At 9 months, Aiden is almost always on the move. I love that he’s now at the age where he can crawl to the shelves and pull his own baskets out. I’m getting a great reminder of what “shelf work” looks like at this age and all of the modeling that goes along with it. When he’s done with an activity and moving on to the next thing, I place his work back in the basket and on the shelf. Sometimes I narrate what I am doing if I can remember and am not in a convo with my toddler. Yes, it’s a lot of effort right now, but so beneficial for building independence later on! I think we’re narrowing in on a focus for movement and I have a feeling that shelf work will be mostly left behind for gross motor activities in the coming months. Until that time, here are the Montessori-inspired activities that are on our shelves at 9 months:
Musical Instruments/Shakers
In watching him, I could see that Aiden really enjoys anything that makes noise right now, especially shakers. We’ve had this Nino Percussion egg shaker for a couple of years now and have loved it, so we got Aiden a few of their other items for Christmas. He’s enjoying the bell stick and the wrist jingle bells, but the maracas are definitely his favorite. Such a fun sensory experience!
Farm Animals
This basket of Schleich farm animals has been perfect for beginning language exposure. I say the name of the animals as he picks them up and explores them. I started him with just this cow, pig, and horse and we might rotate to a different grouping of animals next month. I’m always impressed with the detail in Schleich animals and I love that they are so realistic so Aiden can begin to form constructs that fit what these animals truly look like.
Ring Stacker
Aiden is just starting to becoming more interested in this wooden ring stacker. He has enjoyed taking the rings off of the stacker for awhile now, but is starting to try to get the rings back on the stacker. I’ve been trying to remember to present this work with the rings off so that this new challenge will be more inviting to him. This is definitely one of the more challenging items on his shelf this month. We got this Pottery Barn stacker as a gift when Asher was born and love the quality, but I’ve also admired this one and this one.
Stacking Blocks
These stacking blocks are one of my favorite toys for so many reasons. Both of my boys loved to scootch and pull themselves toward towers of them when they were learning to crawl. Asher still loves them now for color sorting activities. They’re soft enough that I don’t have to worry about safety and they can easily be washed after spit-up episodes. At 9 months, Aiden likes to watch me build towers with these and knock them down. He’s starting to grab a single block and try to place it on top of another, but he doesn’t have all of the fine motor skills for this yet. I love watching those skills slowly develop!
Wooden Push Car
My dad made this wooden car for Aiden this past Christmas and it has also been a favorite since then. He enjoys exploring the wheels and crawling after it around the house as he rolls it. I love that it encourages his gross motor movement and that it provides more language exposure as he sits playing with it. This is a similar option on Etsy.
Sensory Balls
Like the blocks, these textured balls fit so many purposes and can span many ages. Right now they are perfect for the sensory tactile exposure they each give as well as some gross motor work. Aiden has recently learned how to throw the smaller balls (probably from lots of time spent watching big brother) which is his favorite way to use this work.
Object Permanence Box
If I had to choose a favorite Montessori-inspired infant material, it would definitely be this. Watching infants figure this out, each in their own way, amazes me. I’ve modeled this a few times, and Aiden is starting to trace the ball around the hole right now. I will probably leave this out on his shelf at 10 months so that he can continue to explore this. This work builds confidence, fine motor skills, and understanding of object permanence as littles discover that the ball doesn’t disappear. Love, love, love. We have this exact one and it has held up well over the past few years.
Grimm’s Marbles
These wooden marbles were a Christmas gift from family and they have been a hit. Aiden loves to chase after these around the house and Asher loves to roll them to him. We’re in a stage where it’s tricky to have activities set up for each of them and to keep things safe for Aiden, so I like that these are a toy that they can “play” with and interact with together. I build in language exposure with them by naming the colors as he holds them and rolls them.
Did your baby have interest in toys at 9 months or did they just like to be on the move?
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