Birthday-Themed Shelf Activities

For the week of my daughter’s second birthday we had this very festive shelf!

It was a mixture of Montessori-inspired shelf work and open-ended play items. I made a small setup for pretend play with a coffee machine and a birthday cake because we wanted to celebrate every day of the week.

Here is what was on the shelf that week:

(individual pictures below)

⋒ DIY Open/close work

You can use any items you have around the house, like an old small purse or pouch, a jewelry box or any decorative box you have. You can get as creative as you need.

⋒ Ball transfer with spoon

⋒ Transfer using a tong and counting frame.

⋒ Shape sorter 

⋒ Color sorting with cupcake liners

⋒ Djeco Nesting cubes. Find a similar one here.

⋒ Bead threading

Open-ended and pretend play setup:

⋒ Silicone blocks 

⋒ Djeco Coffee machine (available in Europe) and birthday cake. (This Hape coffee machine set is another favorite of ours)

⋒ Stacking rainbow and house

These activities help develop a number of skills, including fine motor and practical life skills, 1:1 correspondence, colour and shape recognition, problem-solving and open-ended play.