The Best Montessori Toys (Montessori Toys by Age)

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When searching online for the best educational toys for in-home learning, you’re sure to run into the term “Montessori” with every other link you click.

But what is Montessori, exactly?

The classic Montessori philosophies were developed and named after a woman named Maria Montessori in the early 1900’s. Born and raised in Italy, Montessori was a doctor, educator, and famous influencer in child development. One of Montessori’s main principles was to provide growing children with a self-led learning environment. By giving a child simple toys and tools within their learning space, they can build upon their age-appropriate intuition to master essential life skills. Maria Montessori’s philosophies revolved around simplicity, organization, realism, and science.

Luckily, if you’re looking for educational toys, the good news is that all Montessori toys are educational toys! The beauty of the Montessori method is allowing children the opportunity to explore their world and work on the things that currently interest them and are appropriate for their current development. While Montessori toys can be on the pricier side, there are lots of good Montessori toys on Amazon that make for affordable Montessori open-ended toys

If you need a head-start in finding Montessori items for children of all ages, look no further. With Montessori educational toys and supplies, you’ll be prepared to turn your home into a naturally-inviting learning environment for your kids – no matter their age!

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Montessori Baby Toys

Finding Montessori toys for babies can be a little confusing – so many wooden toys are labeled as Montessori infant toys and infant Montessori materials. If you want more information on the Montessori method for newborns to age 3, you’ll want to grab this book about Montessori specifically for this age (See Current Price Here):

The Montessori Baby Gym

All babies need stimulation to develop their gross motor and other skills. A Montessori play gym like this one (See Current Price Here) helps your baby develop focus, attention, vision, strength, and coordination. Not to mention that a wooden baby gym like this is a beautiful addition to your home!

The Montessori Rattle

There are lots of Montessori rattles out there! The important thing is that they should be made out of a natural material, be simple, and make a sound that the baby can see (so they can start to learn cause and effect!). This one is a simple and easy to grasp Montessori wooden toy rattle that your little one will love to shake (See Current Price Here)!

The Object Permanence Box

This is a classic Montessori toy for babies! They begin to learn that when an object disappears, that doesn’t mean it no longer exists (which definitely makes Peek-a-Boo less exciting but still fun).

(See Current Price Here)

Baby Beads Montessori

This grasping toy allows babies to move the beads into endless combinations. This might just end up being a favorite from newborn all the way through toddlerhood because of it’s simplicity and ability for open ended play. (See Current Price Here)

Montessori Toddler Toys

The toddler and preschool years are where Montessori toys really start to shine. You’ll notice that Montessori toys for toddlers start to really focus on independence and the beauty of nature in wooden Montessori toys. While Montessori toys can seem a bit pricey, their ability to be used for many years because of their open-ended nature, beauty, simplicity, and durability mean that multiple children can use them for many years in different ways. Check out our best Montessori toys for 1 year old and best Montessori toys for 2 year olds!

Building Blocks

Featuring one of the most trusted brands in the history of wooden toys, these famous Grimm’s blocks (See Current Price Here) provide an exciting avenue of open-ended imaginative play for kids of all ages. Each carefully-crafted block is vibrant and varies in weight and shape, perfect for whatever world your child decides to create.

Learning Tower and Desk

Children are inquisitive by nature. Their driven desire to understand the “whys” of life can easily be given a natural boost with a learning tower (See Current Price Here). Made of sturdy wood, your child can climb into the tower to observe and engage with their adult figures’ every-day tasks in a safe way. The tower can easily be converted to a desk so your child can use it for other activities and also provides an ideal space for a kid’s imagination to run wild with the chalkboard.

Size Matching Game

This carrot size matching game (See Current Price Here) is a great Montessori toy for 18 months and up. This type of educational Montessori toy helps toddlers develop fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, as well as recognizing sizes and shapes. Montessori puzzles for toddlers help them start to develop problem solving skills as well!

Musical Instruments

Toddlers love making noise! Get them some musical instruments to start learning rhythms and different sounds. This set (See Current Price Here) includes 9 different instruments from around the world, introducing your toddler to many different sounds and cultures!

Stacking Tower

A stacking tower is a toddler classic and this beauty from Grimm (See Current Price Hesre) is sure to engage your child in creative reasoning, hand eye coordination, ordering, counting, and colors (see how these toys can be used in multiple ways throughout the years?). Montessori rainbow toys are beautiful and favorites for years, this one makes it easy to see why!

Pull Toy

Toddlers will love having their own puppy to follow them around. WE actually have this one and it’s been a favorite! You can make Pepe sit, stand, and even roll. (See Current Price Here)

Lacing Toy

One of the skills children in Montessori learn is how to sew. A lacing toy (See Current Price Here) is a great way to introduce a sewing concept and is also a way to build fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. It’s also an early pre-writing skill builder!

Montessori Climbing Toy

Toddlers love to climb! Rather than fighting their natural desire to master climbing abilities, embrace it and help them gain the skills needed for balance, muscle control/development, and grow their confidence with a climbing toy like this one which includes a Pikler arch, ramp, and Pikler triangle (See Current Price Here). These can also make great Montessori outdoor toys or use them indoors as your kids’ own Montessori play gym!

Montessori Preschool Toys

Educational Montessori toys really start to expand in the preschool years. Some of the best Montessori toys for 3 year olds and Montessori toys for 4 year olds are ones that allow them to do more and more for themselves and take on more responsibility for their home and areas. Make sure you take a look at these Montessori toys for preschoolers!

Art Easel

Every budding artist requires a designated space to unleash their creativity. This art easel (See Current Price Here) is a favorite amongst Montessori households, providing ample space to draw, paint, and store your child’s art supplies.

Modeling Clay

Clay is undoubtedly one of the most entertaining art mediums for kids and adults alike. Light as air and easily malleable, your child can shape and mold to their heart’s content with over 24 vibrant colors of clay to choose from. This set (See Current Price Here) even comes with small tools for little hands to grasp, making this activity an excellent choice for a child’s fine-motor skills.

Realistic Animal Figurines

Ideal for the young zoologist, these four figurines (See Current Price Here) are just a few amongst the impressive product collection created by Schleich. Each animal showcases life-like details from their fur, ears, even down to their footprints! Crafted with the utmost care, even Maria Montessori herself would have wanted to own each animal species that Schleich offers.

Matching Puzzle

Mix, identify, and match over twenty animal species with your child featuring these self-correcting animal puzzles (See Current Price Here)! Fun and educational for ages 3-5, your child will develop various skills such as problem-solving, expanding their vocabulary, and new-found knowledge of animals across the globe.

Dinosaur Figurines

When children are introduced to dinosaurs, it can be challenging to wrap their heads around what these prehistoric beasts looked like. Just imagine your child’s imagination run as fast as a velociraptor! This set of five incredibly detailed dinos (See Current Price Here) will amaze your kids with their hyper-realistic features, including their diverse scales, teeth, horns, and overall muscular builds.

Travel Rug

Imagine a world made available for limitless play, right beneath your feet! This delicate yet durable Melissa and Doug Montessori rug (See Current Price Here) features a colorful glimpse of our Earth’s beautiful continents, wildlife, and oceanic sceneries made easy for little eyes to explore. As a bonus, this machine-washable rug comes with three wooden vehicles and a small passport complete with stickers for your little one to document their adventures.

Montessori Stacking Blocks

Let your child’s imagination take them to places only their tiny minds can imagine with the gift of open-play! This set of 60 hard-wood blocks (See Current Price Here) have a guarantee of top-notch quality and are perfectly sanded for little hands to build for many years to come.

Cleaning Tools

Day-to-day activities can get messy with a busy toddler. It’s never too early to introduce your child to the beautiful magic of tidying up! This cleaning set (See Current Price Here) is made for small hands to learn to dust, sweep, and mop in an organized fashion. By teaching your child the basics of cleaning after themselves, you provide them new-found confidence in their “by-myself” attitude.

Screwdriver Busy Board Montessori

Do you have a toddler who can’t help but rifle through the family toolbox? This screwdriver board (See Current Price Here) is an ingenious way for a child to safely learn the appropriate use of every-day tools. Each set comes with a tiny screwdriver, allowing your child to boost their fine motor skills while learning how to be handy.

Montessori Transfer Work Tools

Perfect for a sensory bin and for preschoolers working on their fine motor skills! Children love to work on transferring small things and creating a sensory bin with these beautiful wooden tools (See Current Price Here) can encourage their mastery of careful and deliberate transferring.

Montessori Toys for Kindergarteners and Beyond!

Montessori toys for 5 year olds and 6 year olds is a great time to expand on the preschool items with more of an emphasis on things like reading, writing, and more advanced math concepts. Many of these Montessori learning toys can be introduced at earlier ages but older children may be more developmentally ready to use them in the Kindergarten and up age groups.

Reading Blocks

Learn to read using phonics with these phonetic reading Montessori blocks (See Current Price Here)! In Montessori it’s important for children to be able to learn using manipulatives to make abstract concepts concrete. These blocks will make reading fun with 80 words created by twisting and turning the blocks.

Peg Boards

So Montessori peg boards (See Current Price Here) can be used much younger than Kindergarten, but can be used to teach more mathematical concepts like symmetry, angles, fractions, and geometry to older children. The rubber bands are also great for pre-handwriting and hand-eye coordination.

100 Board Montessori Educational Toy

Children will love learning number sequences and counting to 100 with the wood Montessori math toys like this one (See Current Price Here).

Letter Formation Sand Tray

Pair this letter formation tray (See Current Price Here) with the sandpaper letters to help kids learn handwriting, letters, and numbers in an interactive way. Kids can use their fingers or the included wood pencil model!

Sand Paper Letters

Sandpaper letters (See Current Price Here) are a classic Montessori toy for teaching letter shapes, early handwriting, and introduce cursive. This lovely set comes with a box to put them in when they aren’t being used (putting things in their proper place and keeping areas neat are more Montessori principles!).

Colored Pencils

Children are naturally drawn towards a wide array of colors, tones, and moods to complete their masterpieces. These top-rated coloring pencils (See Current Price Here) are beautifully blendable while providing a smooth-as-butter drawing experience for all ages.

World Globe

Many growing kids dream of traveling the world to satisfy their life-long curiosities. Spinning globes (See Current Price Here) are a standard educational tool amongst classrooms and households alike. This spinning globe is just the right size for kids and adults of any age with easy-to-read text, displaying accurate pin-points to every identified location in the world.

Card Game

One of the best ways to learn fun and educational facts is a game of trivia! This card game (See Current Price Here) is made for kids and adults aged 8-99 years, giving each player ten questions to correctly guess one of over 50 major cities on Earth. This game makes an excellent choice for family fun during a road trip or a rainy day.

Montessori Wooden Blocks

Have your entire family take their construction expertise to the next level! Made of a slimmer build than chunkier blocks, this set of blocks (See Current Price Here) packs an impressive amount of creative fluidity for ages six and up. This set is guaranteed to hold your inquisitive child’s attention for hours at a time by encouraging self-directed play. Teens love it, too!

As you can see, there are so many wonderful Montessori style toys to choose for every age! Luckily a good place to find Montessori inspired toys is Amazon. Montessori toys can be a great way to encourage your child’s development through beautiful and high quality Montessori toys. Hopefully these have given you some ideas for affordable Montessori materials for your home!