Montessori Toys: A Developmental Guide for Babies First Year
Hey friends! 👋
My name is Jenna, I’m getting ready to start my third trimester as a first-time pregnant mama. My husband and I are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our daughter this September, and I am so unbelievably excited!
Since this is going to be our first, I have been up to my eyes in research, planning, and preparing for all things baby 😂
I’m definitely not someone who “goes with the flow” and takes things “by the seat of my pants”. I’m the kind of person who plans every single thing I possibly can (in my mind, if I think about it now, I’ll never have to think about it again — maybe that’s just girl math 😂).
That’s included creating countless wishlists on Amazon, by age and developmental stage, of everything I want to purchase for our daughter during her first year (or two — don’t judge!).
The Importance of Developmentally Appropriate Toys
I’m a firm believer in the idea that babies don’t need toys!
If you want to know more about that, I discuss it in my post Preparing for a Montessori Baby
That said, I’m also someone who wants to invest in a few, high quality, baby toys that will help my daughter practice and reach her developmental milestones.
A few side notes before we continue:
- I’m not saying babies don’t need to play. Play is an essential developmental skill, and the primary way children learn!
- When I say babies don’t need toys, I’m referring to the “baby toys” marketed to parents of infants. The vast majority of these toys are much too advanced for the age level they’re advertised for, and far too overstimulating for an infant.
- I believe it’s important for children to be challenged, and given opportunities, to reach their milestones. I don’t believe children should be put on a one-size-fits-all schedule of when they need to hit those milestones by, and I definitely don’t think pressure from parents to reach milestones will do anything besides stress babies out!
How To Find Developmentally Appropriate Toys
All that said, here’s my approach to finding developmentally appropriate toys that will challenge your baby to reach her next milestones, at her own pace and time.
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- Educate yourself about your child’s developmental milestones
- Observe your child (Where are they developmentally? What comes next?)
- Get creative about ways to challenge your child
- Purchase toys that are simple, minimal, and open ended
Educate yourself about your child’s developmental milestones:
This is a pretty obvious one, you can’t plan for your child’s development if you don’t know what that’s supposed to look like 😂
Luckily, you’re here, educating yourself, so you’re already on the right path!
Where I started, and where I recommend you start, is by looking at the CDC guidelines here.
These guidelines outline the developmental milestones the average child will reach and at what age they’re expected to reach them.
This is a guideline and should be used as such, it’s not personalized medical advice, it doesn’t address your child’s specific needs or challenges, it’s an idea of what to pay attention for and when.
I look at this as less of a schedule and more of an order in which things generally occur (ie. Baby has to first be able to lift their head before they’re going to be able to crawl, etc.)
You definitely shouldn’t take this guideline as gospel; every child is different, and every child is going to meet these milestones at their own pace (or they may skip milestones entirely).
If your child is special needs, they may not hit some of these milestones at all, and others will take longer than what is listed.
My advice is to focus on one milestone at a time, don’t worry about the when, just focus on providing your child the opportunity to practice and be challenged.
Observe Your Child
If you’ve read any of my other posts, you’d know I’m a huge proponent of the Montessori education style.
A big part of that is the concept of “follow the child”, meaning observe where your child is at, what they’re interested in, and what they’re struggling with.
Your child can show you exactly where they’re at if you’ll just pay attention. So, as your child grows, observe. As you observe you’ll be able to identify where your child is developmentally, and in turn where they’re going next.
This will empower you to move onto the next step…
Get creative about ways to challenge your child
Now that you’ve identified where they’re at, and where they’re going, you now have the wonderful opportunity to challenge them!
Another Montessori concept I love is “prepare the environment”. In Montessori, it’s the parent’s job to prepare the child’s environment with things that will challenge and motivate them.
This environment should be baby proofed so the child can move about and freely explore; it should be free of any clutter or distractions (such as excess toys, items that are noisy, flashy, or overstimulating, and items that are unsafe for your child to have).
This environment should also be quiet, calm, and peaceful to allow your child to focus entirely on the incredible task in front of them! There should only be about 3–6 developmentally appropriate toys to choose from, all others should be safely stored away to be rotated out at a later time.
Part of “preparing the environment” is choosing toys that are appropriately challenging.
One of the first milestones a child reaches is lifting their head for an extended period of time.
Most babies can lift their heads with great effort at birth, but their necks still aren’t strong enough to support their heads for very long. This is why “tummy time” is so highly encouraged at this age.
Another thing babies this age are working towards is expanding their vision (when babies are born, they’re only able to see about a foot in front of them and can’t see color).
A great first “toy” to challenge both of these skills is high contrast cards, a mirror, or a high contrast blanket or quilt for your baby to look at during tummy time.
Another baby item that is great for developing a baby’s sight is mobiles. Mobiles hung above your baby’s bed are great for developing visual tracking and focus.
Later, when baby has gotten herself onto her hands and knees for the first time, a great toy for challenging baby to crawl is a cylindrical drum that she can push away and chase.
She’ll likely become frustrated as the toy rolls away, which is exactly the motivation she needs to learn to crawl so she can reach the toy once again!
It’s crucial that we don’t rescue our children when they initially become frustrated, if we give the toy back each time it rolls away, she’ll have no motivation to learn to crawl after it.
We should only intervene when she’s exhausted her capabilities and is on the verge of giving up, at that point we should redirect her attention to another toy/skill she can work on.
Baby rattles and textured balls are great tools for infants learning to grip things. Stacking rings and blocks are wonderful for babies learning precision in their movements.
Object permanence boxes are great for infants learning to place objects in holes and who are exploring the concept of object permanence.
The list goes on and on!
The key though, is thinking of ways to challenge your child to practice the new skills they’re developing.
Purchase toys that are simple, minimal, and open ended
I talked about this in my Preparing for a Montessori Baby post, toys that are loud and flashy tend to be overstimulating and unengaging for infants.
They do nothing to teach our children the fundamental concepts of our world. They generally don’t hold our children’s attention for long, and soon end up in the pile of forgotten toys along with all the other unnecessary baby items we’ve wasted our money on.
The toys that tend to be the most engaging for our children, and the toys that tend to last the longest, are the toys that are simple, minimal, and open ended.
These toys challenge our children’s creativity and imagination, they can be repurposed throughout a child’s development for any number of skills and achievements, and at the end of the day they’re the toys our children remember the most fondly when they look back on their childhood.
My Top Developmentally Appropriate Toys for 0–12 Months
Now that we’ve got a good understanding of what makes a toy developmentally appropriate, and challenging, let’s take a look at my top toy recommendations.
A quick note: I am a first-time pregnant mama, all recommendations are a result of research, not hands on experience! But I will most definitely be updating this list over the next year as we introduce these toys to our daughter.
All of these recommendations are toys I plan to purchase myself as they become developmentally appropriate, and I will be making detailed reviews of each so stay tuned for that!
So, without further ado…
Here are my top picks for developmentally appropriate toys, by age and stage, from 0–12 months.
0–2 Months
Milestones during this stage
A few of the first milestones baby is expected to reach include looking at faces, smiling, making sounds besides crying, reacting to loud noises, and watching you as you move.
She’s also learning to look at objects for several seconds, lift her head while on her tummy, move both arms and both legs, and open her hands briefly.
Toys to challenge and practice these skills
At this age babies really can’t play with toys, so the best “toy” you’re going to find during this stage is going to be your face and their body!
Talking to your baby, singing songs, reading books, playing with her hands and feet, allowing her to observe you while you do go about your daily life, these are going to be the activities that challenge your baby the most during this developmental stage.
Trying to introduce toys at this age is going to result in frustration and overstimulation. The only exception to this, I’d say, would be using a mirror, a few high contrast cards, or a high contrast quilt during tummy time.
If you want to invest in some Montessori mobiles, you definitely can. Personally, we decided to invest in a simple wooden play gym with the option to remove and change out some of the attachments as she gets older.
What does play look like at this stage
Play at this age is going to look like 20–30 minute wake windows in which baby is probably going to be held or on the floor doing tummy time. Tummy time can also be done on your chest or lap.
I plan to lay our daughter on a high contrast quilt on my chest and lap when I can, or on the floor if no one is available to hold her.
It’s important to keep in mind that babies this age will spend the majority of the day sleeping, eating, and being changed, and tummy time is an exhausting endeavor for young babies.
Babies should never be left unattended on their stomachs for too long as this can lead to frustration, anxiety, and even injury in some cases.
Here are the developmentally appropriate toys I recommend for 0–2 months:
2–4 Months
Milestones during this stage
Once babies have mastered the previous milestones, they generally move on to smiling without prompting, chuckling (but not yet laughing), making noises or moving to grab your attention, cooing (sounds like “ooo” and “aah”), responding with noises when spoken to, turning towards the sound of your voice.
Baby will also begin opening her mouth when she sees a breast/bottle (if hungry), looking at her hands with interest.
She’s learning to support her own head while being held, grasping toys when they’re placed in her hand, using her arm to bat at toys, bringing her hands to her mouth, and pushing up to her elbows/forearms during tummy time.
Toys to challenge and practice these skills
Once again, babies this age can’t really play yet, but we can introduce a few more toys. Your best tool is still going to be your face and their body, though.
A great toy to introduce at this age is a rattle, one with a skinny handle is going to be best for baby to practice gripping and shaking. You could also use teething rings so she can practice grip and bringing her hands to her mouth (the tummy time crinkle toys linked above have attached teething rings which are great for this).
Another great tool for this stage is socks and bracelets with rattles inside. They make noise as she moves her arms and legs, introducing cause and effect as well as giving baby a reason to move her arms and legs.
Some options you can find around your home if you can’t, or choose not to, invest in baby toys include a plastic or wooden spoon that’s thin enough for baby to grip in her hand. You could also DIY a baby rattle or sock rattles.
Your best tool, though, is still going to be your face and voice as you talk to, sing to, and play with your baby.
This is a great opportunity to begin teaching the fundamentals of communication by speaking to your child clearly, pausing for a response, and acknowledging her coos as if she’d responded to you.
Tummy time on the floor continues to be important at this stage because it gives baby an opportunity to develop her arm, chest, and back strength so she can prop herself up on her elbows (a precursor to crawling).
Some parents choose to invest in tummy time pillows to prop their baby up, personally I don’t see the value in these once baby has mastered lifting her head.
Coo-ing is the precursor to babbling and talking, so it’s important to model proper speech to your child, even before she starts to “coo”.
I plan to do a lot of baby-wearing once I’m able to be up and about postpartum, so she’ll have the opportunity to observe me going about my day, doing housework, running errands, during which I can narrate what I’m doing, using the proper names of objects, and talking back and forth with her.
As I do this, her “absorbent mind”, as Dr. Montessori calls it, will naturally pick up on these patterns of communication and build the foundation for good communication skills later in life.
What does play look like at this stage
Play at this stage is going to look like tummy time on the floor, laying on her back under a baby gym or with her wrist and ankle rattles, baby wearing while going about daily activities, reading aloud and singing to baby, and practicing hand grip with baby rattles and teething rings.
Developmentally appropriate toys I recommend for 2–4 months
All of the toy recommendations from the last stage continue to be developmentally appropriate. As well, most of the toy packs previously recommended also come with toys for this developmental stage.
Here are the only additional toys we plan to introduce at this stage:
4–6 Months
Milestones during this stage
During this stage, baby will be working on recognizing familiar faces, laughing, taking turns talking (you talk, she responds with cooing), squealing, blowing “raspberries”, exploring by putting things in her mouth, reaching for items she wants, and closing her lips when she’s full.
She’ll also be rolling from her tummy to her back, pushing up with straight arms during tummy time, and leaning on her hands to support herself when sitting.
Toys to challenge and practice these skills
Around this stage is when babies can actually begin playing with toys on their own, though it’s still important for us as parents to observe our children and to play with them.
This is where we begin working towards crawling, so some great toys to invest in are going to be balls, cylindrical drum, and interlocking discs (all of these can be found in the 5-piece set linked above).
Essentially anything that is going to roll away and encourage baby to chase after it is going to support those reaching skills and eventually lead to baby being able to move from sitting to crawling.
We’re also working on rolling from front to back, so placing baby on her stomach under the baby gym with a favorite toy above her is going to be a great way to challenge her to roll over.
We’re still growing our communication skills during this stage so it’s still critically important to talk to baby and pause for a response.
We’re still reading to baby daily and singing together. We can also work on facial expressions, eventually this will lead to baby mimicking our facial expression, then she’ll learn to practice different facial expressions on her own and in the mirror.
There are tons of DIY options for toys at this age, and many things we can find around our homes are great for rolling and chasing.
What does play look like at this stage
Play at this stage is going to look like baby sitting on the floor with a toy, practicing dropping, pushing, throwing, and chasing toys.
It can also look like mom or dad sitting on the floor, playing with baby, handing her toys but keeping them just far enough that she has to reach for them.
It’s common for baby to get frustrated when she’s having a hard time reaching for the item of her attention. This frustration (as long as it doesn’t turn into overwhelm and giving up) is a good thing and will challenge baby to develop her skills!
Here are the developmentally appropriate toys I recommend for 4–6 months:
- 3 in 1 Soft Baby Toys Set
- Montessori Ball Cylinder Rolling Drum
- Montessori Mirror Peekaboo Knob Puzzle, Medium Spinning Drum and Rainbow Fabric Ball Kit
6–9 Months
Milestones during this stage
During this stage baby is beginning to show multiple facial expressions, look when her name is called, she may cry when you leave, and smile/laugh when you play peek-a-boo.
She’s transitioning from cooing to babbling, may lift her arms to be picked up, is beginning to understand object permanence, as well as beginning to bang objects together.
She is working on getting into a sitting position on her own, moving items from one hand to another, and sitting without support.
Toys to challenge and practice these skills
Peek-a-boo is a great game for this stage, it’s also a great opportunity to show baby different facial expressions and give her an opportunity to mimic them.
As we continue to practice our communication skills and give baby an opportunity to respond when we’re talking to her, she’ll naturally begin to mimic our speech patterns and transition from cooing to babbling.
We’re also developing her communication skills by continuing to read to her nightly, practicing clear and correct speech and voice inflection.
She’s beginning to understand the concept of object permanence (that objects don’t disappear just because we can’t see them anymore), so a great toy for practicing this skill is going to be an object permanence box (a box with one open side and a hole in the top, baby can place a ball in the hole and it will roll out of the open side).
She’s also learning cause and effect by banging objects together (when I hit these objects together, they make this noise), pretty much any object can work for practicing this skill, but a great option, that can be played with for years to come, is blocks!
Some great toys when baby is learning to sit on her own include a spinning drum (linked with the 4–6 month toys, blocks, and sorting toys. Essentially any toy that is best played with while sitting down.
These toys are also usually great for practicing the skill of passing objects from one hand to another.
Most if not all of these toys can be made at home if budgets are tight, there are tons of great DIY tutorials on YouTube!
What does play look like at this stage
At this stage, play is going to look like sitting on the floor with baby while she plays. Often times you’ll need to show her how to play with a toy (ie. showing her that banging the blocks together makes a fun sound).
Most sorting toys are going to be a little too advanced for this stage, the idea isn’t for baby to play with the toy correctly, it’s simply to introduce the toy to her environment. As she gets familiar with the toy, she’ll explore and discover the different things she can do with it.
It’s going to look like playing peek-a-boo together, talking, laughing, singing. I plan to continue baby wearing until our daughter is beginning to walk so that she always has the opportunity to observe me going about my day, doing housework, etc.
Around 6 months, baby can begin eating solids, so mealtimes are going to be a great “play” opportunity as well! We’re going to be following baby-led-weaning, but you should follow whatever food introduction plan you’re most confident and comfortable with.
For more information about Baby-Led Weaning, check out my post Pregnant and Planning: Baby-Led Weaning.
At mealtimes, give your baby whatever food you’re comfortable with, and let them explore it! Try not to put too much pressure on baby to actually eat the food in the beginning, she’ll likely end up wearing more food than she eats, and that’s okay!
Eventually she’ll eat the food, but it’s an important part of development that babies get to explore their food and be messy. Studies show that allowing babies to play with their food, in the beginning, actually leads to less picky eaters later on.
Here’s that study for those who are interested → Samuelson, L. K. (2013). “It’s all in the name: Frontotemporal cooperation during learning of object labels,” Developmental Science, 16(1), 13–24.
Developmentally appropriate toys I recommend
- 8-in-1 Montessori Wooden Toy Set for Babies
- Wooden Building Blocks
- Wooden Sorting and Stacking Toy (1)
- Wooden Sorting and Stacking Toy (2)
9–12 Months
Milestones during this stage
At this stage, baby is learning games like pat-a-cake, she’s learning to wave “bye-bye”, is working on saying her first words (likely “mama” or “dada”), and she’s learning what “no” means (though she may not listen).
She’s also learning to place objects in containers, has a good understanding of object permanence, is working on pulling up on furniture to stand/walk, is learning to drink from an open cup, and is developing her pincer grasp (thumb and forefinger).
Toys to challenge and practice these skills
Peek-a-boo and pat-a–cake are both great games to play at this stage. It’s also going to be important that we continue to develop our communication skills, incorporating things like waving hello and goodbye, and practicing using the word “no”.
The object permanence box is going to continue to be a good tool for this stage, as well as a disc dropping toy (baby places a small disc in a narrow slat), these are both great toys for practicing placing objects in containers and reinforcing object permanence.
We’re also working on crawling and “cruising” during this stage, so continuing to use toys that roll to practice crawling, and placing favorite toys on a couch or ottoman (so baby has to pull up to a standing position to reach them) are going to be great practice opportunities for these skills.
Another great toy for this stage is a pull string toy (a ball with silicone strings that can be pulled with the thumb and forefinger to practice the pincer grasp), as well as a cloth tissue pulling toy.
Practicing drinking from an open cup is also a great challenge for this stage. You can start with just a tablespoon of breast milk or formula in a small glass, then help baby place her hands on the sides of the cup and gently tip it back.
Most likely she won’t swallow any of the liquid on the first few tries, that’s okay, that’s another skill entirely. When you’re initially introducing open cups, first get baby comfortable holding and tipping the cup on her own.
Once she’s comfortable with this, she’ll learn to drink from the cup, until then, just keep giving her a tablespoon at a time (and maybe just go with a diaper while she’s learning).
What does play look like at this stage
Play during this stage is going to look a lot like the previous stage, with the added element of cruising on the furniture!
We’re still going to be spending a lot of time sitting on the floor with baby, playing with all of the toys mentioned in the previous stage, as well as the new one’s mentioned in this stage.
Baby proofing is going to be hugely important as baby begins crawling and cruising. A great idea while baby proofing is going to be to get down on baby’s level and look around the house. Try to spot potential dangers that you might have missed from up above.
Developmentally appropriate toys I recommend for 9–12 months
Babies Don’t Need a Lot
The truth is, at the end of the day babies don’t need a ton of stuff. Toys can be helpful for challenging infants to practice and develop skills, but they are by no means necessary!
I talk a lot about this in my Preparing for a Montessori Baby post as well as in my post Debunking the Baby Registry: What Not to Buy.
I highly encourage reading both of those posts if you’re interested in learning about my philosophy on toys and baby gear.
Developmentally Appropriate Toys for Babies 12–24 Months
This post is about developmentally appropriate toys for baby’s first year, but if you’re like me and like to plan way too far in advance 😂 I think you’ll enjoy my next post → Developmentally Appropriate Toys for Babies and Toddlers 12–24 Months
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If you’re interested in real, candid, unfiltered stories about navigating motherhood, Montessori, and minimalism, I definitely think you’ll enjoy this blog post next! → Expecting My First: Parenting Books I’m Reading and Recommending
