For grown-ups
Animal puzzle
What your child practices
Seeing that a whole animal is made of parts, and hearing what each part is called: head, shell, leg, tail, fin, beak, wing. Picking a part up by its knob and setting it down exactly comes along with it.
How to use it together
Show it once: lift the shell by its knob and let it drop into the shell-shaped hole, slowly and without talking, then the head. A part in the wrong place will not go in; it rocks on the edge and falls back to the mat, so you can leave it to your child to see. If your device has a voice in this language, each part says its name, and the name shows on the brass plate. When the animal is whole, it moves a little. The three animals are all there to pick from at any time, and each can be emptied and done again.
These are Montessori-style activities. Handeware Kids is not affiliated with or approved by any Montessori organization.