montessori toddler bedroom

[mommatotwoplus]

I'm debating doing my youngest DD's bedroom in the montessori method, I think it looks lovely plus all the added benefits really appeal as I know this is something she'd enjoy.

So has anybody else done it and have any tips/opinions etc.

I partially did this when my DDs were little in that I had a clothes hanging rail low enough that they could get their clothes out, pictures and mirrors at their eye level and low beds. It wasn't as minimal as Montessori - I still kept all their clothes in their room in low drawers and toys under the beds in boxes but it did foster independence. I also had low hooks for their coats and I tried to organise the kitchen in a way so that they could access certain things. We had a child's table and chairs too and quite a lot of Montessori toys/activities.

I love the concept of everything being accessible and not overwhelming.

Whether the whole hog of having a floor bed will work depends on your child I think. I can't imagine it when mine were 12m. But I do think the concept of giving them only a few, carefully chosen, easily accessed toys and books is really powerful. I believe there absolutely is such a thing as too many books! You can always rotate the less favourite ones. Decoration down at their level makes sense too.

We didn't consciously attempt to "montessorify" DCs' bedroom at all, come to think of it, mainly because toys lived in the playroom (on low, open shelves etc). In their bedroom they had all their clothes in one massive shared chest of drawers, one drawer per child. Also a small box of books on the floor, one or two big toys like a happyland set on the floor and a handful of cuddlies on the bed.

Much more significant for us (because we didn't do the floor bed, perhaps) was the way we did the playroom, kitchen, hall etc to encourage independence and not overwhelm with choice. I was blown away with how much more they played with their toys when I reduced choices from, eg. a whole kallax cube of games, down to 3.

We found a nice low bed for ds and had everything low for him. All toys were kept in the living room.

It made his room feel really calm, we could take him to his room at bedtime without scampering around tidying his room up!

My DD's 2 and a half so I don't know wether it's to old to introduce it at this stage?
I'm really keen on the beds, I think they would be perfect. She's very independent in everything she does and gets annoyed that I have to get items of her clothing out of the wardrobe for her. My only concern play room wise is my other DD is 9

Not too late, but at 2.5 they will be in and out of their own bed anyway.

I think it would definitely be worth making her clothes accessible. I probably wouldn't buy a new bed if you already have one but that's just me.

Sorry probably should have mentioned we're doing a total house Reno and staying in rented so she's still in her cot at the moment so everything will be new and different for her.

Just a low bed is fine. We got a very low small single - like a Japanese style one.

Just make sure the mattress is on a base - not directly on the floor.

I only leave a few outfit choices out for my 19 months old (she tries to wear them all. At the same time) but at the same age, my middle child has access to full wardrobe and chose her whole outfit most days. We have the ikea stuva units which are v adaptable.
Playroom - not as tidy and wood-y as Pinterest pics but we have trofast units to store toys. Melissa and Doug have toys that work well as long as you don’t mind the bright colours or cartoon animals (as opposed to photos of)
I don’t have fine art displayed at kid height. I have “ a house by dd1” or a random scribble. Still art. 😁
Kitchen - I made a “learning tower” and it was fantastic but at 2.5 she could prob just use a stool to reach the sink/counters? I have a junior chair which is high chair height but she can get on and off by herself. She can pour water for herself from small jug but tbh she just prefers pouring it over herself so she only gets to practice that skill if she’s about to get changed anyway!

Basically i picked the bits that worked for each child and left out the bits that didn’t. :)