4 Montessori Toys You Can Make at Home Around the Holidays

Linda Troya

Linda Troya

The Montessori materials that are made and incorporated into Stepping Stones classrooms at Whitby are constructed to strengthen pincer grip, develop eye hand coordination, encourage left-to-right order, and work on one to one correspondence. Montessori toys are no exception.

While a child plays, they're working on those skills whether they realize it or not. Here are four different holiday-themed activities you can do with your child at home this season:

1. Sorting Bells

This activity is implemented to help a child develop eye hand coordination, the pincer grip, instilling left-to-right and the math concept of sorting. Start off with two jars and two sets of colored bells that can be purchased at your favorite crafts store. Begin with one color bell in one jar and the other color bell in the other to get your child started.

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2. Tree and Presents

This is an activity created to help develop one to one correspondence and number recognition in a fun way. Cut out five Christmas trees from construction paper. Label each with the numbers one through five and have your child put the correlating number of gifts on each tree.

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Making Bracelets

This is an activity that is used by all of the children multiple times a day. The beads and pipe cleaners can be changed up to coordinate with the season or holiday. This activity is good for eye hand coordination, the pincer grip and most importantly helping the ability of being able to use two hands at a time.

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Making of a Menorah

Any shape can be cut out, to be used as a frame for a collage. During the Holiday’s this is easy, a Menorah, a Christmas Tree, a Dreidel or something that fits the time of year. A collage is good for sensory work – gluing and pasting different materials onto the frame. It also helps develop visual discrimination and can be used as a counting tool (counting out the number of candles used).

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Have you tried other holiday-themed activities at home with your children that help with pincer grip, coordination, order or correspondence? Be sure to share them in the comments section below.

If you're brainstorming gift ideas this holiday season that will help your child learn while having fun, be sure to browse our other post, 12 Montessori Toys to Help Your Child Learn Through PlayFrom Snap Circuits to Reading Blocks, there are a number of toys that will be sure to bring joy to your little ones in preschool and kindergarten.

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Linda Troya

Linda Troya

Linda Troya has been a pre-school teacher for 26 years and is a mother of three daughters. She enjoys helping the children become caring individuals as well as good communicators. In the Stepping Stones classroom, she tries to give her kids work that helps them be thinkers and inquirers, yet allows them the freedom of learning through play.