Elite Montessori Object Permanence Box with Tray and Ball

Good activity for motor skill development.

I demonstrated how this works to my 5-month-old every day for months. Just once a day. I left it where she could reach it. Eventually, she started showing interest. The challenges for her are to close her hand around the ball without it jumping away, and releasing it after its already partly through the hole. The most she has ever done it is 5 times at one sitting. Its simply not that interesting to her. But, she has favored developing her gross motor skills, such as walking and crawling, so I should not be surprised. This works well with a wooden ball as well. It has a more satisfying sound. One tip: to get her interested in putting the ball in the hole instead of her mouth, I used to poke my fingers up through the hole. This called her attention to the hole. She enjoyed seeing my fingers move and feeling them. Until your baby is sitting up comfortably, they probably will not be able to use this toy. Even after they are sitting up, its awkward to know what position to put them in so they can access the top hole and the exit hole easily. I found myself rotating the toy to give them easy access. Once they are bigger, then they figure it out for themselves. The product arrived with a small piece of wood/plastic loose. I threw it out, then I realized it was the piece that should be glued to the inside to deflect the ball to the exit hole. It works fine anyway. Thats why it looses a star. But overall, Im happy for the price vs. Neinhus product. Its really hard for me to tell if this product is made from wood or plastic that looks like wood. But for the price and how often its used, thats fine with me. This is for home use. The Juliana Group has this product with a slightly modified design. You may want to check it out. Its about $60. If I was in the classroom, Id choose Juliana. Because this is such a single-purpose toy, its hard to know if its a good buy, or if its better to buy the ones with multiple hole shapes, or one for each shape. I decided to go for this one because its the simples of these types of toys. Then for the next step up, I got the similar box that comes with different tops that slide in and out. Each top has different shapes. The shapes fall into a drawer that pulls out. It works OK. If money was no object, I would buy single-purpose boxes like this one for each shape. They are more sturdy and its easier to concentrate on the task at hand.

This is a very neat and educational toy for my baby. Gave it to him at 7 months, he started to really understand it about 8/9 months. I still like watching him use it and figure out all the workings. Would buy again. Quality made.

Good quality

Wish it came with a wooden ball. Other than that my baby enjoys it.

Comes with a small whiffle ball that I was going to replace with a wooden ball, but I ended up liking it. Great price for a quality Montessori material.

Love the quality

The build quality is okay. There are bevels around the sharp corners and edges, but I wish they are more blunt

The ball is small enough to swallow.

Great Quality!