Montessori Activity Ideas for Babies 0 to 3 Months

The first three months of your baby's life are often called the fourth trimester. It is the time when you and your Child are getting to know each other and are adjusting to the new life. This period might be stressful and overwhelming for both of you, your role as a parent during this time is to just love and care for your Child, provide Her with the sense of calm and security. It is very normal for a newborn baby to cry, and your best course of action is to determine the reason for her cry and try to meet her basic needs which in the early days are as simple as food and sleep.

However, when your baby is not sleeping or feeding and is content and happy, there are some Montessori aligned activities that you can engage your baby in to support Her development at this early stage. Let's have a look at what these activities might be:

• Montessori mobiles. These simple yet beautiful mobiles are the first Montessori activities that you can offer your Child. Montessori mobiles will help your Child to develop concentration and focus as she will be tracking the elements of these mobiles slowly moving in space with natural airflow.
• Munari Mobile consists of high contrast black and white geometric shapes and dowels that are balanced off the glass sphere.

• Octahedron Mobile is a set of octahedron shapes of red, yellow and blue colours, the shapes are made of holographic paper reflecting light.

• Gobbi Mobile. Small spheres that are the same colour but different in shade are hanging at a 45-degree angle with the darkest sphere being the closest to your Child and the lightest sphere being at the top.

• Tricolour Mobile is a set of three wooden spheres of three primary colours: red, yellow and blue.

• Newborn rattles. You can offer your baby some simple rattles to exercise her grasping and discover cause and effect as she will be moving her hand holding the rattle. Our Ring with Beads and Dowel with Bells are perfect for tiny hands.

You can complement Montessori materials with some easy DIY activities, for example:

• High contrast (black and white) pictures. You can print or draw simple black and white patterns featuring some basic geometric figures. Place them on the wall next to the changing table, or put them right in front of your baby during tummy time.
• Tracking an object. Take a bright object (for example, a small ball), hold it at about 30 cm distance from your baby, once you see your baby has focused on the object move it slowly to the sides allowing her to track it.

Dr Maria Montessori said that 'Education must begin at birth', and we hope that these example activities will give you an idea on how you can support your Child's development during Her first months of life. Introduce one activity at a time, let you baby focus on this activity for a while and try not to interfere with your Child's concentration. If you notice that your baby becomes bored, switch to a different activity, if She is tired, give her some rest. As with Children of any age, the best Montessori advice to parents of a newborn is to Follow their Child!