As Penelope gets older, the more she wants to move and explore the world around her. A couple of weeks ago she started rolling, she can scoot backwards, and her grasping skills improve by the day. It is clear as I observe her that her newborn days are far behind her. She is moving forward and on from life as she knew it in here pursuit of developing herself.
And with this development comes so many questions about what she will want and need next. How can I best serve her? What will she still like or need? And, like so many things in Montessori parenting, the answer lies with observation. I need to use what I see to inform what I do.
One of the most popular things that Penelope has used over the last few months has been her mobiles. Both the visual and tactile mobiles have been a constant source of work for her - helping her develop her powers of concentration, and helping to refine sensory and physical skills. But, commonly people ask, how long she will use them.
When Do We Stop Using Montessori Baby Mobiles?
Coming back to observation - my observations will determine exactly when we stop using mobiles altogether. I will look at her gross motor abilities and her interest in the mobiles to determine if and when we should stop using them.
- Visual Mobiles: At newly 5-months-old, Penelope is pretty much done with these mobiles. Unless they are new and really interesting, she's no longer going to sit and look at mobiles for long. Even newer experiences are only going to last a bit of time. In these pictures she is using a mobile created by Nora from flowers cut fresh from our garden. She loved it but mostly just wanted to eat it.
- Tactile Mobiles: Penelope is still very interested in these. She loves to hear, move, touch, mouth, and grab the variety of tactile mobiles that we have available to her. Right now we have a variety that I rotate from including bell on ribbon, ring on ribbon, rainbow ribbon, bell chime, and primary disk. The bell and ring on ribbon mobiles aren't keeping her attention much anymore, so they are on their way out as she is moving toward new and different skills.
So, as with all things, use the Montessori mobiles as long as your baby is into it. That might be younger than Penelope, it might be older. Every baby is unique and our greatest gift is accepting their own individual pace and allowing them to unfold in their own time.
This post is week 21 of my Montessori baby series focusing on Penelope.
