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Last week I talked about why I recommend using Montessori shelves at home. Today I want to share what is in our play shelf. This shelf is inspired by the Montessori principles. I tried to keep this play shelf quite simple (unlike our themed shelves). I choose mostly Montessori friendly toys, based on observation of my daughter’s interests at the moment.  I rotate these toys when I realize Tutu has not look at them in a while, to keep it interesting.

Fruit wooden book and puzzle book. The fruit wooden book goes well with our theme of the week (apples and fruits) and it’s a good way to introduce vocabulary. The puzzle book I got at a garage sale and it is kind of matching activity. She really likes placing all the puzzle pieces back into the book.
Russian Matryoshka Nesting Dolls : She got this nesting doll as a christmas present from her grandmother and it has been in the shelf ever since. She ADORES it! She calls the small matryoshka “baby matryoshka” and she takes it out and then puts it together again and starts all over again. Matryoshkas nesting dolls are very good to build fine motor skills, coordination, the concept of size and the sense of order.

Drum and Glockenspiel: You can see that Tutu has a latin soul, she loves music! so these two instruments are a hit. She loves going around the house pretending she is on a band as she plays the drum. I find this glockenspie...