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The famous Montessori shelfie. Social media perfection. The envy of all the cool moms on the block. Let’s be honest, there’s too much attention on curating the perfect shelf to look like a good parent when the focus should be on making sure the activities are suitable for your child’s skills and interests. So why am I posting one?
Part of autism is needing explicit instructions. What toys do I give? Which are safe for my child? What can enhance their development? If we don’t have explicit instructions, we can get stuck in all the possibilities. That sets us up for failure. This is a homeschooling blog with neurodiversity in mind. That doesn’t only mean the children. Neurodivergent parents should have access to explicit instructions on how to homeschool. So, today, I’m sharing a 4-month-old’s shelf.
Toy List
At 4 months, most of our little one’s day is observing what mom and dad are doing, rolling onto his belly, and trying to get to the toys. Because of our increasing ability to determine likes and dislikes, we now have a favorite toy. We’re also working on bringing everything to the mouth, so making sure every toy can be chewed on and eaten is the highest priority.
Nuby Jackie The Giraffe
Jackie the Giraffe comes in as the favorite toy for the month. It was a little hard to grab at the beginning, but no match for TWO HANDS! Just kidding, there was actually a lot of determined frustration over this toy. He even pulled it off the shelf and out of the basket once. That took a solid 30 minutes to do. It’s made of 100% natural rubber and squeaks. You should be aware of this if you have a dog. Our incredibly well-trained dog initially thought it was her toy, but we said “no” and gave her a new lampchop dog toy to make up for it.
Koala Crinkle Sensory Toy with Teether
At 4 months, the sensory system exploded. Touching crinkly fabric to hear the sound it makes became a favorite way to explore cause and effect. However, as with all exploration at this age, putting the fabric into his mouth was also common. I looked for a long time to find a crinkly toy that wasn’t made of Polyester so it would be safe for him to chew. I finally found the Koala crinkle toy with teether. This toy is made of cotton and the teething ring is silicon so it’s easy to pick up and hold. In addition to the crinkle sound, there is also a bell. Since buying one, I’ve gifted it to two friends for their new babies.
Classic Skwish Rattle
The classic skwish rattle is another toy I’ve given as a baby shower gift. We even have two of them, one for upstairs, and one for downstairs, because it was annoying to walk back and forth to get it as we changed who was watching him. The bars easily fit in a 4-month-old’s hands, and the flexible wires decrease the number of times we pick it up because he dropped it. The ends fit in his mouth for easy chewing. The beads make a gentle “clink” sound, which as an autistic mother, I really appreciate. Finally, the whole thing squishes down and bounces back up. This made it safer when he rolls over onto the toy refusing to let go.
Natural Teethers
Here we have three teethers. We don’t tend to give the entire basket at once but grab one at a time to see if he wants it. I choose these three because of the different textures. First, we have a rubber owl. It’s very soft, and bendable, and has several different textures to soothe gums. Next, is the blue silicon teether. This one is the easiest for him to hold independently. He tends to switch between sucking and chomping. Finally, there is the wooden whale teether. A friend made that one for us. Here’s a similar wooden teether from Amazon.
Basket of Balls
This was my first attempt at a treasure basket. I’m not sure it’s been successful, mostly because the balls kept rolling away, frustrating him. I thought of a hack that helped this (see photo), but I will definitely be reintroducing this when he can crawl. There are a ton of sensory balls, but they are almost all plastic. I found some rubber ones, but they smelled like balloons — also not good. These ones are from a set of silicon baby toys. The set also has some cups we use in the bath and some blocks I haven’t put out yet.
Clutching Balls
This wooden clutching toy is perfect for grasping, but it’s probably better suited for 6-month-olds. At 4 months, he was learning to grasp it but was interested in the colors. It’s made of wood and the bright colors are actually non-toxic stains, not paint, so they won’t chip when chewed on. If you’re comparing the size with the balls on the end of the Skwish rattle, these are about double the diameter.
Montessori Spinning Drum
The Montessori spinning drum is probably the only “classic” Montessori toy we used this month, and it’s another one that will grow with us. First, it’s way bigger than I expected! Second, because he can’t sit independently yet, I had to do the spinning. Third, there’s a bell inside that makes a tumbling sound, so we also tried it with him laying down and kicking it to spin. He couldn’t see what he was doing, but he got the hang of it and enjoyed the sound.
