I have tried to think about what would define our home as a Montessori home, because it is, but how? I do not have works for my daughter – she comes to school with me and has a whole class full of works and two wonderful teachers, thankfully that is off my plate – but I still support and develop the basics of all Montessori activities — coordination, concentration, independence and a sense of order. Here are a few ways that I have found that work for our family.
The Learning Tower
I bought this Learning Tower on Craigslist when I was about a minute and a half pregnant. It is by far the most used and most useful piece of equipment we own. Imogen uses it to help prepare food and plays on/with it when she doesn’t feel like helping. I didn’t realize what an old model I had till I saw the one on Amazon!
Her gymnastics school
Food Prep and Eating
A solid chopper. I thought I had ordered the handled one form Montessori Services, but this is the one that came, and I am glad because I do love it. She can chop through anything with this and she loves doing it. It is amazing what she will eat if she has been part of the prep.
Both of these cups – toddler cup, current cup (the juice size, and you can buy them individually in the store, we only have 4). When she and I are home during the summer I do set up a tray with a pitcher of water so she can refill her glass.
I have an odd habit of buying salad and dessert plates and using them as dinner plates, my family has adapted to the small size and never have four matching plates on the table – thankfully they are all child sized.
Imogen is still sitting in her Tripp Trapp chair, which we have used since she was 6 months old. I have always loved the way it positioned her at the table. I haven’t had to help her in or out since she was about 2. We are at the point where there are no buckles or straps, it is just Imogen’s chair, and it works perfectly. I bought a previous model when it was on clearance, but here is a more affordable IKEA option.
Entry Way
This little Command Hook has held up for 3 years and far too many coats! Imogen is able to hang at least a sweater and a coat; I don’t want to tell you how much I have managed to fit on there. Her shoes go in the wire basket to the right.
Child Sized Furniture
A dear neighbor gave us this table from Community Playthings, and I do love it. It sits in our family room like a coffee table, but Imogen knows that it is her space to do any of her art, games, crafts and the like. She sits on a little chair that was a thrift store find.
We also use an IKEA Lack table quite often for different activates, and IKEA has lots of affordable options for child sized furniture.
Toys and Toy Storage
This will have to be the next post. I am in desperate need of culling our toys and revisiting the less is more philosophy. This won’t happen till the end of school, but in the that time I am going to try to really observe what Imogen is playing with and what has fallen to the side. She is really changing the way she plays and it is an interesting transformation I promise I will take before and after pictures of our playspaces.
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come over! lol. nearly everything in my house is accessible to the wee ones. i’ll send you pictures some time
i use the command hooks for the kids at the entry way as well, and instead of shoes in a basket as you do, we put their winter hats and mittens in it (shoes just get lined up beneath the hooks)
an area in our kitchen is theirs – child table and chairs for writing, drawing, creating etc. we’ve got everything they could need for that stuff within their reach in drawers beneath a countertop. and though i firmly believe that art is about the process and not so much about the final product, i still like to hang up a select few seasonal projects on the wall by their table and some on the fireplace mantle behind it as well.
whilst we don’t have the learning tower, we have stepstools available for ALL our cooking and prepping fun – as well as hand and dishwashing at the sink. they also use it to help themselves to what’s inside the refrigerator including a small pitcher (usually milk). we don’t have a solid chopper but i’ve got blunt end serated kid knives from pampered chef to help with food prep.
we’ve got a small dustpan and broom tucked away where they can easily get it for crumbs and crap … or Abram’s more favorable clean up tool, the dustbuster. there’s a soft microfiber cloth that hangs on the oven door that they can wet and use to wipe up messes (better than paper towels in so many ways in my opinion)
we have a reading area by the family room with two bookshelves – one for grown up lit, and the other for their reading and picture books.
board games are displayed in cubbies by the couch in the family room so as to invite them to play instead of the tv.
in our “living room” near the woodstove we have a chest FULL of puzzles that i refresh every once in a while
there’s a separate playroom for them which often goes neglected because they get caught up in the kitchen or their own imaginative play with very few toys.
and then there’s their bedrooms where everything is theirs and freedom is even more … well, free … more books, a reading ‘nest’ suspended from the ceiling far enough away from the walls so that it sways but close enough that it can’t be SWUNG … clothes appropriately organzied and within reach (and if not, there’s their handy dandy stepstool). no toys though. their rooms are for rest, quiet time, snuggles and sleep. toys that make it in for some play time are brought back out before sleep time.
wish i had you nearby to chat with, but glad you’ve got this blog started up.
Thank you for this helpful post. I love the food prep ideas. I added this post to a Prepared Environment Round up today because it is so helpful: http://www.fourlittlethiiiings.com/2013/05/prepared-environments-roundup.html
How even Montessori training differs …. I’m also a Montessorian but not trained in USA. Lover Montessori theory and approach to life.
I’ve noticed the asparagus cutting photo and the way the hands are placed. I’ve been taught to make a bridge while holding a fruit/veg and cut under the arch, so that little fingers do not get cut.
I see that with the cutter on your photo it might be difficult ….. but then I was taught few decades ago.
Keep up the good work. ☺