I haven’t done a shelf post for ages! We have been going outside a lot recently, and when we have been at home Frida has been really absorbed in reading and handling books (she has accessible book shelves in her room and book baskets around the house).
This means that we haven’t been rotating the activities on her shelves much, especially the ones in the sitting room and dining room. She is starting to use her toys a bit more again now though so I thought I would share what’s on her shelves in her room.
Currently on her shelves:
Grimm’s conical stacker. We bought this for her a couple of months ago but Frida has only started to really enjoy using this. She carefully removes all of the pieces from the stacker; this is harder than it looks as the rod in the centre is really quite thin, so it’s tricky to get the bottom pieces off and she has to use two hands and manoeuvre herself so that she doesn’t tilt it too much. Great for her motor skills and beautiful to handle, like all of the Grimm’s toys she has. I’m sure this will be in and out of rotation for a while as she’s not at the stage where she can put it back together yet.
Colour exploration basket. I originally had more items in here but Frida always ignored them so I removed them to create a simpler basket. The colour paddles are a huge hit and she loves holding this one up to her eyes and watching as everything turns blue. The jar is from the set I made a couple of months ago.
Simple knobbed puzzle. I wasn’t sure how interested Frida would be in this but it’s been a hit. She’s not quite got the hang of replacing the pieces once she has removed them but seems to enjoy handling it regardless. It’s a good introduction to size as when talking about it with her I can use words like “biggest, smaller, smallest”.
Object permanence box. Frida is still using this classic Montessori object regularly; it seems to bring her enormous satisfaction as it behaves the same way every time. I have written a whole post on this if you would like to read more!
We have also left on her shelves the nesting baskets activity I made for her, and her family faces basket as these are still being used on a daily basis.
As well as these Frida is using her Holztiger animals a lot – these are always accessible to her in baskets just above her rotated shelves. These are such gorgeous toys, and a joy to handle, so I can see why she enjoys them so much. We are slowly building her a collection.
With less than a month to go until her first birthday I am starting to think about birthday gifts, but I am still undecided!
What are your children enjoying at the moment?
