Wow! I can’t believe that Miss K is already 18 months! The days go by slowly by the weeks go by so fast. A few old things and a few new things on her shelf this month. I hope you enjoy taking a look!

Top Shelf

• Various Homemade Shakers – see previous description here.
• Kmart Wooden Fire Truck – a few of Miss K’s books feature a fire truck, so I thought I’d add another vehicle to her toy collection. She likes to roll it around and loves it when I add sound effects!
• Grapat Nins Carla and Grapat Coloured Mates – this was my first foray into the wonderful world of small world play and I was fortunate enough to get the Grapat Nins Carla set and Grapat Coloured Mates during a recent restock from Oskar’s Wooden Ark. The full Nins Carla set contains 12 Nins, 72 rings and 36 coins in rainbow colours. To go with this set, I also purchased the Mates and the Nins fit perfectly inside. They are all beautifully handcrafted and perfect for little hands. So as not to overwhelm Miss K I’ve kept out the main primary colours. To be honest, she hasn’t shown too much interest in these yet but I hope she’ll get more fun out of them as she gets older.
• Coloured Felt Squares – one of the areas I’m focusing on teaching Miss K at the moment are colours, so I cut out some large felt squares in different colours. There are 2 of each colour as I thought we could pair and match them up when she’s ready. Miss K doesn’t yet acknowledge colours but their great at incorporating the vocabulary into her play. She loves to stick them to my back and will often grab a square to fold or wrap around objects around the house. Every now and then we’ll watch a short video about colours in Cantonese and I’ll grab these out to reinforce the concept.

Bottom Shelf

• Very Hungry Catterpillar Jack in a Box – see previous description here.
• EverEarth Pop Up Bunny Toy – see previous description here.
• Duplo Heart Box – I was tossing up between getting Miss K wooden blocks or Duplo and decided for now to get her some Duplo. Although the box states that it’s for ages 1.5+ she’s still a little too young to play with them independently. This set contains instructions on how to make simple structures such as a helicopter, icecream and duck, so I’ve put a few of these together for her to play with. She loves to pretend to lick the icecream and sometimes says duck! Miss K doesn’t yet know how to click the blocks together and isn’t strong enough to pull them apart but likes to see me do it. I loved Lego as a child, so I’m glad that this is her first introduction to it!
• Schleich Wild Animals – after getting Miss K her first set of farm animals, I purchased a few wild animals to go along with some of her board books. These are all so beautifully detailed and made. Miss K doesn’t usually play with these on their own, however she’ll grab them when we’re reading an animal book or playing with play dough. Although she can’t verbalise the animal names or their sounds yet, she’s able to correctly pick up some of the animals when I ask for them.

Marie xo

I noticed that Miss K wasn’t engaging with the toys on her bottom shelf, so I shifted her 2 Montessori shelves to the middle of the bookcase. Since then there’s been a small but noticeable change in the way that she’s drawn in and engages with her toys and activities.

Top Shelf

• EverEarth Pop Up Bunny Toy – I came across this lovely pop up bunny toy in a local kids store in town but there are a lot of online stores that also stock this. The bunnies are spring loaded, so once their locked into place they’ll pop up the next time you press them down. It’s great for learning cause and effect, colour recognition, hand eye coordination and focus. At the moment Miss K is too young to push the bunnies down but she loves watching me pop the bunnies (her eyes will screw up in anticipation!) and is able to put them back, although not the right side up or colour yet. I’ve noticed that she’ll ignore this toy if the bunnies are in their place, so when we’re not actively playing with the toy, I’ll usually leave the bunnies out on the shelf and she usually can’t resist putting them back in!
• 2-Piece Number Puzzle – received as a present from my mother-in-law, this is a fantastically simple number puzzle for little people! The numbers range from 1-10 and correspond with a matching number of animals. I found that for the moment, having only 1 puzzle out is best and Miss K loves taking it apart. She also loves having a good old chew on them every now and them, so I need to keep an eye out as their only made from cardboard!
• Kmart Wooden Jungle Bead Maze – couldn’t resist picking up this simple and affordable jungle bead maze from Kmart. It’s small enough for her to carry around and she’s learnt how to push the beads backwards and forwards.
• Kmart Wooden Xylophone – another amazing toy from Kmart’s wooden toy range! It’s bright, cheery, and Miss K loves having a good old bang on her xylophone. Sometimes she’ll even use the hammer from her Bello Hammer Ball set!

Bottom Shelf

• Schleich Farm Animals – see previous description here.
• Bello Hammer Ball – see previous description here. At 16 months Miss K has now learnt how to hammer the balls through! It’s amazing watching her happily hammer away.
• Various Homemade Shakers – I made various shakers filled with dried pasta and beans when Miss K was a baby. I’ve brought them out again as we use shakers in her toddler music class and their fun to shake along with some music.
• Big W Wooden Fruits Puzzle – Unlike Kmart, Big W have a limited range of wooden toys so I couldn’t resist picking this up while I was in store. Unfortunately I couldn’t find this on their online store, so it may not be in stock anymore. As a puzzle, this is too advanced for Miss K but it’s great for naming fruits. Each fruit is listed in English below and I’m planning on adding Chinese characters under each fruit.

Marie xo

Miss K is now 15 months old and to keep things interesting for her, I’ve started rotating her toys every month. Trying to keep with the Montessori philosophy, the bottom 2 shelves of our bookcase have been cleared for her.

Each cube contains a single toy/puzzle or theme of toys either on its own or displayed in a basket. There’s a also a table and chair set off to the side that sometimes has its own toy or is used to place the toy that she’s currently playing with. While there is room for improvement, the overall result is an uncluttered and organised space just for Miss K.

Top Shelf

• Bello Hammer Ball – this is a beautifully made 4-ball pound and hammer set that we purchased form Kidstuff but sadly doesn’t appear to be on their website at the moment. The base is angled so that the balls easily roll out. It’s great for hand-eye coordination, building arm strength, focus, colour matching, and understanding object permanence. At the moment Miss K isn’t strong enough to hammer hard enough for the balls to pop through but she loves to catch them and put them back when I do it for her! She’ll usually hand me the hammer when she wants me to play with her.
• Mini Discovery Boxes and Balls – borrowed from our local toy library and Miss K loves these! She loves picking them up, seeing what’s inside, shaking them, and putting them back inside the basket.
• Q Toys Montessori Baby Rings – when we first purchased these rings, she loved gnawing on the rings and banging them together. Now, she likes to take the rings off but hasn’t quite figured out how to put them back on yet.
• Schleich Farm Animals – after reading so many positive reviews about the quality and realism of Schleich toys, I purchased some common farm animals from Mini Zoo (cat missing in action at the time of the photo). They’re extremely well made and the attention to detail is amazing. They’ve also held up being chewed and thrown around by Miss K. She doesn’t play with these often but it’s a great way to introduce animals and their sounds to her. Funnily enough Miss K and her toddler friends love the little chicken!

Bottom Shelf

• Playgro Textured Sensory Balls and Bright Starts Oball with Rattle – now that Miss K is walking she doesn’t play with these often (close up above). She’ll usually pick them up for a closer look and then place them back in the basket. After this month, it’ll be time to put these away for a while.
• Wooden Ambulance – borrowed from our local toy library, this ambulance is one of 4 wooden vehicles that I’ve been rotating this month. These have been great for teaching Miss K how to roll objects backwards and forwards.
• Very Hungry Caterpillar Jack in a Box – received as a present from my mother-in-law, this has always been a hit whenever I’ve brought out the toy. Miss K still hasn’t figured out how to turn the handle yet but she loves seeing the caterpillar pop out and tries to push him back in! It’s great for teaching cause and effect, fine motor coordination, and delayed gratification.
• Woody The Worm – this beautiful and bright worm caught my eye at a local baby gift store in town. Unfortunately the paint doesn’t hold up very well, so I’ve had to keep it in storage until Miss K started chewing things less. This isn’t one of her favourites but she can keep herself entertained for a few minutes by swinging it around.

On the Table

• Large Wooden Farm Animal Puzzle – borrowed from our local toy library, this is one of 2 large wooden puzzles that I keep on her desk or our couch. The knobs are huge so their easy for her to grasp and pull the pieces out. At this point in time I’m not concerned with her being able to put the correct pieces back in their places. Instead, I’ll keep the puzzles in tact as she likes to pull the pieces out in her own time. Together, we’ll identify the animals/objects, ask for certain pieces, and show her how the pieces can be put back.

Marie xo