘time flies’ has never felt more real. We now begin the journey to Year 2 starting at Month 13.

She has been getting more curious and wants to explore everything around her. There isn’t a single place in the house that she hasn’t left unturned. Most days our house looks something like this.

Exploring is very good for their development so we just let her do what she wants as long as there is nothing harmful in her reach. Apart from this, she goes to her shelves and plays a lot during the day. She manages to work on all the activities on her own and keep herself busy.

Books

One of the best ways to encourage Language in your Munchkin and improve and grow their vocabulary. For smaller children, books made of cloth are ideal and then around 1 year, hardbound books are great for them.

Initially we should use books with only images in them, slowly moving to ones that have a single word and a picture. If they like to be read to, then short stories are a good option.

The most important thing to keep in mind is to use non-fiction books and stories at this age. Your Munchkin is still not ready for fantasy-based books.

Rocking Horse

My Munchkin received a Rocking Elephant for her birthday and she loves it. She initially needed help but soon knew how to use it on her own.

This is a nice thing to have for your Munchkin as children love it and it helps in gross motor skills and promotes cerebral development.

Montessori Shelf for a One Year Old

Let’s see what is on our shelves for a one year old?

Row 1

Top most row has the Colourful Soft Blocks. (Tutorial can be viewed there.) My munchkin does still use them to try build a tower. Though it is high for her, she manages to go on her toes and pull them down.

Row 2

This has the books we are currently reading:

-The Very Hungry Caterpillar

-Two books of Baby Touch

-Baby Animals

-Animal Sounds

Next we have the Xylophone, which she absolutely loves.

The DIY Coin Box has been added to her shelves this month. (I will put up a tutorial for this soon.)

Row 3

DIY Colour Sensory Bottles (Tutorial can be viewed there.)

DIY Object Permanence Box (Tutorial can be viewed there.)

Basket of Balls

Row 4

DIY Sound Sensory Bottles. (Watch out for the tutorial this week.)

Turtle puzzle. I removed this from the shelf in a few days as I realized it was still too early for her to use this.

Bead Maze

Outside the shelf, is her ring stacker. I have kept it out as it does not fit on my shelves and the topmost row would be too high for her to access it by herself.

Below is a video of My Munchkin working with her Xylophone.

Have you set up a Montessori Shelf for your Munchkin yet? Do share pictures with us.

“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?

My Munchkin as you are aware started crawling last month. She loves the fact that she can move around all by herself. She moves a lot quicker as well now.  She has in fact started pulling to stand as well. 

Achieving a new step towards independence, she has a great urge to fulfill her needs of movement and so is on and about at all times. We try our best to help her with this by giving her the freedom to move on her own and also providing her with different opportunities.

Environment to Support Movement

It is very important to have your environment (house) setup in a way to support the movements of your Munchkin. Childproofing, as we commonly know it, is required in every household. However, when I say childproofing, I mean it in a slightly different manner.

Typically, in childproofing we lock away doors, cabinets, refrigerators, put barriers/fences and a lot more. In Montessori, we want to try and give the child access to most things (as long as they are not dangerous), hence, we suggest moving things away that are not child friendly. Our home has a very simple set up, and our Munchkin has the freedom to explore every corner without any restrictions. Things that are not safe for her are put away and everything in her reach are safe things.

For example, in the kitchen, I do not keep the knives in the draw anymore and they are kept up where she cannot access them. I have just 1 draw locked that has cleaning products, which are not safe for her. Apart from this she has full access to all the drawers that include the glassware as well. I overlook her when she is exploring the drawers with glass but I do not stop her from doing it. To answer your concern, she has not broken anything so far, they are actually very careful when they handle things.

Low Heavy Table

When your Munchkin is crawling, try and have a low heavy table around. Alternately, you can have an ottoman, low sofa, even dining chairs (sturdy). This is to give them access to objects they can use to help pull themselves up to stand.  My Munchkin used to use our sofa, her highchair, dining chairs and the Montessori shelves to pull herself up. When we used to take her out on the balcony, she would use the ledge there as well to pull herself up (as shown in the image above).

“There is really no need to buy objects but only a need to understand the value of free movement and how important it is for children always to feel their bodies free to move and work in a space.” - Understanding the Human Being by Silvana Quattrocchi Montanaro

Stairs

Once they start crawling, they want to practice their gross motor movements. They really enjoy climbing up and down the stairs. There are products you can have at home for your Munchkin to use. The most common in Montessori is the Pickler’s Triangle, which allows the baby to climb up and down. We were not able to arrange for this and used the building common staircase for this. My Munchkin would love climbing up the stairs and did this practically everyday (sometimes she climbed 2 floors at a stretch!). The only drawback here was that because there were always more steps to go up, she would not really climb down.

Tunnel

We used our Caterpillar Tunnel for her and she loved it. She kept crawling through the tunnel and enjoyed herself. we had to make sure we held the tunnel firm from outside so that it did not overturn as she is still too small to balance it yet.

How have you planned to support your Munchkin’s movements?

9 months in… 9 months out… Once they are out, they are growing so fast you don’t even realize it. Before you know it, they are recognizing, rolling, sitting, crawling, walking and time does not stop.

My Munchkin has started crawling and sitting by herself around the same time. Crawling came first and a few days later she started sitting unaided as well. She has been on the go from the time she started crawling, exited about being able to explore things on her own. You can tell she is enjoying being able to move about independently.

We have moved her to a highchair for her meals. Though, Montessori encourages the use of a Weaning table we decided to use a highchair gifted to her for sometime before moving her to the table.

With each passing month, there is more that we can do with our Munchkins.

Pincer Movements

Around this time, children start their pincer movements (index finger and thumb). We can provide them with things like finger food, thin slices of bread, thin slices of fruit and anything your Munchkin likes which is easy for them to pick up and hold.  The pincer movement is one of the foundation for preparation to writing.

Bar on wall

Once your Munchkin is sitting / crawling, you can sit a bar into the ball. This should be about 2 to 3 cm from the wall so that they can hold it. It should be around the chest height of your Munchkin. You can also put a mirror behind the bar. This encourages the baby to pull himself to stand and also develops gross motor movements. We, unfortunately, did not have the space to do this but I do highly recommend it.

Ottoman / Small Stool

This is another option that can be used to encourage standing. A small stool or ottoman, around the stomach height of your Munchkin can be kept in their play area. It is important to make sure that the stool / ottoman is heavy and stable so that it does not turn over when they try pulling themselves up with it.

Basket of balls

A basket with 5 to 6 balls of different sizes and textures. This should be given to the to explore. They can kick, roll them, chase it, feel with their hands, anything as they wish.  This again develops gross motor movements.

Music box

Children love music so any kind of music box is recommended. When I say any kind, I mean more related to instrumental music and soft soothing sounds.

Books

Books should be a part of your Munchkin’s life from birth (or pregnancy). At this stage, have a basket of books that he can choose from. Soft cloth books are the best at this age. Alternately, hardbound books that do not have sharp edges should be used,

DIY Colourful Soft Blocks

These are very simple to make and your Munchkin will love using them. My Munckin has been playing with them for more than 6 months. These are good to give as first blocks to your baby. The commercial ones can be given a little later.

To make the Soft Blocks, cut out sponge in square / rectangle shapes – try keeping them around the same size. Then, cover each one and stitch cloth over each of them in your primary, secondary and tertiary colours. If you can arrange cloth of material, that would be even better. Give these to your Munchkin to play with, they can observe them, build with them, chew on them and do lots more.

Colours – Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Purple, Pink, Brown, Orange, Grey, Black and White.

Have you tried making Soft Blocks for your Munchkin? Did he / she enjoy playing with them? Share your experience with us.