The Infant Coin Box is a Montessori material found in the 0-3 years environment. It is generally given to children around 13 months of age. I did a DIY for the Coin Box and introduced it to My Munchkin in Month 12 to see if it interested her and it did.
For the DIY, I used an empty pickle container – Mother’s recipe 1 kg pickle jar to be precise. Additionally, I took a small bowl, around 20 plastic tokens/coins and a basket to fit all of this in. I washed the pickle container properly and removed the stickers from it. To make the coin slot on the top, I heated a knife and pierced it through the lid. I repeated this step a few times to make the slot big enough for the token/coin to go through easily. With a filer, I filed any rough edges that were left around the slot to make sure they do not hurt My Munchkin.
Once the box was ready, I assembled it with the container in the basket. Next to that I kept all the token/coins in the bowl. This went on to her shelf. I make sure there are 2-3 tokens/coins in the container at all times to encourage her to do the activity.
When ready, I presented her the activity by showing her how to take the basket from the shelf and then take a token/coin and put it through the slot. As mentioned, I introduced My Munchkin to the activity in Month 12 and noticed her having a difficult time with it. So I removed the lid from the container and let her use it open. This helped a lot and she found it easier to do and was interested in it.
I put the lid back on a month later to see if she could manage the activity now and she was able to do it this time. The Coin Box could keep her occupied and she would want to repeat it a couple of times.
Age: Generally around 13 months of age.
Purpose: Helps in refining hand-eye coordination.
Do you think your Munchkin would enjoy the Coin Box activity? Do give it a try and let me know how it goes.