Montessori Friendly Gift Guide
The holiday season is upon us once again. Did you know it’s possible incorporate Montessori principles as you consider what to gifts to offer your children?
From play spaces to bedrooms to gift giving, the first Montessori principle to keep in mind is that less is more.
Every year I wonder about the quantity of gifts we offer our children - working to maintain a balance of just enough. And every year I’m reminded that the few, thoughtfully and carefully selected gifts we give our children are really enough.
So why is less really more?
When presented with too many choices, the child experiences decision fatigue and will struggle to play deeply with what they have. When the choices are more carefully curated, the child experiences greater joy and deeper concentration with what they have available.
Want/Need/Wear/Read
Over the last few years, we opted to stick to the “Want, Need, Wear, Read” guidelines. It’s as simple as it sounds - something your child wants, something they need, something to wear and something to read.
In addition to Want/Need/Wear/Read, we also give our children the chance to choose a gift (purchased or handmade) to give each sibling.
Types of Gifts
There are a few categories of gifts to explore when you are doing your holiday shopping. These include open-ended toys, closed-ended toys, cooperative games, experiences and books.
In a Montessori environment, we offer the child both closed (puzzle maps) and open-ended activities (sensorial materials).
Open-Ended Activities
Open-ended toys/activities have many ways for your child to play with it. Often, the activity can be enjoyed by children of multiple ages. Some examples of open-ended activities are: Magnatiles/PicassoTiles, LEGOs, Blocks, a Doll House, Road Tape/Road Pieces with cars, etc.
Open-ended toys can also be those simple things that you find around your house. Some of the best, most loved and most played with items at our house are simple - such as large cardboard boxes, tape, string and paper. One year, we made a huge cardboard maze in our basement using moving boxes. It was so much fun and so easy to put together!
Closed-Ended Activities
Closed-ended gifts are activities that have a clear or defined result and they include puzzles, mazes, arts and crafts, stringing beads, baking, etc. These types of activities can be good for building attention as the child can be encouraged to finish the activity before moving on to the next one.
Cooperative Games
Cooperative games are helpful for building problem solving skills, growth mindset and working together as a team. These games are especially helpful for children that tend to be competitive, as you must work with those playing to make it to the end of the game.
Some of our favorite cooperative games (geared towards ages 3-7+) are Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel and Hoot Owl Hoot. Lately, we have also discovered Gnomes at Night, Outfoxed and Space Escape.
Experiences
An experience-based gift is one of the best gifts you can give your child.
I’ve found that my children talk about experiences long after the trip or visit is over. The time we spend together as a family outweighs anything they could gain from a game or toy.
Sometimes, it can be hard to convince grandparents/relatives to gift experiences since they really want to see the immediate joy from the child upon opening the gift.
As homeschoolers, we love having memberships to the natural history museum, nature center, botanical gardens and local parks/hiking places. In the past, we have asked to receive a membership as a family gift and it’s worked out really well.
Some additional ideas for experiences could be a museum membership, an outing to pick apples, visiting a farm, going on a day trip or going for a special hike.
Books
For the young child (0-6 years), realistic non-fiction stories are ideal - this meets the first plane child’s desire for stories based in reality. Seek and Find books (such as the My Wimmelbook series) are a wonderful way for the young child to build vocabulary and conversation.
For the 6-12 year old child, books that are rich in information and stories feed the needs of their plane of development such as The New Way Things Work, Timelines of Everything or any of the Smithsonian/DK books on topics your child loves ( anything from Space to Animals to Trains and more) can be wonderful.
Here are some additional resources to guide you in your search:
Nicole at the Kavanaugh Report offers multiple Montessori Friendly lists by age and interest
50 Experience Gift Ideas from Big Life Journal
35 Cooperative Game Ideas from Big Life Journal
Montessori Book Ideas from Simone at the Montessori Notebook
