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Are you a parent who, like me, spends a lot of time scrolling the Internet for cute, “Montessori” type toys and furniture? I see all these beautiful rooms online and on social media, it’s hard to not get caught up in feeling a little jealous, like I want to create that space for MY home, too. When I had my daughter, I felt pressured to buy these pricey wooden toys and aesthetically pleasing pieces of furniture and felt bad when I couldn’t afford to get my daughter all these expensive, beautiful things. However, “Montessori” simply means making things more child-friendly and open-ended. It really does not take much time, effort, or money, and it’s absolutely doable on a budget. It’s become such a marketable term, stores everywhere are marketing their expensive toys and furniture as “Montessori” this and “Montessori” that… All it takes are some little changes and a [free] shift in perspective. I promise!
Let’s begin with the kitchen!
How can you make the kitchen more child-friendly, so your child or children can be more independent? We do have a learning tower so my daughter can climb up to the counter and help prepare food with us. Some learning towers are a bit pricey, but others are not. I do recommend doing a bit of research just to make sure the learning tower is sturdy, lasting, and safe, as it is an investment and a little pricey. I will link the one we have from Amazon here, which is definitely a lot less than some out there. I love our learning tower, we’ve had it for over two years and it’s been wonderful. I do regret not getting one with an adjustable height, though. so I found this one on Amazon, it gets good reviews and it’s from the same company as the one we have. Both would be excellent options!
Other than the learning tower, we have child-height shelves in our pantry and our refrigerator. In the refrigerator, I put snacks and food options on her “special shelf,” so she can open the door and access snacks herself. In our pantry, we have a small, short basket on the lowest shelf for her. In the morning or at night, I’ll make sure her little shelves have appropriate snacks. A container of cut fruit in the fridge, a bag of low sugar cereal in the pantry… you get it! That way if she’s hungry in between meals, she can independently help herself to a snack. (: These are just a few easy things we do in our kitchen to make it a little more child-friendly and accessible!
Moving onto the bathroom!
I can’t tell you how many “Montessori” items they sell for the bathroom. Although very cute and probably wonderful, most people don’t have the space for a whole separate child-sized sink and cabinet (one example I’ve seen, wow!). We bought an inexpensive plastic three-door drawer set for underneath the sink (in the cabinet). My daughter has a drawer for the teeth brushing items, a drawer for her hair items, and a drawer for miscellaneous things (cute little bandaids, some chapstick, etc). She is still potty training, so we also have a little basket of wipes, pullups, and extra underwear next to the toilet. It’s pretty much just a DIY diaper caddy. (: That way, whatever she needs in the bathroom, she can have her things at child level and access them easily. We found that putting things in the regular drawers were just too high for her right now, but of course, the setup all depends on the heights and ages of your kiddos! Along with the things in the cabinet, we have a step stool for the sink and toilet, faucet extenders, and little mirrors (hung using those damage-free picture hanging strips) on the wall (we got ours from IKEA, but I linked an example above) with a couple of those damage-free adhesive hooks for hand towels. (Seriously, stock up on those sticky adhesive hooks… they are awesome for all over the house!)
The bedroom!
When it comes to providing a Montessori-style bedroom, there are a ton of things you can do. This room tends to get a little crazy when it comes to all the things marketed out there. Always just aim for child-friendly, child-height, and simple. Anything that welcomes your kiddo to want to explore, and anything that helps with independence. Here, I’ll focus on the little, inexpensive things we did to make my independent do-it-herself-er daughter’s room more child-friendly! Let’s focus on the dressing space… We have a dressing rack for my daughter that we bought off Etsy, but I’ll link a similar unisex one from Amazon here. They have so many options at different price points available. I help put a couple of outfit options on the rack, and she has some shoes and socks on the bottom shelf. We hung a mirror next to the rack, too, and similar to the bathroom, she has a little diaper caddy setup of wipes, pullups, and underwear so she can choose what she wants to wear that day. Completely easy and accessible for her to get dressed, and make her own choices. (: Anything you can do, like lowering things in the closet or using low drawers, adding a simple dressing rack, hanging those small child-height mirrors, and even adding some adhesive hooks for things like jackets and hats… those are all easy and simple things that help to make your child’s room, or specifically their dressing space, more child-friendly. (:
Let’s keep the front entryway in mind…
Think about the main leaving and entering space in your home. Whether it’s the front door, a side door, or through the garage, it’s definitely doable and fun to make this space child-friendly! In our home, it was pretty much as simple as adding those magical adhesive hooks to the wall. To begin, though, we have a front door entryway space. I used an inexpensive cube shelf, and each family member has a “cube” for their shoes. It hides the shoes and allows kids to have their own space for their shoes. We love IKEA, and so I used the four-cube IKEA Kallax shelf and turned it on its side to create a DIY bench. Us adults have regular hooks above the bench to hang our things, but we used a few of those adhesive hooks to create a low space where my daughter can hang her things, too, including a jacket and her little backpack. We simply stuck them on the wall at her height, wa-la! Easy peasy.
The fun part… play spaces!
As a family, you can create a child-friendly home by adding inexpensive little things throughout the home, as mentioned throughout this post. But personally, for me, the most fun part of creating a Montessori home is of course creating the play spaces! Bedrooms, playrooms, basements, family rooms, and little play corners are all examples of play spaces for kiddos. Low, safe, open shelves are always encouraged for Montessori play spaces, as playthings are displayed openly on shelves and invite children to play with them. We love IKEA because everything is a great price, so I’ll recommend the IKEA Kallax shelf again for a great example of a low shelf (turned on its side). However, the only thing I don’t like about the Kallax series is that they’re a little bulky, so not super great for small spaces. I wanted to save some space in my daughter’s room, so we got this low, white shelf from Amazon that was a good price and placed it horizontally in her room (some “Montessori” shelves go for hundreds of dollars! They are fantastic quality and the real wood is wonderful, but most families don’t have that kind of money for a simple shelf, you know??). In our daughter’s little play corner in the main living/family space of our home, I got this small three-cube white shelf. I can put some books in the cubes or use them for playthings, both in the cube spaces or on top. It’s been great for an inexpensive little shelf! This ClosetMaid brand shelf gets good reviews, as well. As I’ve mentioned already, using those damage-free adhesive hooks and adhesive picture hanging strips allows for things to be hung on the wall easily and inexpensively.
Now, thrift store shopping!!!
One of the best hacks I’ve realized as a mom when it comes to creating a “Montessori” playspace is taking advantage of thrift stores in the area. I can’t tell you how much luck I’ve had browsing the thrift stores. When creating a Montessori space, it’s encouraged to use natural materials like real wood, woven baskets, soft cotton, etc. for both holders and playthings. Baskets can be expensive, and I’ve been lucky to find nice baskets of all shapes and sizes at thrift stores. I’ve found small child-sized cups, mugs, and plates for my daughter for dining. I’ve found these amazingly soft and silky scarves that my daughter loves to use to play dress-up. I’ve found some cool containers that we use for pouring and transferring materials. There are all sorts of great finds at local thrift stores. It’s good for the wallet, good for the environment to reuse, and you can make it a lot of fun! I highly recommend checking out your local thrift store if you’re wanting to avoid the expensive craze of all things marketed “Montessori” nowadays.
I can keep going and going, but I’ll stop for now...
I love thinking about little ways to create more child-friendly spaces on a budget. I have to remind myself and remind others that you do not have to spend a fortune to create a more child-friendly (or “Montessori”) home. Little things in the main living spaces of your home can do the trick!
Of course, again, it all depends on the heights, sizes, abilities, and ages of your kiddos when it comes to creating child-friendly spaces for your family. Just remember not to get caught up in the Montessori marketing madness… you can create simple, effective, fun, and accessible spaces for little to nothing. It’s all about keeping things child-friendly and child-accessible so the little ones can be as independent as can be! We all know how the littles just want to do everything themselves, so they will love it!
(Don’t forget to stock up on those sticky, damage-free adhesive wall hooks and picture hanging strips!)
Check out my post What Does “Montessori” Mean? to learn about all things Montessori! I am also linking two of my favorite books below that will help inspire your Montessori journey. These books are easy to read and they’ll provide you with a wonderful perspective about setting up a Montessori home!
The Montessori Toddler: A Parent’s Guide to Raising a Curious and Responsible Human Being
The Montessori Baby: A Parent’s Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding
Thanks for reading!
Lots of love,
Anna
