“What’s that noise, mom?” 
“Look at that, dad!” 
We’re fairly certain if you’re a parent or caregiver you’ve heard questions like these at least a million times (and that’s just in one day, right?). Babies and young children learn about their world using their senses. They have an innate curiosity about the things they’re seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting in their environment and they are eager to know more (and for good reason). 
 

With all of these benefits, it probably goes without being said that you want to introduce sensory play to your child. We’re sure you’d rather not have to answer questions like “What’s that smell?” “Where is that noise coming from?” “What is THAT thing” a million times, right? The good news is, there are many toys you can offer your child to help naturally support their sensory development that may quell some of these never-ending questions. 8 toys and examples for promoting sensory development and gross motor skills.

Promote sensory development and gross motor skills

 
Mobiles

Montessori mobiles such as the Munari Mobile, the Octahedral Mobile, the Gobbi Mobile, the Dancer Mobile, and the Primary Colors Mobile help the child in developing their sense of sight. The design of Montessori mobiles specifically aims in helping babies develop their vision by stimulating their ability to follow a moving object, facilitating both eyes working together, and aiding in color and size discrimination, just to name a few.

Contrast toys

High contrast materials like the Contrast Book, the Contrast Sensorial Toy, and the Munari Mobile from our hedgehog box help a baby develop their eyesight. A child’s color vision builds slowly and these high contrast images can aid in shape recognition and can help an infant strengthen their eye muscles and will allow them to begin making connections to similar shapes in their environment.

Rattles for babys

Rattles like Rattle with Bell and even the Musical Eggs from our fox box are quintessential Montessori infant toys. Rattles can promote a child’s sense of hearing and sight. Rattles can help develop a child’s sense of hearing as they make noises when shaken. Depending on how and where they are shaken, they can also teach babies to discern the location of an object as they will learn to direct their attention towards the sound. Along those same lines, babies will focus their gaze on a rattle when it is held up and will track the toy when a parent moves it, stimulating their sense of sight.

Mirror Toy

Although a Montessori mirror is often a large mirror placed on the floor alongside a young child’s area for movement, the Mirror Toy can also help support an infant’s sensory development in many of the same ways. Not only do mirrors foster a child’s sense of sight as they love looking at and responding to themselves in the mirror, these toys can also promote a sense of touch as infants will begin exploring their body through visual touch and reaction in the mirror.

Sensory Ball

The Montessori Sensory Ball (also known as the Montessori Puzzle Ball or Montessori Grasping Ball) helps support a child’s developing sense of touch, sight, and hearing as each and every segment is made of a different texture with a different color or pattern and when rolled, will make a pleasant sound. Some people even say these fantastic toys can promote a sense of taste and smell as young children explore the textures through mouthing and the ball begins to take on their scent.

Grasping toys

Montessori grasping toys including the Small Grabling Toy, the Clutch Discs, and the Sensory Balls from our mouse box help children to develop their sense of touch and taste. They will instinctively reach for the toy fostering their sense of touch by examining the interesting textures and moving the objects from hand to hand. The toys will naturally found their mouth as they explore using their sense of taste.

Blocks and stacking toys

The First Blocks, Stackable Bowls, and Stacking Tower help children distinguish by size, shape, and color building their sense of sight and touch. As they put each piece on top of the other, they work on depth perception and hand-eye coordination, key visuo-motor skills.

Sorting toys

Similarly, the Sort and Count Trees and Sort Toys from our rabbit box help children distinguish by color, supporting the development of their sense of sight and facilitate hand-eye coordination.

References
Fisher, K. (2018). Everything you need to know about the cerebellum. Medical News Today. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/313265 
Hines, T. (2021). Anatomy of the Brain. Mayfield Brain & Spine Clinic. https://mayfieldclinic.com/pe-anatbrain.htm 
Lowsky, D. C. (2014). How stacking / nesting toys can develop early language and fine motor skills. Ark Therapeutic Products. https://www.arktherapeutic.com/blog/how-stacking-nesting-toys-can-develop-early-language-and-fine-motor-skills/ 
Montessori Edited. (2022a). Fabric sensory ball - the secret behind its success. https://montessoriedited.com/sensory-ball/ 
Montessori Edited. (2022b). Montessori visual mobiles - the only guide you’ll ever need. https://montessoriedited.com/visual-mobiles-guide/ 
Ngala. (2022). Learning through the senses: When everything is stimulating. https://www.ngala.com.au/article/learning-through-the-senses-when-everything-is-stimulating/ 
The Topponcino Company. (2021a). All you need to know about the Montessori mirror (a complete guide). https://topponcinocompany.com/blogs/montessori/montessori-wall-mirror 
The Topponcino Company. (2021b). Here are 3 great reasons to get a rattle for your baby. https://topponcinocompany.com/blogs/montessori/3-great-reasons-to-get-a-rattle-for-your-baby 
The Topponcino Company. (2021c). How black and white contrast items help your baby grow. https://topponcinocompany.com/blogs/montessori/black-white-images 
The Topponcino Company. (2021d). The Top 7 Montessori baby toys (and mobiles) experts agree you need. https://topponcinocompany.com/blogs/montessori/montessori-baby-toys