Montessori Wooden Rainbow Stacker - Medium

What you get: 8 arches and one wooden ball

The Medium set is made of 8 wooden arches, each a different size and a different colour, that nest one inside the other, plus a wooden ball 4.5 cm across. Nested, the whole piece measures 26 x 5 x 13 cm and weighs 1.11 kg.

That weight tells you something useful. These are solid pieces of wood, 5 cm deep, so an arch stands on its own two feet without wobbling and a stack holds together long enough for a child to add the next piece.

From 1 year: how the game changes with age

Around the first birthday, the game is taking apart. A one-year-old pulls the arches out one by one, turns them over, knocks two together and sends the ball across the floor. Putting them back is the first puzzle: the small arch fits under the big one, never the other way round.

At 2 and 3, children begin to stack and balance. They lay an arch on its back to make a rocking cradle, stand several end to end as a wavy wall, or build a tower that alternates arches facing up and facing down. The pieces slip when placed carelessly, so the hand learns to slow down.

From about 3 onwards the arches turn into scenery: a tunnel for a train, a bridge for cars, a cave for animal figures, a fence around a farm. A rainbow stacker stays in use long after most first-year toys have gone up to the loft.

Open-ended toys at their simplest: eight arches, no rules

An open-ended toy has no right answer and no finish line. Nothing lights up to say well done, so the child decides what the game is, and it can be a different game every day. With eight arches and a ball, the possibilities are wider than they look:

• line the arches up as a row of tunnels and roll the ball through all of them;
• turn the largest arch upside down and rock the ball inside it;
• stand the arches side by side from tallest to shortest, like a staircase of sizes;
• lay them flat in a snaking line of waves to mark out a road or a river;
• hide the ball under one arch and ask which one it is under.

What the arches teach small hands

Each skill is tied to a gesture. Nesting the arches back in order is a lesson in size: the child compares, tries and corrects without being told. Eight steps from largest to smallest is a real sorting task for a toddler.

Stacking works the fingers and the wrist, because a curved piece has to be set down gently and in the middle. Balance is learnt by watching a tower lean, then fall. Colours come up naturally when you name them together while tidying. Imagination does the rest, the day an arch stops being an arch and becomes a bridge.

A tip worth trying: do not put out all eight arches on the first day. For a one-year-old, offer just three, the largest, a middle one and the smallest, with the ball. The difference in size is obvious and the child manages to nest them alone. Add the others two at a time as the game gets easy.

Medium, XXL or another model: which to choose

This Medium version comes with one ball. The range also includes an XXL model with two balls, for families who want a bigger building set spread across the floor, and another arch set, our wooden rainbow toy. The Medium format exists in a second colourway too: the wooden stacking rainbow of the Safari Collection has the same number of arches in different shades.

The Medium size suits a first set: at 26 cm long it sits on a low shelf that a toddler can reach alone, and at 1.11 kg you can carry it to the play mat in one hand. If you are still weighing up materials, our guide to the rainbow stacking toy in wood or plastic sets out the differences. For rings threaded on a peg rather than free-standing arches, see the wooden stacking toys department, and for a younger brother or sister, the wider choice of Montessori toys for babies.

Wood, care and storage

Wood asks for very little. Wipe the arches with a slightly damp cloth and dry them straight away; never soak them or put them in the dishwasher, because water makes wood swell. Small dents from play are normal and do not change how the pieces stack.

Tidying up is part of the game: the eight arches nest back into a single block 5 cm deep that stands upright on a shelf, with the ball beside it. Kept nested and in view, rather than at the bottom of a toy box, it is the toy a child goes back to without being asked.

Your questions about the Medium rainbow stacker

What age is a rainbow stacker suitable for?

This one is for children from 1 year. At that age they take the arches apart and nest them; stacking and balancing come at 2 to 3, and building scenery after that.

How many pieces are in the medium rainbow stacker?

Nine pieces: 8 wooden arches of different sizes and colours, and 1 wooden ball.

What can you do with a rainbow stacker?

Nest the arches by size, stack them into towers, or use them as tunnels, bridges, cradles and fences in pretend play. The ball rolls through the tunnels or rocks inside an upturned arch.

What size is the medium rainbow stacker?

Nested, it measures 26 x 5 x 13 cm and weighs 1.11 kg.

Is the wooden ball included?

Yes, one wooden ball with a diameter of 4.5 cm comes with the arches.

Specifications

• Contents: 8 wooden arches of different sizes and colours, 1 wooden ball
• Size when nested: 26 x 5 x 13 cm
• Ball: Ø 4.5 cm
• Weight: 1.11 kg
• Age: from 1 year
• Guarantee: 2 years