(bright music)
- Hello, lovely people.
Welcome today to a Montessori-inspired gift guide
for the ages of two to three, toddler years,
the toddler years, a toddler gift guide, we'll say.
Now, I'll be completely honest, when it comes to ages
with gift guides in this kind of toddler period,
once you get over the age of about 18 months,
I think that each child is so individually different
and they have strengths in such different areas
that for some of them they'll be doing things
that on the box it says this is for a three-year-old
or a 4-year-old.
And in other areas they're very interested in things that,
oh, they're supposed to stop being interested in
when they're 18 months old.
And it's just not how, that's not how children work, okay?
We all move at different speeds in different areas.
That's how life is.
So, when I say that this is a guide
for someone in the age range of two to three,
that's because my son is two and a half
and these are things that he loves.
However, for those of you who don't know what Montessori is
and Montessori's parenting specifically,
it's a style of education or parenting
that is very much led by our observations
of the child and is very child led.
So, we give him things as he is able to do them
rather than thinking he is this age,
he should be able to do this,
or he is this age now he should have stopped doing that.
For instance, it's letting a child be as fully capable
as they are able to be.
So, Rupert dresses himself in the morning
and chooses his clothes,
because he's fully capable of doing that.
He can stir some scrambled eggs
while standing on his learning tower in the kitchen
because he's able to do that.
He's done that for about a year.
Yet, but at the same time, I know that there are things
that he physically struggles with
and it's about meeting him where he is at with that.
So, he currently isn't really able to run or jump
and I'm not going to push him to do so
or challenge him on why he can't do that.
We just go to ballet and go to gymnastics
and have lots of fun playing around with our bodies
and moving them and you know, if our bodies move more
a little bit each week, that's great.
And if they don't, oh well.
This very long intro is to say
just here are some suggestions.
Take from this whatever you think your child
might be interested in.
Number one, a Yoto Player.
Okay, this one is a gift for the whole family,
I have to say.
I love this probably just as much as Rupert does.
So for those of you who don't know,
a Yoto Player is a mini music player for a child
and it is usable from a very, very young age.
Rupert got this specific Yoto Player
for his first birthday from his granddad.
Thank you very much, Granddad.
And it has a little card slot at the top.
You get different little cards
and some of them have music on
and some of them have stories on,
and your child can just put them in and out
and interchangeably go through them.
They press the button to go to the next track
or the next chapter of the story.
You can twist the dial to put the volume up and down
and you can twist the dial
to move through a number of songs at once
and then press to play that song.
Along with having the ability
to write your own track onto some, make your own card.
So you could record a family member,
like a grandparent reading a story
and the child can listen to their grandparent
reading a story with them, which is quite a sweet idea.
Or you could record music from your own culture
and have the child be able to just use it to listen
to musical tracks that they can't find anywhere else.
I'm just thinking of that
'cause we have put some tracks from
that Rupert really liked when we were in Malaysia.
One of the things we love about this as a family,
something his parents love about this,
is the ability to program it with reminders.
So, currently before we need to leave the house
at set times, whether that be to go to school
or to go to ballet class or to go to playgroup
or whatever, we have a fan horn set to come on
to let Rupert know that it's now shoes on, coat on time.
And he listens to it and we all have a dance party.
This in combination with our Amazon Alexa
get us out the house.
It takes a lot to get my family
to do anything on time, be anywhere on time.
Do we need 20 reminders?
Yes.
Does Rupert need to know
when we're going to leave the house
30 minutes, then 20 minutes, then 10 minutes,
then five minutes, then two minutes in advance?
Yeah, he does.
So thank you Yoto Player for that.
And I really like the range of cards that come with it.
I know it's main competitor is the Toni,
and with the Tonies you can get a range of Disney songs,
but Yoto tend to be more on the line
of like my first classical music, my first piano album,
my first ballet music album.
Rupert's main interest currently is making us sit down
and then watch him do ballet recitals, so.
Number two, there is no love
in my son's life greater than sticker books.
I'd like to believe it's his mother and I.
I don't, I'm not entirely sure that's true.
We're at the point now where there must always be
a sticker book on-the-go at any one time.
He first got really interested in sticker books
in May of this year when he was little under two.
You can really find sticker books of all ages,
I have to say.
And it's been an enduring love for him.
The classic interest for him is the Usborne
First Sticker Books.
They have a series called "Sticker Dolly Dressing"
where they have characters that you can dress up,
you put their clothes on.
It's very exciting for him.
It's very exciting for me too, actually.
I also, I enjoy it just as much as he does
because I actually know what these things are called.
We did try to broaden out his horizons
by trying to buy some truck-related sticker books
to see if he would be interested in those.
But to be honest, firstly, I don't know the names
of any trucks,
so I was unable to assist
every time he asked me what they were called.
And that one's a many wheeled truck.
And then I'm just lying to my child
and that didn't feel great.
But fortunately he wasn't interested.
So yay.
Am I pushing my passions onto him
or do we just share things in common?
Who's to say?
But Claudia absolutely does not care for fashion.
And so, she has to suffer
through the dressing up sticker books.
The Activity sticker book,
which is also a very good type of sticker book.
Their Ultimate Sticker Book.
They do a whole range of activity sticker books,
which are really pretty great
because they have the find the thing, stick it down,
complete the picture style stickers.
Complete the picture with stickers?
Yes.
Anything Rupert can do with stickers, he is happy.
Brilliant.
Fill the scene with stickers, absolutely.
If it involves stickers, he's there.
Whenever we sit down somewhere in a restaurant,
you just pull out the sticker book and
(popping lips) he's happy.
Number three, I'm a little bit obsessed
with this next thing,
and I know we don't show Rupert's face,
so this next picture may somehow lose its adorable cuteness
because I'm blanking out his face.
But here's a picture of a six month old Rupert
wearing a cape and a crown.
These are from a brand called Meri Meri.
Their capes are one size,
so you know, six months to two and a half years,
they're really doing their work.
He loves this Christmas outfit.
This is such a great little outfit that he adores wearing
and it's a Christmas cape.
It makes you look like a Christmas tree.
We're actually pretty big fans
of the Meri Meri brand in general
because he also has a advent calendar
that lasted one day.
The Advent calendar was an adorable little scene
of some animals on their way to a Christmas party.
I highly recommend the adorable advent calendar.
Comes in a box that you can keep.
Just keep it somewhere your child won't immediately find it.
Number four.
So next up, if you've been following me for a while,
you know that one of my favorite ways
to do gifting, favorite presents to give is subscriptions.
I think it's a really lovely thing to do
to remind someone that you are thinking of them
all year round rather than just like on their birthday
or on Christmas.
How sweet is it to gift your grandmother
a weekly flower delivery?
And I'm also a big fan of toy subscriptions,
because I think that not only are they a really good thing
for your child, great to stimulate their interest,
and in those early days it can be such an amazing thing
to have things meet their interests
where they are right now.
It can be also so helpful for you as a parent.
If you're a first time parent, especially,
I've never had a child who's this age before,
I don't know what I'm doing.
I don't know necessarily
what they're going to be into next like, ah, help.
And that's one of the reasons
that I am a really big fan of Love Every.
For anyone not in the know,
Love Every play kits are a subscription service
of stage-based play essentials
designed around your child's developing brain.
These aren't just the kind of one and done toy server,
as often, things from previous play kits
have found their way out
and then played with over and over again.
Love Every are on a mission
to give families a support system for brighter futures
and the confidence that they're giving the child
the best things to meet their play needs.
So in the first year, kits arrive every two months,
and from then on, they arrive every three months.
Shout out to them for including non-toy items
like a working miniature sink and small cleaning items,
which can be really hard to find
but are sort of intrinsic to Montessori.
This video isn't sponsored by them, by the way.
I'm just a massive fan.
But they did give me this particular play kit,
which I am so happy about.
Not as happy as Rupert
with his new little hammer game, obviously.
The play kits are available
in a number of different countries
and in a variety of languages,
including English, German, French, and Spanish.
Now, we've been getting Love Every subscription
for, hmm, let's think,
well, over a year because we took it to Malaysia with us.
I have gift Love Every already to Atlas,
who is Clara and Evelina's baby.
I think it's really lovely,
especially if you are quite physically far apart
from a family member or friend.
And I very much think of their family
as being part of my family.
To be able to stay in their lives,
and every time they get their box,
be like, "Oh, thinking of you."
And be able to, for them to have things to play with.
And I really loved when they came to Brighton
seeing that they had some things from their boxes.
And I was like, that's so nice
that I get to see Atlas playing with the things
from his Love Every boxes that I was able to give to him.
And at the same time I know that they are things
that will last.
I know the quality is amazing,
because we have obviously had the same items
and nothing has ever, they've been chucked around a bit
by various children visiting.
If you're interested in Love Every for yourself
or gifting for someone else,
then you can click the link in my description
to find out more and possibly get your own box.
Number five.
Now, do you love connecting your child
back to your heritage
but worry that you don't actually know all of the stories?
Well, I have just the thing for you.
This technically isn't a gift for your child
to put in their stocking type thing,
but it is a gift for them in the long run.
It is the adorable letters to my grandchild,
which I guess is actually a present
that you would be giving their grandparent,
but it's gonna come back to your child.
So, inside it's a series of envelopes
that you parent will write, or grandparent-in-law,
the grandparent of your child.
An elder of your child, to be fair.
Do they to be blood related?
No.
Or write letters in and then put inside.
So it goes from, "Here's a special story about our family"
with "sealed on," "to be opened on."
Or "It may surprise you to learn when I was young."
"One positive change I have witnessed in the world is."
Even stories about you.
"When your parent was young."
Dun dun dun.
And we've also asked one of his relatives
in Malaysia to write down some stories as well.
You obviously don't need a little book
of envelopes to do this.
You could make your own envelopes in fact, and DIY them.
But it's just a really nice, easy reminder
to get them down, get those stories down,
get those memories down, and be able to pass them along
with the family line.
Number six.
Okay, so I am going to make a video
about inclusive children books at Christmas,
but I'm gonna talk about this book because it's not a book.
Would you like to teach your child some Mandarin?
- [Rupert] This is Chinese.
There some Chinese here.
- [Jessica] Yeah, in Chinese there and in English here.
- [Rupert] This is the turtle.
The panda found a best friend.
- [Jessica] Yes, the panda has found a best friend.
- [Rupert] He he.
- "Bao Bao Learns Chinese" is a series of musical books
made by a real mom with a soothing, calming voice.
The aim is for high quality audio that's easy to understand
and non-electronic sounding
in order to best help children
and parents learn Mandarin Chinese through music.
Each children's song is sung twice in Chinese
with musical accompaniment.
It's a really easy way to introduce your child
to Chinese sounds and the look of Chinese characters
as each song is written in English, Mandarin,
and pinyin, which is the phonetic pronunciation
of Mandarin characters.
I personally think this book is great for babies,
toddlers, and preschoolers.
It has non-tearing board book pages
with really clear designs to keep the littles interested,
but it also, older children can read along.
And very fun thing is that when I do this with Rupert,
I also do it in sign language.
So because I sign all books to him.
But hey, under the age of three they have absorbent minds.
So you could literally play them anything, do anything,
they'll just suck it right in.
(imitates sucking)
Now is the time people.
Now is the time.
Bao Bao is, I know, I know,
I know what you're thinking.
Musical books.
Well, that's all well and good for you
to share with us, Jessica.
You can promote that as much as you like.
You could just take out your hearing aids
and then you won't hate it.
And I completely get that.
I get what you're saying.
But genuinely, I think
of all musical-related children's things
that I have come across in my time, not horrible.
A ringing endorsement.
And I very much like that it does have an off
and low volume, regular volume setting,
so you could just keep it on low volume
the whole time if you'd like that.
Bao Bao also has a website with a pronunciation guide
for those of us who need a lot of pronunciation help.
And that's it.
Thank you so much for watching.
Remember that the links to everything
will be in the description down below.
I hope you've enjoyed some of my Christmas suggestions
for the two to three year Montessori-inspired age range.
Let me know what you think about the suggestions
in the comments down below.
And which one would you have liked to receive at this age?
Remember to subscribe if you haven't already.
There are going to be many more vlogmas videos coming out
over the December period.
I've got two long form videos a week
and also multiple shorts.
If you'd like to see more Montessori type
of content from me,
then you can follow me over on Instagram,
either @jessicaoutofthecloset
or @jessieandclaud, which is our family Instagram.
Again, thank you so much and I will see you my next video.
Bye-bye.
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