It’s only been about six months since Miles started Montessori but it has honestly changed the way he thinks, learns and plays. If you’ve been following along you know that we recently moved into my parents home while we are our waiting for our pre-build to be finished. They own an older back-split style home, but have much more space than we did at our old condo-townhouse. We have three rooms on the top floor and have not done too much to the rooms except paint the walls with a fresh coat of paint (Chantilly Lace is still my fave from Benjamin Moore) and gave everything a good cleaning. We made one room into our master, another Miles’ room and the third room is currently his playroom. We knew we wanted to maintain that Montessori learning base in our playroom so we slowly started to remove the toys that were flashy and loud and replaced them with lots of wooden and non-toxic ones. If you’re interested in learning more about the Montessori lifestyle, I would highly recommend The Montessori Toddler! The playroom is definitely, one of our fave places to hang out with Miles and most of the time, he’s great at playing here by himself while I finish chores.
The best tips I found useful in making this Montessori Style playroom were:
- Simplify (get rid of excess toys and clutter in the room)
- Choose toys/items carefully for your child (and let it be available for them to get/reach on their own)
- Create an open space (so they can build, explore and learn)
Here’s a little tour with links to items below!
Gathre Mat (hung on wall) | Banner (old from Zara home) | Shelving: Ikea | Bins: Pehr | Plastic storage crates: Etsy | Toys: Rainbow, Stacking Tower, Peg Puzzle, Cars various: here, here and here, Letter blocks, Wooden Clock Toy, Plastic Trucks various: here, here, and here
Peg board: Gautier Studio, Tea cup set: here, Wooden Letter Banners, Wooden Clock, Wooden village: Little Rose and Co., Alphabet Chalkboard: Chalk Full of Design, Felt Plants: Contrabotanic, Book Holder: Amazon
Kitchen Playset: Target, Kitchen Pot and pan: Target | Kitchen felt toys: Ikea | Market Basket: Olli Ella, Picnic Basket: Olli Ella | Wooden Pair Wall Hanger: Urban Outfitters Home (not available) | Soft toy Pear + Lemon: Simons | Dyson Vacuum: Pottery Barn Kids | Dust pan + Brush: Muji | Balance Board: Kimboo | Table + chairs: Ikea | Train Set: Brio | Rug: Muji
Wall Decals: Urban Walls | Teepee: Tiny Land | Gathre mat (not available)| Cushion Covers: Ikea
Height Chart: Gautier Studio | Canvas Hanging Organizer: Ikea | Items in Organizers (linked on Amazon shop) | Wooden Lacing Beads Toy: Ikea
Photography by the talented Janet Kwan
