Before we know it our tiny little newborns who just enjoy gazing and grasping at the world are now ready to move, groove, touch, taste, and explore the world.
It’s so exciting, but also leaves us parents who want to live a Montessori inspired home life with the questions of,
“What learning stage is my baby at now?”
and
‘What Montessori activities should I have at 6 – 9 months?”
Here are some examples what you can use and what we used at home to do Montessori with our 6 – 9 month olds.
Montessori at 6 – 9 months Old
Your wonderful child is all ready to begin choosing their own toys & materials to explore by themselves.
What a wonderful stage! We can really start to observe their interests and favorites activities.
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We had things gifted and handed down to us, toys we bought, and some frugal thrift shop find to keep to our budget.
After trying a few types of materials I will list what we found were the most durable and Montessori-aligned toys for 6 – 9 months.
Montessori Toys for 6-9 Month Olds
- Sensory Teethers
- Teething is still so big during this stage of infancy, so creating a sensory basket with a variety of teethers is a great Montessori-aligned option. We tried to have something wooden, something fabric, and something rubbery in the basket to choose from. I read through recent amazon reviews and have listed what I found to be some of the safest options, I don’t trust things with bells in them these days and soo many wooden rings are falling apart from cheap materials so please be careful with wooden teether purchases.
Options: HABA Sensory Fabric Ball | Comotomo Teether | Skwish
- Teething is still so big during this stage of infancy, so creating a sensory basket with a variety of teethers is a great Montessori-aligned option. We tried to have something wooden, something fabric, and something rubbery in the basket to choose from. I read through recent amazon reviews and have listed what I found to be some of the safest options, I don’t trust things with bells in them these days and soo many wooden rings are falling apart from cheap materials so please be careful with wooden teether purchases.
- Ring Stacker
- This was a big favourite for both of my boys. PLEASE forget the rainbows you see everywhere and get a good ring stacker, trust me. These develop hand-eye coordination and builds core strength while they sit and focus on the activity.
Options: Small 4 Ring Stacker | 8 Piece Ring Stacker
- This was a big favourite for both of my boys. PLEASE forget the rainbows you see everywhere and get a good ring stacker, trust me. These develop hand-eye coordination and builds core strength while they sit and focus on the activity.
- Object Permanence Box
- My one regret was not buying one of these sooner by trying to be too frugal. This kept my child’s interest for so long and for many months. Very durable for passing along to siblings as well. This toy teaches the concept that when something is “out-of-sight” it still exists, and rolls into view shortly after.
Options: Object Permanence Box with 3 types of balls | All Neutral Wooden Only
- My one regret was not buying one of these sooner by trying to be too frugal. This kept my child’s interest for so long and for many months. Very durable for passing along to siblings as well. This toy teaches the concept that when something is “out-of-sight” it still exists, and rolls into view shortly after.
- Musical Toys
- Babies are so interested in exploring things that make sounds! We had wooden shakers and a small drum on our shelf off & on depending on interests at the time. There are a variety of Montessori-aligned ways you can introduce music into your child’s life.
Options: Egg shakers | Baby Tamborine | Rainstick
- Babies are so interested in exploring things that make sounds! We had wooden shakers and a small drum on our shelf off & on depending on interests at the time. There are a variety of Montessori-aligned ways you can introduce music into your child’s life.
- Board Books
- Some sturdy board books with realistic pictures or graphics is a great addition for any young child. SO MUCH research is out there on the importance of reading to children, so finding Montessori aligned books is great material to have on your shelf!
Options: DK Animals | Goodnight Construction Site
- Some sturdy board books with realistic pictures or graphics is a great addition for any young child. SO MUCH research is out there on the importance of reading to children, so finding Montessori aligned books is great material to have on your shelf!
- Single Shape Puzzles
- Towards the end of 6-9 month period you can introduce single shape puzzle. Only have one shape out at a time, and start with the circle. These Montessori puzzles fine tune hand-eye coordination even more. My children didn’t really have much interest in egg-cup toy, but shape puzzle activities kept interest for a lot longer and were used for many months (better bang for our budget).
Options: 3 Individual Shape Puzzles Kit
- Towards the end of 6-9 month period you can introduce single shape puzzle. Only have one shape out at a time, and start with the circle. These Montessori puzzles fine tune hand-eye coordination even more. My children didn’t really have much interest in egg-cup toy, but shape puzzle activities kept interest for a lot longer and were used for many months (better bang for our budget).
Montessori Shelf
It’s okay to not have the “perfect” Montessori shelf for 6 – 9 month old straight away.
It takes time to get everything together, so its perfectly okay to start where you are and slowly improve.
For example, where we began with our first…
To where we evolved to, where we moved our Montessori “shelf” space to an existing shelf in our living room.
Montessori Furniture for 6-9 months
There are a few items you can add around the home at this point that can really promote independence for your 6 – 9 month old.
Many of these items will be used for the next few years.
Weaning Table
Around 6 – 9 months old is a great time to introduce a weaning table.
We introduced the weaning table to each of our children at 6 months old.
Both our boys absolutely LOVED having the independence to crawl up and in to their own little chair for snacks and meals.
This table was used for the next 3 years (well, 3 years per kiddo) as a place for eating and doing crafts & baking at their level.
It provided SO much independence for them, and made many activities safer by doing them at child height.
We used the weaning table for breakfast, snacks, and lunch.
Often we used tripp trapp high chair for dinner, as we like to have dinner together at the table as a family as part of our family values.
*Pro Tip – Check Good Buy Gear for 2nd hand high chairs!
For us we built our own weaning table, as we had the tools and materials around the shed already.
>>> See How We Built Weaning Table <<<
But, if you are not someone who has that accessible there are plenty of options these days for finding a weaning table that grow with your child.
ECRKids make a good, versatile weaning table & chairs that you can just flip chair once baby gets taller and it’s suited for longer toddler legs, plus the table can be turned later as well to become like a like bench-seat book nook.
Child items that can be modified to grow with the child are my favorite kind of things, #parentwin!
If you haven’t heard of a weaning table before and want to learn a bit more about what they are and why they are considered Montessori aligned, check out All About Weaning Tables and see photos of how we’ve used ours over the years.
Dining Set
To go along with the weaning table or an Montessori-aligned alternative, introducing a child sized cup and plate is great to do between 6 – 9 months.
If you’re interested in a stainless steal infant dining set design by a doctor, the one above is a great option.
Many in the Montessori realm use glass, but I recognize this makes many parents uneasy, so I thought i’d mention the stainless steal option first.
A child-sized glass cup from a reputable Montessori store (for quality/safety reasons) is the option many families such are ours often choose.
You could also look into introducing child sized cutlery if it seems suitable, but often this is a bit early.
Little Couch
You don’t need anything fancy! A cheap little kids couch from Kmart that was gifted to us to became a favored piece of kids furniture for both our boys.
It was perfectly their size, all soft for any mishaps, and held them up if they leaned against it.
As they began to show interest in books, they would take their books to their little couch to sit and look.
Read More…
Standing Diaper Change Area Ideas
Baby & Toddler Shared Bedroom
