When a child graduates from a toddler to a preschooler, there are noticeable changes and advancements. As the child adjusts and develops, parents will need to advance and develop alongside their child to provide them with the necessary guidance. Parent development is necessary for a child development.

As parents, we need to acquaint ourselves with information on the changes our children will soon undergo. Having proper expectations will help parents provide their children with the necessary developmental support through playing together with the right mindset and materials.

Some of the most common questions parents ask us are:

• What is the difference between a toddler and a preschooler?
• Why is there a transition from being a toddler to being a preschooler in a child's development?

What's the difference between a preschooler and a toddler?

First, a preschooler is called as such because it's only a few years from birth before a child starts formal schooling. Preschoolers range from 3 to 5 years before a child begins education, like kindergarten. 

A lot of noticeable cognitive changes and or observable mental development happen within this timeframe.

While toddlers are from 1 to 3 years old, plenty of advancements are readily observable from when they were infants - learning how to stand and strengthening their muscles with a wooden baby jumper - transitioning into toddlerhood. 

Among these is a child's motor skills. During this toddler period, they have learned to walk, utter some words, and become more independent through helpful play objects, such as the skin-friendly Monty Organic Cotton Play Tunnel. Toddlers have also become more social and slightly improved their emotional skills.

More apparent development takes place for preschoolers.

Children are more physically coordinated after age 1-3, as they have developed their gross and fine motor skills. With that said, they can now start to learn skills that will allow their independence, such as brushing their teeth, wearing socks, and putting on their clothes. 

Among the most observable changes is preschoolers will start mimicking other people's actions. They will also want to become more independent. It is important that parents provide a good example for their child during this phase of their development. Children at this age will be watching everything adults do and often mimic their behavior.

Preschool Toys for Physical Development

Physical development will no longer be as fast as it used to be during infancy and toddlerhood. Still, many changes in their behavior will happen, focusing on intellectual, social, and emotional development.

As far as their energy is concerned, parents will be able to see a lot of that for children this age. They will have endless energy and behavior that may sometimes be hard to tame or control. They will play and move a lot. Not only can they walk fast, but children can be seen running and quickly climbing the stairs. They can also kick a ball.

Although preschoolers have overwhelming energy, they just don't get exhausted. Preschoolers need to be provided with an environment that keeps them engaged, learning, and moving.

Preschool toys for physical development, such as the Monty Organic Cotton Play Tunnel, encourage the following development in preschoolers:

1. Gross Motor Skills: The act of crawling in and out of the organic cotton play tunnel helps your child build strength, coordination, and balance. These are key gross motor skills that will help in other aspects of their life, such as walking, running, and jumping.
2. Spatial Awareness: As your toddler moves through the organic cotton play tunnel, they learn to navigate their body in a restricted space. This helps develop spatial awareness - understanding how their body moves and fits within the space around them.
3. Sensory Development: The feel of the organic cotton against your child's skin provides sensory stimulation. This not only enhances their tactile experience but also can make the play tunnel a comforting space.
4. Cognitive Development: A play tunnel can be a wonderful tool for imaginative play. It could be a cave, a secret passageway, or a hiding spot – the possibilities are endless. This stimulates creativity and cognitive development.
5. Social Skills: Our organic cotton play tunnel promotes cooperative play. Taking turns to crawl through the tunnel or playing games around it improves social interaction and communication skills.
6. Emotional Development: Our organic cotton play tunnel provides a sense of adventure and can also offer a sense of security, being in a 'den' where your toddler can feel safe. This can help your toddler learn to manage their feelings of fear and excitement, thus supporting their emotional development.

Language, memory development and understanding of numbers

At this point, preschoolers have a better vocabulary and can complete sentences of more than three words. They are easier to understand and can easily say what they want and do not.

After this transition age from toddlerhood to preschool, children can learn and become familiar with the alphabet. It would be a great idea to provide children with toys that familiarize them with the alphabet, not only as toys but as learning materials. It provides a child the opportunity to learn through play.

At age 4, since a child has a rapidly improving memory, they can now name colors, especially the basic ones, and match identical objects. As they continue to advance their intelligence, starting at this age, although they may still engage in pretend play, they can differentiate between reality and reality. 

Children can be trained with time at five and should be prepared for it. Most are going to be familiar with knowing their address. They will be able to create longer sentences.

Children become highly sociable

At age 5, as children become more social, they will want to engage with others of all ages. Children this age are rapidly improving their communication skills and are eager to use them. All parents know how chatty children this age can get!

Parents and adults will now be able to see their children expressing their emotions by being highly sociable. They can now express their appreciation by showing affection to others, such as hugging, embracing, or kissing their playmates, siblings, and parents. At this age, children have developed a sense of self and will now start to understand what's theirs and what's not. Because of this, a child can cooperate, and they may be more willing to share their toys or food.

Preschoolers can understand and express some of their emotions

Children at this point will have noticeable emotional advancement. It's an excellent period for them as it is the stage where early friendship blossoms. 

When it comes to this aspect of their development, between 3 and 4 years old, a child will know and can understand happiness and sadness. Since children crave friendship and start showing affection to those they like and are familiar with, they can cooperate with other people.

It would be nice to provide or set up activities to enhance their imagination and vocabulary. Reading is a perfect example of it. Creative play will also motivate and push your children's imagination, enabling them to learn problem-solving and enhance it. Such happens when they are encouraged to use commonly seen objects differently. It will bolster cognitive development and other aspects that fall under it, such as attention span and analysis. It's also an excellent way to create an environment or stimuli that will allow them to develop language and communication skills.

Qualities of Preschool Toys

When choosing toys to encourage early childhood development, the qualities of preschool toys play a pivotal role in ensuring both educational and developmental effectiveness. The most important qualities of preschool toys include engaging design and educational value.

One of the most important qualities of preschool toys is their ability to captivate and maintain a child's interest. Preschool toys should be colorful, interactive, and inviting.

Additionally, the qualities of preschool toys should always align with educational objectives, such as developing fine motor skills, encouraging cognitive problem-solving, and nurturing creativity.

Lastly, the qualities of preschool toys should promote social skills and emotional development, allowing children to learn cooperation, empathy, and sharing. These qualities of preschool toys combine to create a foundation for enjoyable, enriching, and safe play experiences in a child's formative years.

Preschool Table Toys Ideas

Upon reaching the new stage of childhood, a child will need a more stimulating environment and to be surrounded by highly stimulating developmental objects and learning resources. 

Here is a list of toys and educational tools for preschoolers that parents and devoted early care providers will go right with:

Monty Spindle Box

When a child has reached the age of three, it's now more perfect than ever to start introducing him to educational materials that can be simultaneously thrilling, fun, stimulating, and, most of all, far from boring. 

The Monty Spindle Box is a staple of a Montessori education. The Monty Spindle Box is found in homes where excellent child care, learning, and development are among the top priorities. It has different compartments inside it that are labeled from 0-9. The goal of the Monty Spindle Box is to encourage your child to fill up these compartments with the corresponding number of spindles. 

It's an immersive toy that will help your child develop a mental construct of the concept of numbers and counting.

The Monty Spindle Box's objective is not just to help your child recognize numbers but to enable a child to grasp quantities. At this developmental stage, a preschooler will often find completing the task of putting the correct number of spindles in all the compartments in the box challenging; hence, a child will improve their concentration and attention span while practicing this activity.

Monty Number Rods

As the child starts to be introduced to numbers, quantities, and length, the Monty Number Rods are a fantastic way to have all these concepts rolled into one. The Monty Number Rods will facilitate and enhance the child's understanding of how length relates to numbers. It aids a child in naming numbers, counting, and knowing the association between the quantities and numbers. 

The rods are in alternating colors, with each color representing a number. So, the most extended rod has ten segments with red and blue right after each other. 

Moreover, it also teaches the concept of order and arrangement, encourages logical thinking, enhances focus and problem-solving ability, and as a child navigates and tries to put these rods in order or sequence them. 

Monty Cylinder Blocks Set

Developing and introducing to a child mathematical concepts such as size and spatial awareness should start at about this age using suitable supplementary materials, like this Monty Cylinder Blocks Set, which is composed of cylinders in different sizes that invite a child to put in the appropriate hole sizes so they can exactly fit. Minimal adult intervention is needed for this.

As this object is Montessori-inspired, it aims to have the child do the work and figure out how it works by himself. If the cylinder doesn't exactly fit, a child will intuitively understand it and keep on trying until it finds the right hole where it will perfectly fit. 

Monty Movable Alphabet, Monty Alphabet Tiles, Monty Sandpaper Letters, Monty ABC Animal Flash Cards

When a child has reached the age of a preschooler, it's not just toys that must be solely considered when providing him with any objects. Other factors must be counted in, such as how a child can benefit from something. 

At this point, a child's intelligence is flourishing, and concepts will have to be slowly introduced so they can learn and start to fill their developing minds with "how things work" and gain valuable skills, such as reading. 

Exposure to Alphabets

It's only then lovely and ideal to have either this Monty Movable Alphabet or Monty Alphabet Tiles in a child's playroom to initially expose a child to letters, get him to aimlessly interact with them, and motivate him to learn them by initiating activities where a child can be accustomed to the corresponding sound and name of each letter. 

Plenty of activities can be done with these sets as a lot of skills will have to be learned when it comes to the alphabet, from recognizing the letters, knowing their pronunciation, and knowing how they form a word. Either will surely be helpful throughout a preschooler's language development, from reading to writing, and not just for a short time. It will tremendously and effectively prepare a child for schooling. 

Tactile learning

Another option with an added functionality is the Monty Sandpaper Letters, which doesn't provide a visual learning material but also enhances tactile discrimination. The letters are made from sandpaper, causing a different sensory feedback to children when they play with the cards where letters are embedded. 

It's also essential for parents to not forget that the goal at this point isn't just to have their children play but to be able to learn the concepts in line with the preparation of having them attend formal schooling, which will happen in just a few years. 

Enhancing and expanding vocabulary

An excellent idea to make the most out of learning the alphabet for the child is to buffer with vocabulary, say this Monty ABC Animal Flash Cards. A child is more immersively and amusingly introduced to the alphabet through the names of the animals. Not only can they know the words, but the set also allows them to know how these letters are used and pronounced, in addition to expanding their vocabulary. Of course, supervising adults will need to facilitate this learning. 

Must Have Preschool Toys

Monty Official Pink Tower

Anybody familiar with the Montessori system is primarily familiar with our logo featuring the Monty Official Pink Tower as it was developed by Dr. Maria Montersorri, who created this educational method. 

The tower is comprised of 10 cubes of progressing sizes in the power of 3. The set aims to develop a child's visual perception, a sense of size, and an objection's position in space. Further, it will enable a child to correct himself by figuring out what could have gone wrong when the tower collapses when playing and building the tower from the most significant block (bottom) to the smallest one (at the top). Hand-eye coordination will come into play as well when playing. 

Best Learning Toys Preschool

Here are some of the best learning toys for preschool that overlap with late toddlerhood and early preschool age that parents and early care providers can make the most out of in engaging and fostering an interactive and immersive play and learning development with their children: Monty Tool Set, Monty Doctor Play Set, Monty Busy Board Backpack, Monty Kids Memory Game, Monty Botany Puzzle Collection

Monty Ball Run Track

While education materials are highly recommended at this point in a child's stage of development, supervising adults should continue giving their children toys that continue to make a child imaginative, creative, and motivated to solve problems. A perfect fit for this is Monty Ball Run Track, where a child can experiment and explore different possibilities of connecting these conduits where balls can pass through.

Upon reaching three, a child can be introduced to toys like this as he now has the cognitive capacity to differentiate objects that can be swallowed from those that can't be. Among other skills that will be developed are patience and perseverance. Sure, this is going to pose some challenges, but a child will be fulfilled and rewarded after successfully connecting these passageways. 

Monty Train Set

As children's problem-solving skills have progressed and are steadily advancing, providing them with toys that will give them flexibility and liberty to be imaginative and creative, particularly when building or constructing an object, is almost a must.

The Monty Train Set does allow a child to assemble these train tracks depending on his liking and play with them afterward. It encourages open-ended play and enables a child to feel fulfilled upon completing the channels. It gives him a sense of achievement. Playing it and putting the tracks together may initially seem complex. Still, it will be a worthwhile way to have a child spend his time as it will intensely prepare him for the challenges, especially when a child has formally started schooling. 

Monty Toddler Easel

When a child is being prepared for schooling, educational whiteboards, and easels are just some fun ways to encourage him to love learning and continuously explore. The Monty Toddler Easel is an excellent educational material that will effectively engage a child in learning numbers and alphabets, drawing, scribbling, and creating art that parents can use. It's a multi-functional object that a child simultaneously enjoys and learns from. 

Monty Rainbow Marble Tree

Although when a child has reached the three, activities should be geared toward learning alphabets, numbers, and understanding abstract concepts, a child continues to learn other things such as sounds and tones.

The Monty Rainbow Marble Tree acquaints a child with different frequencies, and when he drops a marble from the top, that goes all the way down to the bottom. A child at this age should be able to understand that the marble is an object that shouldn't be swallowed. Despite that, parents and early care providers should still supervise for extra safety. 

Monty Toddler Musical Instruments Set

As children hone their inclination to experience real-life situations and do pretend play, they will naturally gravitate to objects that almost look like the ones they see adults use, just like the miniature musical instruments that come with the Monty Toddler Musical Instruments Set.

The musical instruments are fully functional, and the music is magical. Sure, a preschooler will have all the fun and immersion in these musical instruments. It will be another pivotal tool to hone and develop their interest in music and the sound that comes with musical instruments. Who knows, a child may be a future great musician. Exposure is significant in trying to figure out where the innate interest lies. 

Monty Puzzles Set

Puzzles have significant benefits, and they are for all ages, depending on the difficulty. This Monty Puzzles Set is perfectly designed with the aim of providing fun and leisure for preschoolers while allowing them to learn and be exposed to different things or objects, just like the case here. The puzzles are composed of more than three pieces that a child will have to put together to create an image that the puzzles intend. These images are images of animals made to look pleasing so a child can better appreciate and have fun with them. 

Monty Wooden Kids Calendar, Monty Weather Station

A child at this point is now starting to understand difficult concepts that relate to numbers. It could be better to supplement their learning and development with objects that will enable them to start learning about weather with Monty Weather Station and the concept of time, weeks, and days with Monty Wooden Kids Calendar. While both have an educational agenda, they maintain being playful and appealingly appropriate for preschoolers. 

Monty Toys - A Revolution in Child's Play

As parents, we naturally seek the best for our little ones. We understand, consciously or intuitively, that the first 5 years of our child's life will shape the structure of their brain for the rest of their life.

Monty Toys isn't just another toy store.

Our toys are a testament to the importance of our childen's early years.

Monty Toys are designed and curated by our child developmental experts to nurture your child's innate curiosity, fostering independence, critical thinking, and respect for oneself, others, and their surroundings.

By providing strategic toys and materials tailored to your child's developmental stage, we allow children and parents to become active agents in their own education and development.

Every product from Monty Toys comes with a tailored 1-page informational document, ensuring parents grasp the educational essence and purpose of each toy. This guide illuminates the science behind the toy's design and offers insights into enhancing a child's learning experience.

It's not just about play; it's about informed, developmental engagement for both child and parent.

Join us in Learning through Play!