Straws in the box is a round or rectangular wooden box. It has a wooden lid with five holes in the lid. The lid has a large knob on it so that the infant can open and close it easily. Inside the box are cut straws. The object of this lesson is to carefully insert straws through each of the five holes, remove the straws, and repeat putting straws through the holes.

This exercise develops the infant's fine motor control and eye/hand coordination. As a variation, you might count the straws as they are inserted so that the infant can hear the language of numbers.

At home, insert clothes pins in a clear plastic juice jar, straws in a spice jar, or any number of other long objects into an equally simple container. Make each motion extremely slow so that your child can follow what you are doing. If you count out loud, count softly and enunciate very clearly. If you begin noticing that your child is slurring his words, look at your own enunciation.

Geometric puzzles may consist of two or three different shapes that are the same size or the same shape in different sizes, such as a large circle, a medium circle, and a small circle. Each shape has a large knob centered in the middle to make grasping easy for the infant. There is a great deal of language in this exercise. You can name each shape or the color of each shape. You can say 'in' and 'out' as you take out the shapes and replace them. The shapes are carefully laid directly above or below the empty space of the puzzle frame. The puzzle is never dumped. Each movement is very deliberate, showing the infant how to take the shapes out and place them back in the puzzle frame quietly and correctly. Practice and repetition of this exercise improves spatial perception, eye/hand coordination, and language recognition. At home, you can create puzzles that don't have to be dumped by purchasing very small knobs and gluing them on the middle of each puzzle piece. Then show your child how to carefully remove each piece and then replace each one.

Although this exercise may look too simple and unappealing to adults, for an infant the exercise is difficult and it conveys the important concept of 'in' and 'out'. The exercise consists of a tall, clear plastic juice jar. The infant is shown how to put the clothes pins in the jar one at a time. Next the infant is shown how to pour the clothes pins out of the bottle. The language of this exercise is 'in' and 'out'. It is important to demonstrate the exercise slowly and carefully. It is interesting to the child how the clothes pins settle at the bottom of the jar. At home, any number of objects can be dropped into a container. For young infants, a spool dropped into a pan and then covered with a lid can provide nerve-wracking fun. A container with a small opening necessitates shaking to remove the object. Your home is full of possibilities that will be interesting to your child.

During the first months of his life, the infant absorbs his environment by looking at it. But he does not look at the world as the adult does. Keeping only a vague memory of what he sees, he makes it a part of himself. During this period of the child's life the material offered should aid in the development of the visual sense. The baby should be put into contact with the world. When the child starts to focus at about 6 weeks old, offer him mobiles. Because of its movements, the mobile calls the child's attention. Beside representing simple forms and being attractive, it should give the child true information about the world.

Initially, the child will focus easiest on stark black and white patterns. The target and face shapes are the most interesting at first. Later, curved shapes become interesting and somewhat later, interesting geometric angles and intersections hold the child's interest. Around three months, the child becomes interested in colors. These can be contrasting colors or gradations of the same color. Harmoniously blending colors will develop in the infant a taste for the beautiful.

For the youngest infant, mobiles should be hung at the child's focal distance. Around 6 weeks, this is about 12 inches. As the child gets older, mobiles will need to be of a stronger material hung at approximately arm reach. At first, the child will hit the mobile accidentally. The pleasure of seeing the mobile move will cause him to want to repeat the action. Psychologically, the child begins to understand that he can control his world.

This exercise consists of a wooden base with four cylinders placed in holes in the base. These cylinders are in pairs, two short cylinders and two taller cylinders. A short and a tall cylinder are in one row, permanently mounted in the holes. The other short and tall cylinder are removable. The object of this exercise is to place the short cylinder beside the permanently fixed short cylinder and the tall cylinder beside the permanently fixed tall cylinder.

The first thing the infant learns in working with the cylinders is taking them out and putting them back. Later he will begin to match the cylinders by height. The visual perception that the child is beginning to learn will be refined through the years in Montessori. This is an important first step.

At home, any number of gradation exercises can be developed. Blocks, measuring cups, sets of cookie cutters, and different sizes of spoons all work equally well.

The block tower is a set of rectangular cubes, each one slightly smaller than the other. For infants under 18 months, five blocks is plenty. As the infant works with this exercise, she is learning to compare and grade each block from the largest to the smallest and from the smallest to the largest. At first the blocks can be laid horizontally. Later, the child will be shown how to stack the blocks into a tower. The act of fitting each block on top of the other is a learning experience, and it will be quite difficult at first. Success takes patience and repetition.

The infant is developing eye/hand coordination, visual perception, fine motor control, and learning to balance her body. As the infant works with this exercise, her concentration is also being developed. Once an infant completes this task successfully, a smile will express the inner joy of her work and accomplishment.

At home, never allow the child to knock the stack of blocks over. Each block should be removed carefully and the entire stack should be stored as a stack on the child's work shelves.