Montessori Playroom and Homeschool Environment
Preparing an environment that is functional, beautiful, cozy, and inviting may be just about my favorite pastime. A Montessori playroom as well as our homeschool environment has taken on a new look and I’m going to share all the details of how I’ve prepared this space for our 3 and a half year old twin boys.
Why Preparing Your Home Matters
Over the years, I have been sharing our Montessori at home with twins journey with you. In this time, I’ve changed our environment more times than I can count. But through it all, the heart of the matter has remained the same. Working towards preparing an environment that supports the developmental needs of the child in your care.
This principle matters just as much now as it did when I was setting out a small wooden ring for grasping, black and white high contrast cards, and Montessori baby mobiles. It looks different, and I hope one day soon it will look different again with a mixed-age environment. Nonetheless, taking the time to prepare a space is so helpful in creating a peaceful home. Taking the time to prepare these spaces in our homes, it helps us think about the current needs of our children and our space. It also fosters a new level of respect and love for beauty as we take time to steward our homes in an intentional way.
Toy Storage
Let’s first look at toy storage, becuase so many of us feel overrun by toys in our home. I’ve significantly simplified this part of my home, and I wouldn’t go back to how it was before. I like it being open-ended and buildable (more about that in a bit!) So let me share about what I have out in our home on the main level, as well as how I organize it.
Shelving
We have used the Ikea Kallax shelf for toys since the boys were babies. There are a lot of other great Montessori toy shelves out there, and I have hopes to update this at some point, but for now, it has served our needs very well, and it is a very affordable storage solution.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.
Our Open-Ended Toys
While Montessori environments often have self-correcting activities and toys, there is also a much-needed place in our homes for open-ended toys that span many years and stages and help foster creativity and imaginative play. That’s just what we’ve focused on in our Montessori playroom. Here’s what I keep out at all times. I honestly don’t see myself rotating these toys off the shelves for quite some time.
- Playsilks from Sarah’s Silks (with the fort clips! so fun!)
- Train track and trains
- Basket of larger vehicles
- Basket of small cars, trucks, and construction vehicles
- Schleich Animals (slowly building up our collection by adding a few into stockings as Stocking Stuffers and Easter Baskets)
- Piccaso Tiles
Gross Motor Toys and Materials
So much of our children’s play is not just small, detailed play; they like to move with their whole body and we can offer a few things that help them to do that. Here’s what we keep on our main level for gross motor play
- Wheely Bugs (Couldn’t recommend more! These are so fun! We found ours used on Facebook Marketplace, as they are a bit pricey, but honestly totally worth it!)
- Platform and Ramp (10% off with code 10% off with code “MONTESSORITWIN10”)
- Pikler Climbing Triangle and Ramp
- Play Tunnel
Art Supplies
Preparing a playroom and homeschool room with a variety of art supplies for your children to practice a variety of art styles is great. This list is by no means exhaustive. I personally haven’t delved into the world of markers, and I’m okay with that!
Here is what we do have out on our Ikea pegboard shelves.
- Hape Art Easel
- Dot Paint
- Painting smocks
- Paint Cups and Brushes
- Paint Sticks
- Sharpeners we love
- Tabitha Paige Wishy Washy Water Reveal
Wall Storage for Supplies
I’ve been obsessed with these Ikea pegboard shelves as a way to organize and display all of our art supplies. It is inviting, practical, and saves floor or cabinet space! You can customize these with all sorts of different pegboard accessories. My favorite one is the small shelf attachment.
The pencil cups make it easy to sort out colored pencils for that particular sensitive period for order that we find our young children to be in.
Open-Facing Bookshelf
Displaying books with the cover of the book showing is intentional in the Montessori environment. Just as we have open shelving when preparing activities. This allows the child to see the options and make a choice. From a practical point of view, it is also much easier for a young child to restore the books to a forward-facing bookshelf than a traditional bookshelf. Although we have both throughout our home.
We have the forward-facing bookshelf from Dannico Woodworks. This bookshelf has a secret pull-out door for easy book rotations, or we have currently been using it to store puzzles.
Adjustable Kids Table
A table or workspace for children is important. Especially as we are embarking on homeschool! I want to make sure that we have an appropriate child-sized table and chair that allows our boys to sit and work on something. We have been using the Sprout Kids Weaning Table and Chairs since the boys were very little. The best part of this is that I have been able to keep the same table in our home and just adjust the leg height with the adjustable legs and the seat height of the chair.
You can use my code “TWINMAMA10” for 10% off your order at Sprout. Any of their tables would be perfect as a kids’ activity table in a playroom or a homeschool table!
The adjustable kids’ table has so many different uses, but it also grows with your child over the years. This allows you to keep that appropriate-sized table and chair for your child without buying new furniture all the time.
Homeschool Shelf
Starting homeschooling our boys is an exciting new phase of motherhood! It requires some time and attention, and a little bit of a different setup. Because I don’t want to recreate a Montessori classroom in my home, I am thinking of creative ways to bring the beauty and integrity of the Montessori philosphy into our home without breaking the bank or being unrealistic of what I can manage.
A bookshelf-style shelf is working in our space at the moment. This shelf has both open shelving and some lower cabinets that allow me to close off parts of the activities while still making them easily accessible, but not too accessible.
Montessori Language Materials
- Montessori Language Phonetic Cabinet: Get 15% off with my link
- Cursive Sandpaper Letters
- Sand Tray
- Sorting Tray with Small Sandpaper Letters (from Montessori Language, get 15% off with my link)
- Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
- ABC See, Hear, Do Level 2: Learn to Read Lowercase Letters Book
- Montessori Letter Work Board Book
- My First BOB Books: Pre-Reading Skills
- Bob Books – Set 1: Beginning Readers Box Set
Montessori Math Materials
Tips for Preparing a Cozy and Inviting Environment
Now that I’ve shared everything that we have in our playroom and homeschool environment, it’s time to share the details on how to make a space feel cozy, inviting, and peaceful. Less is more when we are thinking about preparing a space for a child. Often, our play spaces are overstimulating, with too many choices, which leads to less engagement. So how do we help foster deep play and work in our children? I think a lot of it has to do with how we set up these environments in a way that calls out to the children.
Lighting
Lamps, lamps, and more lamps. But seriously, I love making a space cozy with lamps. Nowadays, with lightbulbs being plastic rather than glass, I’m not even too worried if a lamp gets knocked over. We can get wooden lamp bases. I always check for lamps at my local thrift stores and garage sales!
If you are worried about a lamp being knocked over, you could use some Velcro command strips to secure it to the shelf or table. Lamps and natural light are keys in my book to making a space feel warm and inviting.
Artwork
If you are preparing a space for a child, consider their size and what they can see on the walls. Hanging artwork at their eye-level is parimount in making the space feel like it was prepared with them in mind.
If you are worried about putting nail holes in your walls, you can just use these Velcro command strips, which work amazingly well! Then you could raise the pictures up higher if need be.
Plants
I’m starting to geek out a little bit on houseplants. If you have a space with mobile babies and toddlers, consider making a macrame hanging plant basket (tutorial I followed) that you can hang in the window. This way, you have peace of mind knowing that they won’t get into the plant, but also it adds such a beautiful and whimsical touch to any space!
Rug
Adding a low-pile rug to our playroom has made it both welcoming and really enjoyable to sit on the ground to play with toys. I chose a rug that was neutral but busy in design so that it would hide the stains (becuase we know it will get dirty!)
