Instructions to Make Montessori Toys That Teach
Montessori toys have a double purpose: to entertain and to educate. The materials were created two centuries ago by Maria Montessori, an Italian doctor, in order to help poor children gain independence and self-esteem. These toys are still used today in Montessori schools to teach children how to write, how to differentiate between sounds, and even how to get dressed.
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Things You'll Need
- 10 matboards, 5-by-5 inches
- Cutter
- Sand paper
- Gesso
- Paint
- Wood knobs
- 10 picture frames, as big as a standard piece of paper
- Baby clothes
- Stapler
- Film canisters
- Beans
- Salt
- Pebbles
- Water
- Peas
- Pennies
- Sand
- Noodles
- Coffee beans
- Colored dots
Instructions
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Metal Insets
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1
Trace the shapes of the metal insets on each matboard. Create one of each: parallelogram, octagon, square, trapezoid, square, rectangle, hexagon, triangle, ellipsoid and circle. These will form your metal insets, which look like puzzle pieces and fit in hollowed corresponding shapes. They can be matched or used to trace figures. They teach circular shapes and straight edge shapes, which prepare the child for writing letters.
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2
Carve the five curvilinear forms and the five straight angle forms out of each matboard using your cutter. Smooth out your pieces with sand paper.
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3
Paint gesso over the matboards and let them air dry. The gesso has three advantages: first, it makes the matboards stay straight; second, it confers extra strength to the matboards for durability; third, it prevents the soaking of the paint inside the support material.
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4
Paint the inside pieces blue and the outer boards pink. Let dry.
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5
Glue one woodcraft knob on each one of the insets.
Dressing Frames
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6
Discard the glass and the backings from each of the 10 picture frames. Keep only the frames. Dressing frames are Montessori toys designed to teach the children how to dress independently.
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7
Choose one piece of baby clothing for each type of fastener: zippers, laces, scratches, snaps, buckles, lacing, bow ties and chrome closures.
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8
Stretch and staple 10 baby clothes to the back of the frames.
Sound Bottles
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9
Open two of the 18 film canisters and put an equal amount of beans in both of them. Make sure you fill only the bottom part of the canisters so children hear the sound clearly when they shake the bottles. Sound bottles are used to help children discriminate between sounds and build concentration and attention by matching bottles.
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10
Seal the canisters with tacky glue. Put a colored dot at the bottom of each canister for self-check.
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11
Pick two more canisters. Fill the bottom part of both new canisters with salt. Stick two dots of different colors on both canisters' bottoms.
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12
Continue filling up canisters in pairs with pebbles, water, peas, pennies, sand, noodles and coffee beans.
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13
Seal the bottles well.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Gesso is not paint; it is a primer artists use underneath the first coat of paint.
Look for wooden frames as opposed to plastic frames for the dressing frames.
You can find canisters on the Internet or ask a photographer for some. If you cannot find canisters, any opaque, cylindrical bottles will do.
Be careful not to injure yourself with the cutter. Use gloves to protect your hands.
Make sure not to inhale the paint fumes and work in a well ventilated place.
For the paint, look for an ecological version. You can find them in hardware stores.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Goodshoot/Getty Images
