Montessori activities and games for 2 year olds

The Montessori method offers games and activities for every age group, here we see those suitable for 2-year-olds.

In the previous weeks we talked about Montessori-style DIY games for 0-6 months ,  6-12 months  and 1-year-olds . Today I give you some suggestions for doing activities and creating Montessori games for children aged 2 to 3.

This age range (24-36 months) is an important period of change for children, not only due to their linguistic and communicative achievements, but also due to their need for greater independence.

In this period the children are changing considerably day by day and their progress is evident. The language becomes more and more complex, the sentences are longer and more articulated and the vocabulary is more nourished. The phase of whys and nos begins and he wants to experience what his limits are and in the space of two to three years he starts playing on his own. He loves shapes and colours, he loves to build, compose puzzles, draw and colour.

To help the child do it by himself and be independent – the cornerstone of the Montessori method – parents can organize the environment in such a way that the child can carry out daily tasks autonomously and do things alone in a safe way. This will give the child a sense of accomplishment and self-worth that will help them thrive.
To stimulate and help them in this phase (2→3 years), here are some Montessori-inspired activities and games  that you can offer to your children.

Montessori activities and games for 2 year olds

Recognize colors

2-year-olds are able to distinguish and recognize the shades of colors but only later will they give the right name to each of them. To stimulate the learning of colors you can propose the  palette of pegs designed by Maria Montessori.
In practice it is a question of cutting out a rectangular or round cardboard, dividing it into colored sections and creating clothespins with the same colors used for the cardboard. The child will have to attach the clip in the section of the card with the corresponding color.

Based on this Montessori exercise and with a little imagination, many variations of games can be created. For example, the child can be asked to divide the red balls from the blue ones by placing them in two separate baskets, color some cardboard tubes and invite them to insert the colored balls into the corresponding tubes, or create cute little paper animals on which the children have to attach the tail  of the same color.

Practical life activities

Maria Montessori had noticed that children were more interested in practical life activities than imaginative games. In fact, children experience real and lasting joy when they complete a practical task, which they don’t consider as work, but something they need to feel part of the world they are learning to know. Practical life exercises
( such as eating alone, moving everyday objects, putting games in order, setting the table, washing the dishes, decanting solids and liquids, cutting and so on), therefore prepare the child to be independent.

According to the Montessori method, you can offer children activities such as washing dishes , washing and hanging out small clothes , preparing food , cleaning  small corners of the house.
In each of these activities it is preferable that the environment is child-friendly and with a workstation that the child can recognize as belonging to her.

The rackings

The transfers are a Montessori-inspired exercise useful for perfecting fine manual skills and an excellent activity for stimulating the child’s autonomy.
The possible types of transfer are really many starting from the type of containers (bowls, jars, bottles, glasses), to the material to be moved (flour, seeds, legumes, rice, pasta, liquids), to the use of the instrument for transferring ( hands, spoons, ladles, tongs, syringes, droppers). Choosing one type of exercise over another depends on your child’s age and abilities.

For children aged 2 to 3 years, seeds and legumes can be transferred with tongs and spoons  (proposed on trays as indicated by the Montessori method),  seeds or rice transferred from one container to another  or slightly more demanding transfers such as the  transfer of liquid with the sponge  and the one with a large syringe .

Language development activities

The 2-year-old is extremely interested in knowing words. In fact, he begins to speak in longer sentences and his vocabulary grows day by day.
To support the child on this basis, it is important to speak to him in a clear and non-childish way, also looking for challenging and difficult terms. This will allow children to absorb everything that is being said to them and to exponentially increase their vocabulary.

One of the systems of the Montessori method to stimulate language are the nomenclatures  that can be proposed starting from one year of age (even if in different ways from those of subsequent years).
Through the thematic cards, children can be taught the names of things and learn to recognize them, but they can also propose small objects (for which they are crazy) that represent real things and stimulate the child to recognize them, pass them, find them .

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As always, I remind you that the recommended ages for this type of Montessori-inspired games and activities  should not be taken literally, but are just a basic suggestion. In fact, the game proposals must adapt to the responses and growth of the child and can also be proposed again at different ages, perhaps with changes dictated by your imagination.