We have not had many new additions this month on our shelves as My Munchkin still enjoys working with the same ones she has. The things I did introduce were completely based on my observation of what I saw her do.

She’s been starting to express herself through a few words and lots of expressions. We make sure to always talk to her properly and not baby talk, give her names of things she looks at, eats, plays with and more. This will only help us once she starts talking. We are a multi-lingual family so we have tried to introduce her to all the languages spoken at home and in the family.

Books

My Munchkin loves books and enjoys being read to. You will often find her on the sofa or bed or chair looking through a book. We have to read to her daily and most often she chooses the book she wants read herself.

Maximum Effort

After having mastered walking, My Munchkin now looks for ways to develop her strength and carry big and heavy objects. This is what Dr. Montessori referred to as ‘maximum effort’ where a child experiences an inner need to carry heavy objects or oversized ones when walking in order to reach their full potential. As parents, we should acknowledge this need for theirs and provide them with opportunities to fulfill this urge. Simple things like carry a full bottle of water, a big cushion/pillow, a big bag. Here you see My Munchkin in one such case.

Walks

This has been a routine from the time My Munchkin was around 3 months old. We go for an evening walk daily – she has progressed from lying in the pram, to sitting in it, to holding things and walk, walking by herself and now beginning to run around. She thoroughly enjoys her evening walks and playtime, looking at the plants, birds, going after the cats and calling out to them. Here you find her searching for the cat that just ran past her.

Pulling and Putting Things in a Box

We had a phase where My Munchkin would find the wet wipes box, open it and start pulling out all the wipes. She would climb onto the dining table and pull out tissues from the tissue box. So I made a DIY activity for her based on this using an old tissue box where she could pull the scarf out and put it back in as well (of course she just pulled them out most of the time).

Basic Shapes Puzzle

We added basic shapes to her shelf this month. She mastered this very quickly so it looks like we need to move her on to another one soon.

Basic Threading Activity

This is another DIY I did for My Munchkin for developing her hand-eye coordination skills. Since she mastered the Coin Box activity this would be the next step from there for fine motor skill development. A DIY for this will follow soon. Till then watch her concentrate and work with it.

What have you been doing with your Munchkin lately? I would love to hear about it.