Months 15 and 16 were full of new adventures for Aiden! Most of those adventures were outside since we have to take full advantage of our short Michigan summers. However, we almost always had some indoor time each day when the boys worked with different Montessori-inspired shelf activities and played together. They interact more and more and are usually drawn to the same practical life and shelf activities these days. I’ve been changing my thinking a bit and included work on their shelf that they can do together because I think the modeling process with an older and younger child is important and beneficial for both of them! I did still include specific activities with Aiden and his current interests and development in mind. Here’s a look at the Montessori-inspired activities he enjoyed at and around 16 months:
Bottles and Caps
These past couple of months, Aiden developed a lot of interest in pulling the caps off of bottles and pushing them back on. I noticed him enjoying pulling the lid off of a mini spray bottle of hand sanitizer and popping it back on, so I set up this tray for him. I just rinsed out some old bottles I was saving (hoarding) that had these types of lids and set them out on the tray. This provides some great practical life work for him. It also is helping to develop finger strength and dexterity and visual planning skills.
Shapes Puzzles
This new shape puzzle has been added as Aiden’s puzzle skills have evolved. He started with a simple 3-object puzzle with pegs at around 14 months. When he was confident with it and showing that he was done with that work for now (hadn’t touched the puzzle in a week), I switched it out for this one. I love that this still has pegs, but the number of pieces increased and the placement difficulty increased. I also love that this builds in a fun opportunity to expose Aiden to shape vocabulary when he wants me to sit with him. This is an older version that I found at a garage sale. This newer version is simpler and not so busy on the puzzle board.
Kinetic Sand Sensory Bin
My little man LOVES sensory bins and trays, so I included a kinetic sand sensory bin on his shelf. I added our Grimm’s wooden stacking bowls and a couple of “scoopers” to this bin. This was a shared shelf activity for my oldest (3 years) too (and me, to be honest). They had so much fun scooping, castle building, and stacking cups together. Kinetic sand offers such great sensory input- perfect for a sensory seeker!
Dry Pouring and Transferring
This is one of the shelf activities Aiden wanted to work with again and again over the past couple of months. This Montessori-inspired activity is focused on the practical life skill of pouring and I loved that Aiden could have a lot of independence with it. I used the same small pitcher-like cups that he used for water pouring for the first time at 14 months. Aiden loves small objects and anything involving pouring so this activity matched his current interests perfectly!
Montessori-Inspired Fruit Matching
Fruit is, of course, one of Aiden’s favorite food groups. So, this fruit object to picture matching activity was one of his recent favorites! His receptive language is much stronger than his expressive language at this age, so he understands most fruit words and can point to differing fruits we name. This Montessori-inspired matching activity was a fun way to continue building vocabulary! To get a free download of these fruit matching cards he’s been using, head on over to my subscription page or use the form below. Signing up will give you access to my free printables library!
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Dot Painting
This dot painting tray was the perfect beginning painting experience for Aiden. He started showing interest in these dot markers when Asher was using them so I added this to his shelf around 15 months. He liked gripping the markers and discovered how to press them down on the paper to make the paint marks. The process of learning how to use these was of course messy, but he also enjoyed wiping up any paint when he finished and washing his hands. I included dot markers in just the three primary colors so that there wouldn’t be too many choices and pieces of paper that I cut in half.
Hape Counting Stacker
This wooden counting stacker was another great addition to Aiden’s 16 month shelf work. It was challenging at first because he had difficulty getting his hand placement in the right place so that he could thread the wooden counter on the wooden rod, but I left him to his own devices other than modeling with him and he eventually figured it out. I love that this toy is great for fine motor development and builds in natural ways to name colors and count when I play with him. I also love that the wooden rods are bendable so it reduces the chances of injuries!
Tool Matching
I got this amazing idea from This Merry Montessori‘s blog. So far, Aiden is following in his brother’s footsteps with his love for tools. I made matching cards to go along with our Safari Ltd. Tools Toob set and laminated them with my home laminator. When this was first out as part of his Montessori-inspired shelf work at 16 months, he mostly just enjoyed looking at the cards and tools and pretending to use the tools to fix things around the house. After about a week, he started to work on matching the tool objects to the cards. These tool matching cards are available for a free download in the resource library.
Stamping
This was a simple, but super-loved, Montessori-inspired art tray. I included a few stamps and some half-sheets of paper. It takes a similar movement as the dot markers (which we tried first) so Aiden caught on pretty quickly. I included self-inking stamps for a little less mess and more independence, but I’ll probably add wooden stamps with an ink pad for him in the next couple of months.
Zoo Animals
One of the places we spent a lot of our outdoor time at this summer was the zoo. Aiden’s excitement over seeing the different animals grew over the course of the summer as he recognized them more and more. Seeing how much he liked pointing out these animals and making their sounds, I decided to set up a zoo animal matching activity. I included the animals he loves to see there- a penguin, peacock, polar bear, lion, lioness, giraffe, and zebra. He mostly enjoys making the animal sounds and walking the animals around the room, but also started trying to match the animals to their picture cards right around 16 months. These zoo animal cards are also available in the free resource library for download!
Those are some of the Montessori-inspired shelf activities Aiden has been enjoying around 16 months. Much of his time has also been spent on practical life work, which I hope to share soon! What activities did your older baby/young toddler enjoy?
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Dawn says
What great learning activities! My toddler has been doing some of these on his own, like the bottle caps, but the others are really interesting too! Might have to try some of these!
KMenko says
The bottle caps are so interesting to toddlers! Such great fine motor and practical work. Glad you liked the activities, thanks for reading! Hope you get to try some out!
Jacquie says
Great activities to get the little one’s brain going! I love the ideas with painting dots
Amy Gougler says
I love all of these different ideas and need to keep them in mind for my son who just turned one as he gets older! I didn’t even think about the cap and bottle idea. Super easy and functional!
KMenko says
Definitely, my favorite activities are the ones like that! Glad they were helpful to you and hope you get to try them out with your son down the road!
Mallie says
Love all these fun activities for kiddies! So many fun items to develop each important skills <3
KMenko says
Thanks so much! They have so much development going on at this age!
Lisa says
These are such great ideas! I love the bottles and caps one, and kinetic sand is always a hit!
KMenko says
Yes, kinetic sand is such a favorite! So many fun ways to play with it. Thanks for reading!
Lorena | www.lorenaylennox.com says
I love all of these ideas. What a cool puzzle by Melissa and Doug. We have a similar version which we use to trace shapes, but I haven’t seen this one before! Thanks for sharing.
KMenko says
Tracing shapes with it is a great idea! My older son has done that with another Montessori-inspired puzzle we have but I never thought about that with this. Thanks for reading and glad you liked the ideas!
scarlett says
Hey there I am sorry if this has been asked before but I just found your page :D! Where did you buy all this wonderful wood trays you are putting everything in ? Thank you! And thank you for doing this website you are super helpful!
KMenko says
Hi Scarlett! I’m so sorry for the delay. The wooden trays are mostly from Amazon. Some are the one called: “Amazing Child Montessori Small Quality Beech Wooden Tray (Internal Dimensions of Base = 11 x 7 inches)” and others are from the set called: “Multicraft Imports WS410 5-Piece Paintable Wooden Trays with Handles, 6-5/8 by 13-Inch to 10-1/8 by 16-1/8-Inch”. The three-part tray is called: “Lipper International 823 Bamboo Wood 3-Compartment Organizer Tray.” I hope that helps and I’m so glad the site has been helpful to you!