The Best Toy Subscription & The Montessori Method
The Montessori Method and Toy Subscriptions
Despite the Montessori method’s emphasis on self-learning, many parents believe an abundance of toys will encourage deeper play. Indeed, no parent wants their child to be deprived.
When I first became a mom I, too, found myself caught up in this line of thinking.
More toys = more learning.
Right?
But my daughter’s toys overflowed into our kitchen and hallway. Before I knew it, I found myself converting my office into a play room to accommodate my daughter’s abundance of cheap, plastic toys.
Organizing, tidying, and cleaning these toys felt like a full-time job; not surprisingly, my anxiety skyrocketed.
And then there were the hard-to-swallow environmental implications: 80% of toys end up in a landfill, incinerators, or the ocean. 90% of all toys are plastic and kids use them for just 6 months.
These days, I’m a self-described toy minimalist and am always on the hunt for ways to entertain my children without contributing to junk culture.
So when Tiny Earth Toys offered to send me a trial of their educational toy subscription that’s curated by Montessori method learning experts and is returned after play in exchange for an honest review, I enthusiastically obliged.
(Note: While this post is sponsored, all opinions are my own.)
90% of all toys are plastic.
80% of toys end up in a landfill, incinerators, or the ocean.
What is Tiny Earth Toys?
– Tiny Earth Toys is an educational toy subscription service that sends curated, wooden toys straight to your doorstep.
– Tiny Earth offers different kits based on your child’s age, including the following:
- Acadia Kit (birth – 6 months)
- Arches Kit (6 – 12 months)
- Cascade Kit (12-16 months)
- Glacier Kit (16-20 months)
- Haleakala Kit (20-24 months)
- Olympic Kit (24-28 months)
- Rainier Kit (28-32 months)
- Sequoia Kit (32-36 months)
- Teton Kit (36-40 months)
- Yosemite Kit (40-44 months)
- Zion Kit (44-48 months)
Simply exchange your Tiny Earth kit for the next age-based kit every four to six months.
– The Tiny Earth team believes in the reuse model as a means of both keeping toys out of landfills and keeping your home clutter-free.
What comes in your box?
Because my daughter is 3 years old, I signed up for the Zion Kit. The Tiny Earth team packed my box to the brim with the following:
- 7 high-quality, wooden toys in their original packaging
- An Educational Play Guide
- A Materials Guide with Play Invitations
- Return shipping items, including tape and label
I’m relatively inexperienced with the Montessori method and I appreciated that the team at Tiny Earth included both an Educational Play Guide and a Materials Guide (both of which were written by a Montessori expert).
The Play Invitations, too, enabled me to create a child-led play environment without adding extra work onto my plate.
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My experience with the Montessori method:
First, I read the Educational Play guide for suggestions on how to best facilitate developmentally appropriate play. Next, I sat back and observed my daughter interact with the toy I set out for her.
I was initially skeptical that wooden toys without lights or sounds would entertain my generally unfocused preschooler, but I was pleasantly surprised. Research finds that children are more active play participants when they engage with passive toys without batteries, sounds, or flashing lights (source), and I found this to be true as I watched.
After examining the different pieces within her PlanToys Vegetable Garden by turning them over in her palms, stacking them, and sorting them, Lara quickly crafted an entire imaginative game around the toy complete with a miniature garden for her favorite stuffed unicorn.
I was particularly impressed with the exceptionally high quality of all the toys within my Tiny Earth box. And as a mom who is increasingly concerned about the health effects associated with plastic (source), I slept easy knowing my daughter would play without negative health outcomes.
Other reasons why I love Tiny Earth Toys:
– My kit came with all the materials I needed in order to return it, including a return label, packaging fill, and tape to re-seal the box. (I even had the option at checkout to schedule FedEx home pickup for my return. Easy-peasy!).
– Tiny Earth disinfects each toy using cleaning supplies on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) list of disinfectants for use against SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID-19.
– The Tiny Earth team understands that life happens: they expect light damage or a missing piece here or there. I slept easy knowing that if my daughter misplaced a piece, Tiny Earth wouldn’t penalize me.
– I can share the toy subscription love by gifting Tiny Earth Toys to my nieces, nephews, and other kiddos in my life. And if I don’t want to gift an entire subscription? I can give a gift card that goes toward the purchase of a subscription.
– Tiny Earth Toys makes high-quality, wooden toys accessible to my daughter: while kits start at $35 per month, their actual retail value is over $350.
Are you ready to embrace the Montessori method and try a toy subscription for your little one? Shop Tiny Earth Toys’ different age-based kits here!
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