This week we connected with one our amazing infant community guides—Ms. Kelsey—to learn about some of her favorite educational materials and toys for infants! Many of these can be replicated at home.
In addition to interacting with these toys, Ms. Kelsey shares that infants LOVE to explore nature through buggy/stroller rides, exploring different textures through hands on, sensory experiences such as scooping water or oatmeal, and feeling different textured items like raw rice, dirt or paint that are safely inside a sealed bag. They also love feeling the cold, powdery texture of snow when teachers bring a tray inside during the winter!
While much of an infant’s time is spent in supporting his or her growth through meeting basic needs like warmth, nutrition, comfort, sleep, and diaper changes, they are also increasingly interested in developing motor skills and sensory exploration. The toys and materials in our Infant Communities support these developmental phases.
And, while infants have a limited vocabulary (beginning with simple consonant sounds like “ba, pa, ma”), they are constantly absorbing language from their environment as they listen to music, stories, and rhymes, and as caregivers speak with them and narrate what they are doing or encountering in the environment. As infants interact with these toys and materials, it’s important to allow them freedom to explore and discover while also offering interaction with their caregiver. “Where did the ball go? There it is!” a caregiver may expressively ask the infant, knowing that even if the infant does not understand her words, they are still absorbing and building a foundation for language.
Now, for some of Ms. Kelsey’s favorite materials! As always, we opt for items made out of natural materials such as wood.
Spinning Drum
This sensory toy helps engage an infant during important tummy time by providing by auditory and visual stimulation as the care giver spins the drum, displaying different colored panels and a reflection in the mirror panel.
As the infant develops, they continue to engage with the spinning drum in different ways, building wrist and arm strength and building hand-eye coordination.
Knobbed Shape Puzzle
Triangles, squares and circles are introduced to infants through the knobbed wooden shape puzzle. The large knobs are perfect for little hands, aiding in the development of their hand muscles as well as building hand-eye coordination as they learn to fit the shapes back into place.
Wooden Rattles
These hand-sized objects aid in the development of muscles in the hand, hand-eye coordination, catch-and-release, and provide auditory, tactile and visual stimulation! The infants discover weight, shape and textures with these wooden objects! We highly recommend choosing rattles with varying textures and made of varying materials.
Object Permanence Boxes
These object permanence boxes encourage the understanding that just because something is out of sight, it does not mean that it ceases to exist. Object permanence activities help an infant understand cause and effect, and aids in the development of gross and fine motor skills, hand muscles, finger dexterity. When an infant is developmentally ready for this activity, it can engage them for longer periods of time, which in in the development of concentration and observation skills!
Shape Stacker
Toys and materials that encourage infants to pick them up and stack them by shape and size, as well as requiring them to place them on a rod are AMAZING for hand-eye coordination! These are often called “matching,” “stacking,” or “nesting” toys. They encourage experimentation, logical thinking, size and shape identification in addition to developing those hand and arm movements so important for pre-writing skills!
Lock Box
Infants learn to problem solve as they learn how to open and close the doors and latches on this material! Young children are fascinated as they use the pincer grip and wrist movement to engage with the material, and as they grow older, they enjoy when teachers “hide” small objects inside the box!
Baby Expression Puzzle
Infants love exploring other infants’ expressions. This puzzle and other similar ones in our classrooms show several different expressions and faces from babies from around our beautiful world!
Knobbed Wooden Puzzles
Knobbed wooden puzzles with real life objects are another favorite, as they aid in the development of vocabulary when teachers name the objects in the puzzles, while also supporting the development of wrist and arm movement and the pincer grasp. Hand-eye coordination is also supported.
Bead Mazes
Wooden beads on tracks or a wooden bead maze aid in the development of fine motor skills. They also support visual tracking, color recognition, while providing sensory (visual, tactile and auditory) stimulation.
Thank you to Ms. Kelsey for her collaboration on this blog post! Ms. Kelsey has been a part of the Sonnet family for over four years, and has three children of her own, whom she loves doing craft projects with. Her passion is working with, caring for and teaching infants! She has a Child Development Associate as well as Infant-Toddler Montessori Certification.
