We all have heard about ‘Montessori’ at least once after having kids. Montessori is an educational philosophy developed by Dr. Maria Montessori during the late 1800’s. Since then It has become very popular worldwide. How is it related to toys? Well, Montessori philosophy is always emphasized in a well-prepared environment. There are just toys that lend themselves to the development of certain concepts but truly there is no such toy as Montessori toy. Any toy that fulfils the purpose can be served as a Montessori toy.
There are no certain rules for a Montessori toy but a guideline can be followed in deciding if you are interested in following Montessori philosophy.
- Natural: Montessori methods always prefer having toys that are natural, especially wooden, as it is both natural and aesthetically beautiful. It is believed that children are more focused when the material is natural and not very bright or loud to avoid overwhelming the child’s senses.
- Attractive: The toy should be attractive but simple. It is found that children get attracted to natural things easily as these are not very bright and they can focus on the purpose of the toy instead of getting distracted by its appearance.
- Limited: You should always introduce a limited number of toys at once and when the child masters the skills or overcomes the challenges thrown by a given toy, you can simply introduce another.
- Practical not Fantasy: Children relate to the real world more easily than the fantasy, especially younger and as they grow older their pretend play always gets inspired from real world and on the basis of it, they create their own fantasy world. Try to give them toys that resemble real life objects.