Best Montessori Toys for 6-9 Month Old Babies
If you are looking for Montessori toys for your 6 to 9-month-old baby, these recommendations will provide engagement and great sensorial experiences for your little one! Keep in mind that there are no hard and fast timelines for any of these suggestions. Babies love to explore! Some toys will appeal to them more than other times. However, continue to observe your baby to know when it may be time to introduce some new toys. Rotating toys is important as a way to keep the prepared environment engaging and relevant to your child’s needs.
What to Consider When Purchasing Toys
Purpose: What is the purpose of the toy? Does it offer some sensorial experience? Is it open-ended and allows for exploration? Is it a passive toy that requires an active baby? (This is what we want, rather than toys that are active and seek to entertain our babies).
Quality: What is the toy made of? Is this material safe for them to put into their mouth? Consider having a variety of materials, these will give the baby a different sensorial experience. For example, wood feels very different in their mouth than silicone or stainless steel. These are all important sensorial explorations for a baby to have!
Quantity: Do you already have a toy similar to this one?
Variety: Is this toy something that will bring greater value into your home?
Introduce Around 6 Months
Sensory Balls
A basket of sensory balls can be a great material to introduce around this age. These balls offer different textures and colors. They can even promote movement as they move across the floor.
Sensory Rattle and teether
This toy has been one of my favorites! Some of the wooden beads move and have a very gentle rattle sound to them. You can purchase it in a few different colors and it is a timeless toy that all babies will love!
Cylinder Rattle
A cylinder rattle is a lovely beginning toy for your baby. It has a bell inside the rattle, which encourages movement from the baby to get the bell to jingle. My MonteHome has beautiful and affordable Montessori toys, use my coupon code TWINS for 10% off your order!
Spinning Drum
The spinning drum is one of my favorite toys that our boys have. It is a very engaging toy that provides the baby with feedback about their movements. This toy creates a nice sound when the baby spins the drum, as there is a bell inside that jingles. It is easily spun while laying on their tummy, as well as sitting up. It has beautiful colors and is made of natural materials. This could likely be introduced even before 6 months old.
Introduce Around 7 Months
Books
Books are not unique to Montessori but are a wonderful open-ended toy. Oftentimes you can find baby sensory books that are very appealing to a baby of this age. You can have a basket of a few books on the shelf for your baby to explore. I like having a few of the really thick hard-covered books because I find that at this age babies are still putting everything into their mouths and this helps the covers to stay in good condition.
Wobble Toys
Wobble toys are fun because they allow your baby to see the effect of their actions. The toy will not move quickly but will gracefully wobble on the shelf when it is moved. These wobble toys each offer a different sensory element. One has beads inside that rattle, one has a mirror and one has a soft fabric. I like that the baby can grasp onto them around the rim, I find this makes the toy much more successful. I find it can be frustrating with other toys when they are too big for the baby’s hand and they don’t have an easy way to hold onto them. That is not the case with these wobble toys.
Sensory SHaker Bottles
If you are looking for an engaging toy that you can make from materials from your home these DIY sensory shaker bottles are the perfect thing! They can be filled with so many different objects in your home and offer a great sensorial experience for your baby.
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Introduce Around 8 Months
Object PERMANENCE Box
The Montessori object permanence box is an engaging toy. The baby can place the ball in the hole at the top and it disappears for a moment but then reappears by rolling out of the small little door. This toy and games like “Peek-a-boo” are fun because a child is starting to understand with greater complexity this idea of object permanence. Model to your baby how this toy works, and then they will also explore with the ball. I found that after many times playing with this toy, my son independently put the ball into the hole. I would model and show him every time he was playing with it.
The object permanence box is a sensory toy that focuses on this idea of object permanence. An object exists even when not seen (or not seen fully). For example, if a toy is stuck under the couch and one part of it is showing or peeking out, your baby will likely grab and pull the whole object out, knowing that the rest of it exists even though it is not seen.
Egg In Cup
The egg in cup is a beginning baby puzzle. The purpose of this toy is simply that the egg can be placed into the cup and removed from the cup. This material is part of a set of 3D Object Fitting Exercises. (Use coupon code TWINS for 10% off your order)
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Introduce Around 9 Months
Ring on Dowel
I started introducing the ring on the dowel around the 9-month mark. Similar to the object permanence box, a baby will sensorially explore the ring and the dowel. I will give a mini presentation showing how to place the ring on the dowel. As the baby explores with the ring, it sometimes gets onto the dowel. As they (my twins) continue to work with this I think they will refine that movement over time.
This material comes with multiple rings, I have just been using one ring on the dowel, and as they improve with the material, I will add the other two back on. This material will stay with them beyond the 9-month mark.
Bead Mover
I was looking for something more to add to our shelf work for the boys and came across a bead mover on Facebook Marketplace! They have loved working with this. I introduced it closer to ten months, but again, observe your baby and what their needs are. If you introduce something too soon, there is really no harm, you may just notice that your baby is not interested in that material and doesn’t concentrate on it for long periods of time. You can just take it off of the shelf and try it again in a week or two.
