parents have found that the Montessori parenting method is the best way.
Montessori parenting focuses on helping a child’s independence and independent thinking flourish. One way the Montessori method helps that independence is through playtime, using specialty age-appropriate toys that help children master skills one at a time, at their own pace.
If you are the parent of a 2-year-old and are wondering which Montessori toys are the best for them, look no further!
Here are 15 of the best Montessori toys for 2-year-olds, designed to help their minds blossom.
15 Best Montessori Toys For 2 Year Olds
Cleaning Set
The Montessori Cleaning Set is to help young children learn different things like self-confidence and contribution.
The different items within the set, like the broom or mop, help children gain self-confidence by cleaning up messes effectively. Children can see the results of their hard work, allowing them to have a sense of accomplishment by cleaning while still stimulating their imagination through play.
Cleaning sets are also excellent toys to help children learn about household contributions. Learning to use each of the finely crafted toys in the cleaning set prepares them for chores that will be necessary later in life.
Shape Sorting Toy
This Montessori Shape Sorting Toy is the perfect toy to help your 2-year-old master fine motor skills.
Fine motor skills are essential in development, as they are skills we use to control the small muscles in our hands and wrists to do everyday things like writing, feeding ourselves, etc.
The Shape Sorting Toy helps develop these fine motor skills by requiring the child to place each shape in its corresponding slot at an exact angle. If the shape is slightly askew, it will not go in its slot. These angles help children develop their problem-solving skills by having to figure out for themselves which direction they must hold the shape for it to go into the slot.
The colors of each shape are different from the rest, helping the child to recognize and learn the names of colors. Different textures help the child develop their sense of touch by showing them that things can feel different.
Realistic Animal Toys
Montessori teaching has a strong focus on the world around us. These Realistic Animal Toys are the perfect fit for the animal-loving 2-year-old.
The realistic features of the animals teach children about animals that exist in real life, not just the imagination. These toys help the children learn what the animals look like, what sounds they make, what they eat, etc.
These toys give them a better understanding of nature and the animals we share our planet with.
Wooden Puzzles
Almost all Montessori toys are made of wood or another natural material. The purpose of this, as we discussed previously, is to help children learn about the world around them.
These Wooden Puzzles are a multi-lesson toy that will keep your child entertained. The wooden puzzles are designed to help the children learn different things like:
- Color differentiation
- Shape differentiation
- Problem-Solving
- Fine Motor Skill Development
With such a wide variety of wooden puzzles available- including numbers, letters, shapes, and animals-your child can learn multiple things.
Hammer Toy
This toy consists of a wooden hammer, a board, and several different pegs. The child uses the hammer to push down the pegs, similar to an adult hammering a nail into a board.
The Hammer Toy is another excellent option for fine-tuning those fine motor skills. The pegs are hammered in a precise way to move. Repeated use of the hammer toy will strengthen the small muscles in the hands and wrists.
This toy gives the child the opportunity to learn cause and effect. They hit the peg, and the peg goes down. A fun toy for young children to learn cause and effect.
Also Read: What Is Montessori Parenting?
Lacing Toy
If you are looking for a toy to help improve your 2-year-old’s hand-eye coordination, the lacing toy is a great option.
The lacing toy includes a long piece of string and several large beads. The beads can feature different things like numbers, letters, or pictures. The child then strings the beads onto the rope in the proper order. The precision needed to string the beads is an excellent way to help develop hand-eye coordination in young children.
Lacing toys also help encourage independent creativity. They allow your child to make decisions about where the beads should go. A wide variety of beads allows endless stringing options, sparking their creativity and imagination.
Stacking Toy
The Montessori Stacking Toy is a great learning tool for young children.
It teaches them a variety of crucial skills like:
- Hand-eye coordination
- Fine motor skills
- Gross motor skills
- Independent play
This is also a great toy to teach children where things go. For example, they will learn that the size of the piece has to go over or on, etc.
The stacking toy has a variety of different options to choose from to help your child learn as much as possible.
Also Read: Benefits Of Montessori
Wooden Blocks
Wooden blocks are a Montessori toy must-have.
The blocks offer endless learning opportunities. They also encourage creativity by giving them control over what they are building.
For young children, especially 1-2-year-olds, the blocks help develop grip strength in their little hands. The children also learn things like balance, as the blocks will topple if not stacked correctly.
The wooden blocks are another great option for developing fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. The opportunities are endless with this toy as it provides fun and education.
Baby Doll
The Montessori Baby Doll is full of learning opportunities that strengthen your child’s mind.
The clothing included with these dolls is designed to help your child with their problem-solving and fine motor skills. The clothes have different fastening options like snaps, buttons, zippers, etc., to fine-tune these skills.
The Baby Doll also helps develop emotional and social skills. This is because the doll encourages them to use their creativity and imagination to tend to the doll and treat them with love and respect. These are skills they will use in their lives as they get older.
Also Read: Discipline In Montessori
Busy Board
If you are new to Montessori toys or are looking for a multi-functional Montessori toy, the Busy Board is the option for you.
The Busy Board is a board that features many of the toys listed above, all in one convenient board. The busy boards have different stations throughout the surface to help fine-tune gross and fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination and help children learn their shapes, colors, and textures.
Different busy boards have different functions, but you can expect a stacking section, a lacing section, and a puzzle station, along with different textures, colors, and shapes.
This is a great option for those just starting their Montessori journey or those looking for a portable toy.
Sensory Toys
Sensory Toys focus on helping young children learn about their different senses.
The sensory toys contain different textures so the child can discern how things feel. These toys also help a child learn cause and effect; if they pull on one rubber string and let go, it will snap back into place, etc.
There are a variety of different textures and colors that come with the sensory toys, which helps them differentiate different patterns.
Also Read: Montessori Toys 1 Year Olds
Wooden Vegetable Slicing Kit
The Wooden Vegetable Slicing Kit is a multi-educational toy your child will love.
Each vegetable is designed to be ‘sliced’ by the toy knife, teaching the child hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.
This toy is also a great option for helping your child learn independent skills and gain a sense of completion. The child will be able to see the cause and effect of chopping up the vegetables and gain a sense of being helpful as they prepare food as their parent/caregiver does.
The slicing of the vegetables helps strengthen the small muscles in the hands and wrists, giving them strong fine motor skills.
Rainbow Toy
The Rainbow Toy is another great option for those looking for a multi-educational toy for their child.
The colors teach children to differentiate between colors they will find in the real world. The different sizes of each arc of the rainbow help the child learn cause and effect as they independently discover how to stack the rainbow in the correct order.
The Rainbow Toy focuses on developing hand-eye coordination, teaching independent play, and showing color differentiation.
Water Paints
Water Paints are a great toy to encourage a child’s independent creativity.
While the child learns the different colors, they can create unique art. Creating whatever they would like stimulates the brain and encourages creative art skills.
Water Paints are also great for teaching young children about cause and effect. If they splash the paint outside its container or go off of the paper, this will make a mess. This is a great opportunity to help a child learn independent cleaning skills while developing fine motor skills that help them prevent making messes.
Also Read: Montessori vs Reggio
Peg Board
Another Montessori must-have is a peg board.
This toy is perfect for children aged 2-3 to learn fine motor skills, shape differentiation, and hand-eye-coordination.
A peg board is a board that features a variety of different pegs, teaching math skills at an early age. Different shapes fit onto the sets of pegs in a particular order. The children can explore
different shapes while learning problem-solving skills to get the shapes placed correctly.
There are different peg boards available, all designed to help your child learn multiple things, like numbers, colors, textures, etc.