Gear Toys
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Gift option
£2.99Is your order a gift? We will be happy to wrap it to surprise your recipient!
Gift wrapping: Whether the order is for a girl or a boy, we offer different types of gift wrap.
Gift card: A message to pass? We include in your order a card with your personalized message.
Warning: This option is not possible with gripper balls.
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Wooden Interlocking Spinning Gears Board - STEM Cogs Toy
£17.99Discover the magic of mechanical movement! This Montessori-inspired wooden gear toy features colourful interchangeable toothed cogs that slot onto a wooden pegboard. Turn just one gear to set the entire mechanical chain into satisfying, mesmerising motion.
Wooden gear toys let children turn one cog and watch the next one spin, from a big activity table for toddlers to interlocking gear boards for ages 3 and up. They are hands-on puzzles about movement: what turns, which way, and how fast.
What a child learns by turning a cog
Most wooden Montessori toys are moved piece by piece; a gear board passes one movement along a whole chain. The first discovery is simple: my hand turns this wheel, and that one over there moves too. Then come the surprises. Two touching gears spin in opposite directions, a small cog goes round faster than a large one, and a gap in the chain stops everything. Children test these ideas again and again, which is exactly how they understand them.
Gripping a peg-mounted cog and turning it steadily also works the wrist and fingers, the same small movements later needed for a pencil or a key.
Montessori gear toys for every stage
- From 18 months: the deluxe activity table, where gears sit next to other things to slide, open and spin.
- From 3 years: the interlocking spinning gears board, to build a chain of cogs in any order; the number counting board with gears, which adds numbers to the mix; and the locomotive busy board with latches.
- From 4 years: the multi-game stacking base and peg sorter, for children who like several challenges on one board.
A little game to try at home
Set up two gears, then ask your child which way the second one will turn before they try it. Add a third, then a fourth, and keep guessing together. When a gear stops turning, resist fixing it: let your child find the gap. The chain itself shows the mistake, the kind of self-checking material the Montessori method relies on.