a. / b. / c. / d. / e. / f. 

Otto hasn't always liked stacking toys. It's a good lesson to follow the child and not to compare your child to others. Now at 15 months Otto frequently chooses stacking materials and will work on them repeatedly. 

First he started with the ring stackers at around nine months (a. & b.) and then the discs on the vertical dowel (c.). Each one is progressively more difficult. 

Now at fifteen months he is using the cubes on the vertical dowel (d.) and has really mastered this material. So today I thought I would try him with the horizontal dowel (e.). Do not forget about this one, it's easily overlooked! 

This one requires a change in hand movement, a different grip. It requires the child to take a different approach.

I love watching toddlers try things for the first time. It took Otto a while to work it out. I could see his little hands moving the disc around and his mind busily at work. In the first picture (below, top left) he couldn't work out why the disc wouldn't go on, then he started to use some problem solving skills.

We also have the small Grimm's rainbow stacker (below). Otto is perhaps a little young for it, he can get all of the rings on but has no desire to stack it according to size. It is interesting to watch as each disc is a different diameter so the child needs to work harder to get the dowel in the hole. Obviously this will be useful later for colour work but for this age I love using materials with a wooden texture, this feels wooden and a little rough and natural.

Our discs on a vertical dowel, cubes on a vertical dowel and discs on a horizontal dowel are c/o Montessori Shop.