At 9-10 months Alfred was crawling, climbing and pulling up on furniture to stand. He had a strong interest in object permanence and posting activities. As always, he loved being in nature and being out and about with his dad or I at the shops, library, on trips away, kindermusik, to friends and playgroup.
While we had mostly unstructured time (e.g no strict schedule) in the week we had two things we had to get to with a starting time. Alfred would cry and whinge at home, he just wanted to be out and about! Side note: I felt confident that he was communicating that he wanted to leave the house as once he could walk (13 months) he would take our hand and walk us to the door or give us our car keys.
Also, observing and listening to your child is more important than listening to that person on IG or Pinterest or Facebook (including me!). They’re great for ideas and guidance but your child is your guide. Here’s some things we did at 9-10 months:
DIY Object Permanence
If you’re doing Montessori at home I don’t think there’s a need to buy an expensive albeit beautiful traditional object permanence box (see the bottom of my post for a comparison between the DIY box and the traditional wooden box, spoiler: the DIY wins out).
I made both of these boxes quite quickly using an xacto knife (a Stanley knife or scissors would work well). It’s important that the ball or object can be seen after it drops, so having a space for it to roll or drop out on is important.
Shelf activities
I watched what Alfred was doing and then tried to offer activities and objects that matched his development. For example, I knew he was ready to try the object permanence box as he was putting a ball into a box. I made the switch box because he was attracted to power points around the house and I wanted a safe alternative for him to use.
It’s great to see ideas online and think, “ooh that’s cool, I’m going to try that” but the times I did that he often responded by being disinterested. Instead, I think about what he is doing, showing me, engaged with and then look online for ideas that will match that skill or interest.
New experiences with family
Alfred really enjoyed and soaked up every new place, object and experience he came across. We spend every Saturday on a family outing, generally to a park or walk through town, sometimes we explore further afield. We also enjoy different museums, galleries and libraries when we get the chance. The best bit is spending time together and watching Alfred take it all in.
Movement Opportunities
Boxes are fun for crawling into
I didn’t go out of my way to provide places to pull up for Alfred, and I didn’t install a pull up bar. He used a couch, chair, wall, shelf, bookshelves and anything else he could pull up on. He loved climbing into cupboards and small spaces, and started going up the stairs too (with me very close behind!) Movement comes so naturally when children have a rich environment and the freedom to go at their own pace with no expectations of when or how they should move.
Reading
Alfred loved climbing up onto his reading nook mattress to look at books. He loved exploring them and wouldn’t “sit and read” them as such and even if I went to read them to him he looked for about 10 seconds before crawling away. (This changes as they get older!)
Shopping
Shopping is a great time to build on language and discover new foods. He also was developing his understanding of the relationship between a customer and the check out attendant, and how people act at the shops. Our shop has a basket of free fruit for children so he usually nibbled on a pear or banana.
Thanks!
Thanks for reading along with what we did when Alfred was 9-10 months.
Other posts by age
DIY Instagram Posts
https://www.instagram.com/p/BuUUEGNBrwi/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
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