21 Best Montessori Toys for 1-Year-Olds
There are a lot of different options when it comes to Montessori toys for 1-year-olds. At one year old, your growing baby is rapidly developing new skills and becoming increasingly curious about the world around them. During this exciting stage, Montessori toys can nurture your child’s growth in many ways. This comprehensive guide will explore what makes Montessori toys so beneficial for 1-year-olds and provide tips for choosing the best options to support your baby’s development.
What Are Montessori Toys?
Montessori toys are educational toys designed to align with a child’s stages of development. Following the Montessori teaching philosophy, these toys aim to foster independence, exploration, and problem-solving skills. Montessori toys tend to be simple, open-ended, and made from natural materials. They are carefully designed to capture a child’s interest while providing an engaging yet achievable challenge to support learning.
21 Best Montessori Toys For 1-Year-Olds
1. Educational Montessori Wooden Sorting & Stacking Toy
This educational wooden toy includes 5 blocks with colorful shapes, giving a total of 20 pieces. It helps toddlers with counting, recognizing colors and shapes, and learning how to classify, promoting brain development. Kids can sort by shape, color, or the number of peg holes, enhancing their spatial concepts and hand-eye coordination. Crafted from natural wood with smooth surfaces and rounded edges, this safe design protects young children and is just the right size for their small hands.
List Price: $12.99 – Best Price Below
2. Hellowood Montessori Wooden Sorter Cube with 8pcs Rattling Shapes
This wooden shape sorter cube is filled with 8 rattling shapes in different colors. The cube has rubber bands and shape holes on both sides, making it fun for kids to push the shapes in and take them out. It’s a hands-on, screen-free toy that promotes hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and color and shape recognition.
List Price: $25.99 – Best Price Below
3. Food Grade Silicone Developmental Pulling Teething Baby Montessori Toy
This fun toy comes with 6 different pull strings shaped like a cute octopus, designed in bright colors to engage young babies. It’s a multi-sensory experience with smooth edges and open-ended play possibilities. Babies can pull, stretch, and explore the strings, enhancing their fine motor skills and brain development.
List Price: $13.99 – Best Price Below
4. Ulanik Balls in Cups Large Montessori Toy Wooden Sorter
This open-type game is designed based on the Montessori educational system to promote learning and development. The set includes 12 wooden balls, 12 wooden cups, a wooden bowl, and a wooden spoon, all made of natural linden wood and safe wax cover, certified as a children’s product. This educational toy helps develop various skills like visual focusing, thinking, memory, sensory, and fine motor skills, as well as perseverance, diligence, and attentiveness.
List Price: $38.99 – Best Price Below
5. 20pcs Montessori Farm Animal Counting and Color Sorting Toy
This set contains 20 pieces, including 10 adorable farm animals and 10 barns. Each animal is designed to match babies’ preferences, featuring cute and realistic shapes like cats, dogs, ducks, cows, and rabbits. These animals can be used as finger puppet toys, enhancing hand-eye coordination and imaginative play.
List Price: $32.99 – Best Price Below
6. Adena Montessori Baby Toys Coin Box with Ball Blue
This classic Montessori material is ideal for little ones who can sit up independently. It helps them develop hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and concentration. The baby can place wooden balls or coins into the hole on top of the box, and they immediately disappear inside, sparking curiosity and encouraging them to learn how to open the drawers to find them.
List Price: $19.99 – Best Price Below
7. Children’s Race Track Toy with 4 Cars and 1 Wooden Parking Lot
This wooden ramp race track comes with 4 toy cars, 1 wooden parking lot, and a colorful rainbow race track. It requires no assembly, making it perfect for little hands. As kids release the car from the top track, they’ll be captivated by watching it zoom down the ramp, enhancing their hand-eye coordination and visual tracking ability.
List Price: $29.99 – Best Price Below
8. Dinosaur Games Baby Sensory Fine Motor Skills Toy
Discover the perfect educational dinosaur games for little ones aged 6 months to 4 years! This set includes a cute Ankylosaurus-shaped body and 12 easy-to-grasp pieces in 4 colors. When kids put the pieces into the dinosaur’s body, its mouth opens, making playtime even more exciting. These dinosaur fine motor skills toys are excellent for building various skills like color recognition, sorting, and counting, all while enhancing fine motor skills.
List Price: $24.99 – Best Price Below
9. Justwood 8-in-1 Montessori Wooden Play Kit
The JUSTWOOD Montessori Toy for 1-3-year-olds is great for development. It is an amazing 8-in-1 wooden play kit that includes a variety of sensory learning activities. The activity cube offers shape sorting, stacking, color matching, coin bank, ball drop, spinning gear, clock, and colorful beads that make sounds – 8 games in 1 set, perfect for entertaining toddlers of different ages.
List Price: $31.99 – Best Price Below
10. 5-in-1 Baby Montessori Toys Set
Check out this 5 in 1 Baby Montessori Toys Set – a perfect collection of fun and educational toys for infants and toddlers. The set includes a Baby Tissue Box, a shape sorter bin with sound cubes, stacking cups with patterns, soft dinosaur stacking rings, and a pull-string toy. These toys are designed to attract your baby’s attention and keep them engaged at different stages of growth.
List Price: $32.99 – Best Price Below
11. Benresive 6-Pack Animal Wooden Toddler Puzzle
Each puzzle piece is made of superior solid wood with non-toxic water-proof painting, ensuring product safety and quality. The puzzles feature adorable animal shapes like giraffes, frogs, monkeys, cows, lions, and puppies, which help develop children’s patience, imagination, attention, color and shape recognition, and hand-eye coordination.
List Price: $21.99 – Best Price Below
12. Dailyfunn Shape Peg Puzzle Montessori Toy
Check out the Dailyfunn Montessori Toy Shape Peg Puzzles – a perfect puzzle set for babies and toddlers aged 12 to 24 months! This set includes 12 geometric shape pieces in 6 colors, following Pantone International Standards. The puzzles feature a big knob that is securely screwed for babies to grasp safely and easily, with all edges smoothed and rounded for extra safety.
List Price: $21.99 – Best Price Below
13. AZEN 2-Pack Wooden Sorting & Stacking Montessori Toy
Discover the AZEN 2-Pack Montessori Toys – the perfect wooden sorting and stacking toys for 1 to 3-year-old boys and girls! This set includes two toys, a classic geometric stacking toy, and an innovative shape sorter toy, both in delightful macaroon colors that are gentle on children’s eyesight. These toys are perfectly sized for toddlers’ hands and make excellent travel companions.
List Price: $14.99 – Best Price Below
14. Shape Sorter Storage Cube Bin & 6 Sensory Shape Blocks Montessori Toy
This set includes 6 color shape blocks with different textures, and a cube with elastic bands and space, offering endless possibilities for your little one’s imagination. As babies explore the blocks and cube, they develop spatial reasoning and fine motor skills through push and pull motions. The blocks come in 6 different textures, providing tactile exploration, while the bright colors of the blocks and cube aid in color recognition.
List Price: $16.99 – Best Price Below
15. Colorful Wooden Sorting & Stacking Toy
These toys are not only safe but also of high quality, with smooth edges and sturdy pegs, making them easy for tiny hands to grasp and play with. With 20 pieces, including blocks in 5 colors and 4 geometric shapes, these toys offer a fun learning experience for young kids. As children play with this puzzle, they develop fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and problem-solving abilities.
List Price: $20.99 – Best Price Below
16. Shape Sorting & Matching Puzzle Carrots Harvest Game Montessori Toy
Introducing one of the best shape-sorting Montessori Toys for 1 Year Old – a perfect developmental toy for babies aged 6 to 12 months! Crafted from sturdy New Zealand natural pine wood with water-based paint, these toys are 100% safe for your little one to play with. The wooden carrots and matching holes help your child improve their size sorting and logic skills, while also promoting fine motor skills and problem-solving capabilities.
List Price: $19.99 – Best Price Below
17. Montessori Sensory Stacking Building Blocks Toy
This set of stacking building blocks features six irregular squares of varying sizes, allowing your baby to match them at their own pace. The candy-colored appearance and fun sounds will capture your baby’s attention, while the uneven round holes and patterns on the surface help develop their sense of touch.
List Price: $19.99 – Best Price Below
18. Busy Board Montessori Toy For Girls
Introducing our khlerox Busy Board, a Montessori toy designed specifically for girl toddlers. This educational and sensory board features 26 animal elements and colorful sea-theme patterns, making it visually engaging and attractive for little ones. We’ve added an extra layer with removable sections for even more fun and learning opportunities.
List Price: $20.99 – Best Price Below
19. Busy Board Montessori Toy For Boys
This educational and sensory board features 26 animal elements and colorful sea-theme patterns, making it visually engaging and appealing for little boys. We’ve added an extra layer with removable sections for even more fun and learning possibilities. The busy board includes jigsaw puzzle games, color and shape recognition sections, alphabet learning, clocks, and calendar games.
List Price: $20.99 – Best Price Below
20. Moonkie Silicone Montessori Stacking Cups Toy
Introducing Moonkie Stacking Cups Toy, a fun and educational baby toy perfect for little ones aged 6 months and above. This innovative set includes 7 stackable cups, each with different top patterns that offer a rich sensory experience for babies’ hands. With 7 vibrant colors, the cups attract and stimulate visual development, while also helping kids learn language and fine motor skills.
List Price: $16.99 – Best Price Below
21. Melissa & Doug Shape Sorting Cube
This creative sorting game includes 12 brightly colored, easy-to-grip shapes that children can match and fit through corresponding holes on the wooden cube. Made with sturdy wooden construction, this toy is built to last and promotes color and shape recognition, as well as problem-solving skills in toddlers and preschoolers. As a great gift idea for kids aged 1 to 4, the Melissa & Doug Shape Sorting Cube encourages hands-on learning and provides an engaging option for screen-free fun.
List Price: $19.99 – Best Price Below
Montessori Toys for 1-Year-Olds Gallery
Why Montessori Toys Are Great for 1-Year-Olds
The best Montessori toys tailor the play experience to your 1-year-old’s abilities and interests, providing developmental benefits you won’t find with many other toys. There are many reasons why Montessori toys make excellent selections for your little one at 1-year-old:
1. Montessori Toys Foster Early Learning
Simple, multi-functional Montessori toys stimulate key developmental domains like fine motor control, sensory exploration, coordination, and concentration. Rather than flashy electronics, Montessori toys tend to be simple, open-ended toys made of natural materials. This allows children to use their creativity and engage with toys in many ways, developing problem-solving skills.
2. Build Confidence and Independence
Toys designed for your 1-year-old’s abilities allow them to successfully play on their own, helping boost self-confidence and independence. By incorporating multiple Montessori toys, you can keep your 1 year old busy and learning at the same time.
3. Encourage Problem-Solving
Open-ended toys with various uses make your 1 year old think creatively and test solutions, building critical thinking skills. For example, there are puzzles that will help your 1-year-old test the pieces until they put them all in the right spot. In addition, sorting toys can help with problem-solving.
4. Support Language Development
Montessori toys often involve naming objects, parts of the body, or actions, supporting your 1-year-old’s emerging language skills.
5. Montessori Toys Align with the Developmental Stage
Montessori toys meet your 1-year-old at their current developmental level and provide an engaging challenge to try new skills.
6. They Promote Order and Concentration
The organized nature of Montessori toys helps your 1-year-old focus on completing one activity at a time and learning organizational skills. Teaching how to play with toys and keep them organized can help with development.
Best Types of Montessori Toys for 1-Year-Olds
There are several categories of Montessori toys perfectly suited to nurturing different skills in 1-year-olds.
Simple Wooden Puzzles (2-4 pieces)
- Develop hand-eye coordination
- Promote problem-solving skills
- Build concentration and persistence
Shape Sorters/Stackers
- Learn to recognize shapes and colors
- Practice fine motor skills by grasping pieces
- Discover how pieces fit together through trial and error
Board Books
- Explore textures, shapes, and colors
- Reinforce language by naming pictures
- Discover the joy of books and reading
Mirrors
- Observe faces and expressions
- Develop self-awareness
- Explore lights and colors
Peg Boards
- Develop hand-eye coordination and dexterity
- Problem solve getting pegs in holes
- Learn about order by arranging pegs
Soft Blocks
- Experiment with early building skills
- Enjoy grasping blocks with hands and mouths
- Discover concepts like on/off, in/out
This list gives you an idea of the variety of Montessori-style toys that can support key developmental milestones your 1-year-old is ready to tackle.
How Montessori Toys Are Educational for 1-Year-Olds
Montessori toys help educate 1-year-olds in many developmental areas:
Fine Motor Skills – Grasping, stacking, sorting, lacing, and posting activities develop hand-eye coordination and dexterity.
Problem-Solving – Puzzles, shape sorters, and stacking toys require testing solutions, and building critical thinking.
Language – Books, shape sorters, and toys with realistic details spur vocabulary growth.
Focus – Single-purpose toys encourage extended focus and completion of tasks.
Independence – Toys tailored for little hands build confidence in self-feeding, dressing, and play.
Creativity – Open-ended materials spark the imagination as children discover many uses.
Montessori toys also instill early science concepts like order, cause-and-effect, spatial awareness, object permanence, and classification of shapes, colors, and sizes.
When to Introduce Montessori Toys
From 6 to 12 months, babies go through a huge leap in ability. Here are some guidelines for when to start introducing Montessori toys:
- 6-9 Months: Begin with sensory toys like soft blocks, activity boards, and simple shape sorters. Books and mirrors also capture interest.
- 9-12 Months: Introduce stacking toys, shape sorters with knobs, peg puzzles and banging toys like xylophones to match increasing dexterity. Read interactive books.
- 12 months+: Provide toys with functions like phones, pounding benches, and push/pull toys to apply new skills. Introduce more advanced puzzles and stacking toys.
Pay attention to your baby’s cues. If they seem frustrated, the toy may be too challenging. Switch to something simpler until they seem ready to level up.
Setting Up a Montessori-Friendly Play Space
To get the most from Montessori toys:
- Childproof area and remove unnecessary clutter
- Organize a few select toys neatly on low, open shelves
- Rotate toys weekly to maintain novelty
- Allow your 1-year-old to choose toys independently
- Sit nearby for safety, but don’t overly direct play
- Limit distraction from TV, tablets, flashing toys
- Join play when invited, describing their actions
- Display books attractively to encourage reading
This thoughtful organization creates an engaging yet calming space where your 1-year-old can focus fully on quality play.
Conclusion
The first year and the second year mark an incredible period of growth. One of the best ways to enhance a baby’s natural development is with Montessori toys. They can help develop motor skills, language, cognitive, and social skills. There are so many different toys that can help with the different stages of development. Additionally, these high-quality toys made from natural materials withstand regular use for your growing child. Investing in a few key Montessori toys supports your 1 year old’s blossoming independence and love of learning during this foundational stage.
