My boys love miniature objects! From about 18-20 months and on, they both have been so intrigued with small objects. Maria Montessori indicated this specific interest when she developed and outlined the sensitive periods of development. The sensitive period for small objects lasts from one year to three years of age. This fascination with tiny objects can be observed when a toddler wants to constantly pick up small objects to examine, like small pieces of dirt or crumbs on the floor. With lots of modeling and reminders from us, my boys both ended the phase of mouthing small objects pretty early on. When this ended, I felt comfortable with them exploring other small objects and including them in their shelf and sensory activities. One material they both have loved and are currently loving is miniature language objects!
I started collecting these objects to use as sound objects for Asher around the age of two and half. Asher has been introduced to sound work slowly over this past year. Before beginning any letter/symbol identification and pairing with sounds, we just focused on discovery of sounds with fun Montessori- inspired games. One of these games included looking at mini language objects to find objects. We would look for objects that started with various sounds like /s/ or /t/.
As we have moved into associating objects’ initial sounds with the corresponding letter symbol, I have been adding to the variety of mini language objects we have. At 25 months, Aiden also loves to explore and use these small objects and they have been really beneficial for fun and relaxed vocabulary development. If you’re following along with us on Instagram, then you’ve probably seen that his current favorite is the “mystery bag game”. For this, he pulls the mini objects out of the “mystery bag” that I have them in right now. Then, he names the objects or asks me to name them if he is unsure. This has been a great way to expand the words in his vocabulary and he has so much fun with it! Because of both of the boys’ uses of these miniature objects, it’s been helpful to have a growing collection of them.Â
However, Montessori mini language or sound objects can be pricey! I’ve added to our collection with different methods and I want to share these ideas so hopefully they can help if you’re searching for budget-friendly ways to find these mini objects. Here are some of the places that I have found mini language objects for our collection:
Montessori Language Miniatures Starter Set
I purchased our very first mini objects in the form of a starter set on Amazon. The set is no longer available on Amazon, but this is the one I bought from Montessori by Mom, for sale on their website. This mini objects set on Amazon is almost identical and would be a good option too. It was certainly not as cost effective as what I am doing now, but it was reasonably priced and was a great way to start our collection with some basics. There is a good range of objects and the set includes two objects with matching initial sounds for each letter of the alphabet (example: “ant” and “apple” for the /a/ sound). This was definitely a great foundation and it provided a way for Asher to start recognizing the initial sounds these words were made of.
Dollhouse Objects
This has been one of my favorite ways to find specific objects that I want to add to our collection. I have been able to find small dollhouse accessories (bat, baseball, mini fruits and vegetables, toaster, etc) for great prices at local craft stores in Michigan like Hobby Lobby, especially with a coupon. They have some miniature dollhouse objects on their website too. There’s usually a great variety so when I’m looking for specific objects to demonstrate letter sounds, this is where I’ve had the best luck!
Dollar Stores
These are a little more hit-or-miss, but sometimes I can find some miniature objects at dollar stores. At Christmastime especially, they usually have small Christmas village sets for sale for a dollar that include mini objects like trees, snowmen, benches, and lamps. All great items for language and sound work! Outside of holiday season, they usually have sets of mini erasers shaped as different objects that can also be useful additions to a Montessori miniatures collection.
Objects Around the House
When all else fails, or I really need some new objects to represent certain initial sounds, I go searching around our house! I’ve found some of my favorite mini objects this way: a nail file, stamp, penny, ball, tiny spoon, marker, and more! I also look through the animal figures we have and other toy sets to see if I have something that would work for a specific sound like a pig for /p/ or cat for /c/. Small figures from Safari Ltd.’s TOOB sets have been perfect for language and sound work too! This is such a cost-effective (free) and simple way to find Montessori minis and it’s a useful strategy when you’re looking for something last-minute that you need for a particular sound.
Those are some of the best strategies I’ve discovered for finding miniature sound or language objects. Between all of these options, we’ve been able to slowly grow our collection of minis in a budget-friendly way. The boys always get so excited to see new objects added to a shelf activity!
Do you have kids or students who love working with and exploring small objects?
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