Montessori at Home Archives - Montessori-ish Mom

A super simple toddler nature activity

October 15, 2019 No Comments

I don’t know about you, but I like to spend as much time outside with my kids as possible.

This is for a couple of different reasons. The first, and most selfish, is that I myself love being outside.

I also really believe that being out in nature calms children. I saw this in the classroom when children worked out on the deck in our outdoor classroom and I definitely see it with both of my own children.

I have very fond memories of taking daily stroller walks with my son when he was a baby. I have to say though, he never really loved the stroller. He would always rather be out exploring on his own. Now that he’s three (how??), he’s really not about the stroller at all.

Enter the toddler-led walk.

One of my favorite things to do is go on a walk with my son and let him lead the way, in terms of both pace and direction.

I particularly love doing this on the weekends when Lilah is taking her morning nap and there’s sort of a lull in the day before we get out and do something. (I admit though, it’s been hard to drag him away from his Legos for these walks lately!).

We recently turned our neighborhood walk into a nature walk through a very simple addition: a small bucket.

I gave James a little bucket and invited him to collect any interesting nature items he found along the way. He collected many leaves, different kinds of acorns, rocks, sticks, fallen flowers, etc. I just did it on a whim, but it really seemed to transform the experience for him.

Instead of constantly asking if it was time for a snack (seriously though), he was carefully scanning the ground and observing the world around him, looking for anything interesting or beautiful.

When we got home, he emptied out his collection on the back patio. We wound up doing a simple sink or float experiment in his water table, which evolved into making little boats from the leaves and seeing how many acorns they could hold. It was super fun!

A few other ideas for your child’s nature collection:

– Sorting: How many ways can you sort the items? By size? Color? Type?

– Art: Simple gluing, crayon rubbing, or nature weaving depending on what they’ve found

– Nature Journal: Use a blank notebook and let your child glue / take Polaroids of / draw / paint the items they found. They’ll have a log of the changing seasons.

– Loose parts: Provide a tray (love this one!) and encourage your child to save their findings for play in the sandbox / backyard

Sometimes the simplest activities really are the most fun!

Do you love being outside? Do your kids?

Montessori abc Book

My Montessori abc book uses phonetic sounds. Montessori teaches phonetic sounds, rather than letter names, to help children learn to read.

The book also uses one letter and image per page. This helps the child focus and not be overwhelmed. Photographic images are used to spark curiosity and encourage the child to learn about the real world.

You can purchase the book here!

This page contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support!

Montessori at Home, Uncategorized

Montessori Kitchens I’m Loving

March 9, 2018 6 Comments

I was hoping to post about our own Montessori kitchen, but alas, we’re not done setting it up yet.

We have a low drawer with James’s things (bowls, glasses, spoons and forks, a sponge, small dish towels), but I also want to add a low shelf where I can put self-serve snacks and food preparation tools as he gets a little bit older. I would also love to add a water source for him. As soon as we finish, I will make sure to post an update.

Instead, I thought I’d share a few Montessori-inspired kitchens that I love. I could happily look at pictures of Montessori spaces all day and these are some of my favorites.

A “Montessori kitchen” is set up for the child’s independence. The child’s dishes, tools, and cleaning supplies are accessible on a low shelf so that he can get them himself. Many Montessori kitchens also have a water source available to the child, a work space for food prep, and some have a small refrigerator or a refrigerator drawer designated for the child to access independently.

There is no one “right” way to do this. It can be adapted based on your kitchen and also based on the ages of the children in your house, and their level of interest in cooking and food preparation.

The Kavanaugh Report

Many Montessori homes use play kitchens as the base of their children’s kitchen setup because they include a “sink” where the children can work with water. These play kitchens aren’t used for pretend pots and pans though, they are used to provide the child with a space to actually work in the kitchen.

Three Oaks Blog

I love the simplicity of this shelf. It is totally accessible, regardless of the size of your kitchen, and would be relatively easy and inexpensive to put together.

How We Montessori Kitchen Progression

I love seeing how this beautiful kitchen setup changed over the years! I’m also hoping to get a small water dispenser like the one shown in the 18 month kitchen picture for James soon.

Montessori in Motion

This is so beautiful, I’m in love with the aesthetic of this one. I especially like the removable stainless steel sink and the water dispenser setup.

This Merry Montessori

This one is full of great Ikea hacks, which makes it a relatively affordable setup. I love the description of how her child uses his work space too – great inspiration!

Joyful Abode

I love the inclusion of a mini fridge in this one! It really takes accessibility to the next level, and also looks pretty adorable.

I hope you love these beautiful child-centered kitchens as much as I do. Hopefully I can share ours soon!

Do you have a kitchen setup for your child? Tell me about it or link to pictures in the comments!

Montessori at Home, Uncategorized

3 Ways my one year old helps around the house

February 12, 2018 10 Comments

One thing I love about Montessori is that it encourages even very young children to help care for the classroom / home. This is called “Practical Life” in Montessori classrooms, and is considered just as important as academics (check out my friend Natalie’s post about Practical Life here!)

Many people think that children should start helping when they’re five or six, but the thing is, they are not always as willing at that time. Why not catch children when they want so very badly to be doing everything we’re doing?

Most toddlers very much want to help. Is it actually helpful? Well no, not always, but it is so, so worth it. Allowing your toddler to help gives them purposeful work, which builds concentration and self-confidence.

It also shows them that they are valued members of the community. If you help your little one form the habit of helping very early on, he’s much more likely to be willing to help when he’s older.

Every child is different, but here are three things my 16 month old currently loves helping with.

Unloading the Dishwasher

This is probably his favorite household task right now. Before he helps, I make sure the dishes aren’t too hot and I take out all of the knives / anything sharp. He then hands me one thing at a time and I put it away. He unloads pertty much the whole lower level and some of the top level (he’s very tall).

Similarly, he loves helping unload grocery bags and the washing machine.

Wiping spills

Whenever there is a spill, James points to the table or floor enthusiastically. I ask if he knows where a dishtowel is and he runs to get one. He then wipes the spill. He is not very effective at this yet, but he loves doing it and it’s a great habit to form. It helps to keep a sponge or dishtowel where your toddler can reach it.

Putting things away

Children go through what Maria Montessori called a “sensitive period for order“. This is a time when they are fascinated by the organization of things and love everything to have a place. This lasts from birth to five, but generally peaks from 18 months to 2 1/2 years old.

I noticed James reaching the sensitive period for order by how carefully he arranges his food on his plate and by how he began to occasionally put things away. As soon as I saw this interest, I began asking him to put toys and books away regularly and he enjoys returning them to their proper spot. This is much easier for children if everything they use has a precise spot in the house where it belongs.

Other practical life tasks I hope to try with James soon are peeling banana slices, watering plants in the backyard, and sweeping the floor. For Small Hands has a wonderful selection of cooking and cleaning tools for little ones.

Montessori at Home, Uncategorized

7 Easy DIY Montessori Baby Toys (10-15 Months)

November 27, 2017 8 Comments

Good morning!

I wanted to share a few really easy DIY baby toys today. Readiness of course depends on the individual child, but I would say these would generally be good for a 10-15 month old.

I am not crafty (at all), but I love creating toys for James for a few reasons. For starters, it is a very budget-friendly way to give your little one something new to play with. I also love that it allows me to give him something perfectly suited for his current interests and abilities.

For the last couple of months, one of James’s all time favorite things to do is what I would call insert work – basically putting things in containers. You;ll see that a lot of the toys I made him revolve around that skill, at different levels of difficulty.

Also, I should add that I did not come up with most of these ideas. I browsed various Montessori sites to get ideas before going to Hobby Lobby. In general, I love both How We Montessori and The Kavanaugh Report for ideas on Montessori baby / toddler work at home.

1. Basic Insert Work

This is as simple as it gets, just a pleasing object and a container to put it in / take it out of. I don’t even know what this wooden thing is, but the shape was nice and I knew it would fit nicely in a jar I already had. I made two other very simple insert works like this for James, one with a little yellow wooden ring in a small circular box and one with a large cardboard egg in a large cylindrical box. These would not all be on the shelf at one time, but having three options allows me to switch them out when he masters one or gets bored.

2. Mailbox Insert Work

This is the same concept, but considerably more difficult. All you need is a container with a hinged lid that you can make a slit in, and some discs that will fit through the slit. I used a cardboard mailbox from Hobby Lobby and made the slit with an xacto knife. I used wooden discs to insert. This would be nicer and more durable with a wooden box, but I wasn’t sure we had a tool to make a slit in wood.

This sat on James’s shelf for a couple of weeks before he showed much interest. Then he wanted me to put the discs in, but would not try it himself or would try it briefly and get frustrated. Just last week though, he became super interested in it and put the discs in and took them out over and over again.

3. Straw Insert Work

This one is also super easy to make. I simply poked holes in the lid of a cardboard box and cut up little straws for James to put in (pipecleaners should work too).

4. Peg Insert Work

(If I had known how much he would like this, I would have found my xacto knife to cute the hole….)

This is the latest, and probably has been James’s favorite of all of the things I’ve made for him recently. I simply made a hole in a (clean!) soup container from a restaurant and used pegs that are part of a hammering set he was given.

To say he loves this would be an understatement. From the moment I gave it to him, he was enthralled and does it again and again and again. The only downside is that he cannot take the lid off of the container if it is on tightly, so it’s not always completely independent. It try to put the lid on loosely so he can do it himself, but a container with a hinged lid would be better.

After practicing this for a week or so, James also became entranced with putting the pegs in his pop up peg toy, which is more challenging because the holes are smaller. (Previously, he would take the pegs out, but not try to put them in again.) Giving him an easier version helped him improve the skill he was working on so he could be successful with the more challenging one. I geek out over watching things like that – development in action 🙂

5. Velcro Heart Box

I really like this one, but James hasn’t showed much interest in it yet. I’ll probably put it away and try again in a month or so.

This is a simple wooden box I found at Target with wooden hearts attached with velcro stickers. Baby can take them off and stick them on again.

6. Wallet with Cards

Is anyone else’s baby obsessed with credit cards? James is not a big fan of running errands, but LOVES taking the card out of the machine when I pay. One day he got my wallet from my purse and spent almost an hour taking the cards out and trying to put them back in. I knew I had to make a version of this activity to put on his shelf.

I took an old wallet and filled it with old gift cards and rewards cards (cards from back when I went shopping, for myself….). This was so simple and so fun for him.

7. Makeup Brush Treasure Basket

A “treasure basket” is any collection of objects your baby might be interested in, put together where he can access them. For example, I used to have a bowl of interesting kitchen objects James would play with while I prepped food. These are really great for babies who aren’t yet mobile, but I still put them together for James from time to time when I stumble upon something he might be interested in.

He generally likes brushes of all kinds, so when I was cleaning out my makeup and jewelry and found this set of makeup brushes, I put them together in a wooden box for him to enjoy. doesn’t get much simpler than that!

Are you crafty? I am so not, but wish I were!

Do you make homeade toys or homemade gifts?

Montessori at Home

Montessori Weaning Table Update

November 13, 2017 6 Comments

I wrote a little bit about our Montessori weaning table here, but realized I hadn’t given an update in quite some time.

We have both a high chair and a little child sized table and chair for James, and we use both almost every day.

At first, we used his little table for all of his meals, but as we started eating meals as a family, James joined us at the big table for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There is no way the three of us could comfortably sit at his little table together.

I use his little table pretty much every day though for his afternoon snack. I love several things about this.

He can participate in setting the table. Right now, he just watches me get things from his kitchen drawer, but I’m sure he will be helping with this before long. I love that he can see the whole process, from set up through clean up.
He can get up when he’s done eating. The rule is that the food stays at the table, but when he’s done, he can get up. I think it’s a good experience for him to practice staying at the table until he’s done eating, by choice rather than because he’s strapped in.
He can help clean up! This may be my favorite thing about his weaning table. If he spills something in the high chair, there’s no way he can help clean up the mess on the floor. He may not even see the mess on the floor. If he spills something in his little chair though, he can see the clean up process, and will sometimes help. Last week, he spilled his bowl of Cheerios and helped me put them back in the bowl. I’m not sure how much of this is his desire to help versus his love of putting things in containers, but I’ll take it 🙂

If I can ever make it to IKEA, I want to get another little table for his playroom. Hopefully that will happen soon!

How do you do meal times and snack times for your kids?

What’s your favorite snack?

Montessori at Home

Ten Indoor Gross Motor Activities for Toddlers

November 8, 2017 4 Comments

I mentioned recently, I’ve been looking for more indoor gross motor options for James. I am a big believer that giving toddlers enough opportunities for big movement helps immeasurably with their behavior.

A toddler climbing on all of the furniture isn’t being “bad,” he just has a strong need to develop his muscles and gross motor capabilities and will use whatever is available to that end. So if we want to be able to redirect them away from unsafe / undesired climbing / running / throwing, it’s only fair to provide an appropriate outlet.

Here are some options I love!

Beanbag toss – set up a basket and show your toddler how to toss beanbags into it. As he gets better at it, make the basket smaller or move it further away.
Appropriate climbing – For a young toddler, this could simply be placing large couch cushions on the floor to climb on. For an older toddler, establish clear guidelines for what they’re allowed to climb on. For us, climbing on tables is strictly off limits, but he’s allowed to climb on the couch (and has learned how to get down safely by himself). I also still really want one of these, but haven’t pulled the trigger yet….
Carrying something heavy – Young children seek out “maximum effort” activities. They like to run as fast as they can and they like to carry objects as heavy as possible. They’re like little cross fitters 🙂 Try providing something heavy, such as a weighted ball, for your child to carry around the room when he needs to use his big muscles.
Distance Games – Place a puzzle frame on one side of the room and a basket with the pieces on the other side of the room. Your toddler can walk back and forth across the room each time he needs a piece. This works better for older toddlers, as it requires greater concentration and memory than most younger toddlers would possess.
Balance Beam – This would be simple to make yourself and I definitely plan on doing it soon. Walking on a beam helps children with concentration and coordination, in addition to being a great gross motor option.
Large Blocks – Building with really large blocks encourages children to move around and reach up high, and also allows them to build paths or obstacle courses if they want to. (A more expensive, but really nice option)
Obstacle Course – You can get a tunnel or just use things around the house to make an obstacle course. Set one up for your child the first time, and then encourage him to make his own next time.
Walking the Line – Walking the line is a traditional control of movement game used in Montessori 3-6 classrooms. There is a line on the floor (often made with electrical tape, often in an ellipse shape) and children practice carefully walking on it, either as a group or individually. This is often done to music. This can be fun with older toddlers too, if they’re interested.
Jump Boxes – Another fun one that requires nothing other than electrical tape and encourages coordination and controlled movement
Climbing Stairs – We have a one story house, but my son loves climbing stairs whenever we encounter them. If you have stairs at home, climbing up and down can be a great way for young toddlers to practice their new skills.

All of these activities can be done independently once you show your toddler how. This is key so that he’ll have an appropriate outlet he can choose himself when he needs to move big.

If you’re interested in more ways to encourage movement in young children, I highly recommend the book Movement Matters. I saw the author speak at a national Montessori conference and bought it immediately. It’s written for teachers, but has many activities that would be great at home too.

How do you encourage appropriate gross motor in your home? I would love any tips!

*Please note this post contains affiliate links – I get a small percentage if items are purchased, at no cost to you. I only include items I have and love. Thanks for your support!

Montessori at Home, Montessori Products

A Montessori Baby Shelf – 12 Months

October 20, 2017 10 Comments

The type of toys James is interested in has really changed over the last month or two. Here’s a peek at what’s currently on his shelves!

In his room:

The shelf in James’s room is relatively small, which works well for us because he doesn’t spend a ton of time playing in there. He usually spends about an hour playing in his room right when he wakes up in the morning, and then sometimes plays in there right after he wakes up from his naps, so he doesn’t need a ton of toys to keep his interest.

Right now, this shelf includes:

Stuffed fox – I got this on Zulily when I was pregnant and can’t find it online right now, but the brand is Manhattan Toy Company. James is just starting to cuddle with stuffed animals more and it is super cute!

Tin Music Box – I love music boxes for children and this one is very sturdy. I also love these for slightly older children.

Basket of Shakers – I switch these out regularly, but right now this has a maraca, a homemade shaker filled with dried chickpeas, and this Brio bell rattle (love this brand).

Homemade Insert Work – James is super fascinated by taking things in and out of containers right now, so he has a lot of insert work on his shelves. This one is a little red bud vase I already had with a peg from a baby hammering toy. He loves it and really concentrates on trying to get the peg into the vase.

Open / Close Basket – Similarly, he is currently really interested in figuring out how to open and close things. I think this is basically like a form of a puzzle – figuring out how things fit together. This basket has three little boxes that I already owned – a paper box, a box made from cinnamon wood, and his favorite, a little bejeweled box that a sweet student gave me. It also has a little drawstring bag.

This is one of his favorite things on his shelf right now. He looks SO pleased when he gets the lid onto a box by himself.

Montessori Egg and Cup and Peg and Cup – This is another insert work. It was given to me in a Montessori baby toy set similar to this one. He has loved taking these apart and holding the little egg for months, but I just put them back on his shelf given his current interest in putting things together.

Wooden Shape Sorter – My mom just gave this to James for his birthday and he loves it! He loves taking out the shapes and putting them back in (with the lid off, not through the little shape holes). He also holds the shapes up to us to name for him. I can’t find the exact one we have, but it’s similar to this one.

Fossil and Box – James loves to examine rocks, so I put a large fossil (also given to me by a student!) on his shelf. I found this unfinished wooden box at Target in the craft section and it was just the right size for him to practice putting the fossil in the box.

In the Playroom:

We often spend a large part of the afternoon in his playroom, so there are a few more toys in here. Currently, we have:

Fox Stacking Puzzle: This came as part of a bead maze toy my mom gave James for his birthday. We have the bead maze part of the toy in another part of the room and it is super cute too, but James especially loves this stacking puzzle.

Basket of balls – This has a bunch of balls in it including sensory balls, a lacrosse ball, and a really cute butterfly ball we got at our local wildflower center.

Pop Up Toy – This is one we just got recently and it’s super cute. There are springs under the four pegs, so they bounce when you tap them and will pop out if you hit them hard enough. James also likes just taking them out and trying to put them back in.

Rainbow Nesting / Stacking Bowls – These wooden bowls are beautiful and nest as well as stack. I love that when he’s older we can use them as containers, perhaps to organize art supplies in, so I see us using them for years.

Smelling Bottles – These were so easy and fun to make! I got two sets of inexpensive salt and pepper shakers from Target and filled each with something with a strong smell. I used fresh ginger, lemon peel, fresh rosemary, and coffee beans. James likes to hand me a bottle to smell, and then smell it himself. I love watching him sniff with his little nose, it is so cute! (idea from this post)

Jar of Rings – This is just an old applesauce jar filled with these rings. He actually hasn’t been using this as much lately so I need to find something to replace it, but for a while taking the rings out of the jar and putting them back in was one of his absolute favorite things to do.

Wooden Dowel with Bracelets – I used the wooden dowel from this rainbow stacker and put several interesting bracelets on it. James loved the rainbow stacker, but was beginning to lose interest, so I switched out the rings with bracelets to mix it up and spark his interest again.

Three Piece Wooden Puzzle – James has shown some interest in the puzzle, but so far he only removes the pieces, he does not try to replace them.

In addition to his shelf, he has a few other toys around the room:

Animal Rescue Shape-Sorting Truck – My friend Natalie gave this to James for his birthday and it is SO cute! He loves examining the little animals and putting them back in the truck.

Bowl of Pumpkins – I got James an assortment of small pumpkins and gourds at Trader Joe’s and he loves taking them all out of the bowl and putting them all back in. The bowl is glass and makes a great gong-like sound when he drops the pumpkins in. He also loves chewing on them….

Rainbow Blocks – I’ve mentioned these before, but we are still loving them. I have these on the window sill right now because they look so pretty with the light coming through.

Comotomo Silicone Baby Teether – I’ve also just started keeping this on the window sill because James is teething and loves to chew on the window sill. To try to deter this, I have the teether right there for him.

Duplos – We don’t keep a ton of toys in the living room, but we do have a set of zoo animal Duplos tucked away and James loves playing with them. He hasn’t yet figured out how to put them together, but he loves taking them apart and putting them back in the bucket. This is extra fun because my husband’s parents sent the set that belonged to him as a kid.

And that about sums it up! I’m looking forward to making him some more things for his shelves, so if you have any ideas or favorites, please share!

*Please note this post contains affiliate links – I get a small percentage if items are purchased, at no cost to you. I only include items I have and love. Thanks for your support!

Montessori at Home, Montessori Parenting

On Staying Home More as a Stay at Home Mom

July 26, 2017 13 Comments

You would think that being a stay at home mom would mean you’re at home all the time. This is often not the case though and I recently found myself spending less and less time at home.

At night, I would start to get a slightly panicky feeling if we had nothing planned for the next day, and try to think of something we could go do together.

I think this happened for a couple of reasons. James has gotten to an age where it’s really easy to take him out and about. He is also awake for much longer stretches of time now and I think it can be daunting to think about three hours at home with nothing to “entertain” the little one.

Also, while I used to largely sit back and watch James play fairly independently, I had gotten out of the habit of doing this when he started pulling up to stand. I was a little bit terrified when he started pulling up because he would just let go and fall straight backwards and hit his head. So I followed him around constantly. While this may have been necessary for a week or so, it is certainly not necessary any more. He’s super capable of coming down gently and intentionally now and rarely falls. When he does fall, he almost always catches himself with his hands. I just needed to retrain myself to take a step back again and let him be.

I started reading Your Self-Confident Baby, by Magda Gerber, because I was curious about the RIE philosophy and how it was similar to / different from Montessori. I am loving the book and it really reminded me that 1) children need long, uninterrupted periods of time to play and 2) to interfere as little as possible when a child is playing / working on something.

These two things are definitely emphasized in Montessori as well, I just needed a reminder.

So last week, I took a step back. And we were both so much happier. I chose a spot to sit in the room and let him play without hovering to make sure he didn’t fall. He played happily and periodically came over to check in with me. He would usually come over very briefly and climb up on me for a hug before zooming off again. Sometimes he would choose a book for me to read him before continuing on his own. It was so fun and interesting to watch him play.

I also realized, while it seemed like James was getting “bored” playing in his room or playroom for a long stretch of time, I think this was really “false fatigue”.

False fatigue is a term we used to describe how the children behaved late in the work period at school. In a Montessori classroom, the children have three-hour long work periods where they choose work independently. Often around 10 AM or so, some of the children would start to act a little bit crazy and would stop working. They would wander around aimlessly chatting with other children and getting silly. It would seem as if they were done for the morning. In reality, they were a little fatigued from all of their hard work and needed a little help settling back in. After connecting briefly with a teacher, many of the children would settle back in to do some great work. I’ve seen the same thing with James.

He will start “rage crawling” as we call it around the room, not choosing anything and grunting or whining. It will seem as if he’s totally over playing in that room. I’ve found that I can often help him settle back into playing by connecting with him. First, I just talk to him about what I’m seeing, what he may be feeling, and some things I see that he may enjoy doing.

I also find it helps if I put all of his toys back on the shelf where they go. Since he doesn’t yet restore his own toys, the room is a mess after a while. I think it becomes visual clutter to him when everything is on the floor and it’s as if he can no longer see anything interesting to work with. As soon as I put the toys away, he often sees something that strikes his interest.

If that doesn’t work, I’ll read him a couple of books or sing a couple of songs with him and then help him get started playing with something, before backing away and letting him play on his own.

These things usually work really well, unless it’s late in the day, at which point he just may be too fatigued to be as independent as he is most of the time. At that point, I’ll continue reading books with him or singing songs as long as he enjoys doing it, or take him outside for a change of scenery.

When he is playing happily on his own, I try to really observe him, which is a big part of Montessori as well as RIE. Honestly though, I don’t find myself able (at this point at least) to just sit and observe him all morning. So I also bring a book or a notebook and read or write after observing him for a while. I find that if I have nothing else to do, I often wind up jumping in when he doesn’t need my help.

I alternate observing him with reading or writing, and always put down my book as soon as he comes over to me. I choose a book because I at least think that it’s beneficial to model reading and writing, rather than being on my phone. I think that seeing adults read helps children want to read, as they want to do everything we do. I hope that, with practice, I’ll be able to observe him for longer stretches of time.

While this is just a change in outlook, it has seriously made such a difference in our days. I enjoy being with him at home so much more, and I no longer feel like we have to have something to go do every day.

I also believe that a baby is part of the family and that involves compromise. So if I’m going crazy being in the house, I will take him for a walk in the stroller, which he seems pretty neutral about, but I really enjoy. I try though to make sure he has some free time to play in every block of “awake time” throughout the day, and that he has at least one really long stretch of time every day to play freely. So far, so good!

Do you like being home a lot or being out and about more?

*Please note this post contains affiliate links – I get a small percentage if items are purchased, at no cost to you. I only include items I have and love. Thanks for your support!

Montessori at Home

What is Stand-up Diapering?

July 24, 2017 12 Comments

We made another change to James’s room last week and I’m pretty excited about it.

My husband flipped James’s mirror so it’s vertical (it’s attached to the wall with 3M strips, so this was pretty easy), and added a pull-up bar. We’ve been meaning to do this for a while, but life has been busy!

You can purchase pull-up bars from Montessori shops or Etsy, but honestly, it is so simple to make yourself with some basic supplies from Home Depot (I say it’s simple, my husband did it, but it did not take him long). We used this tutorial as a guide.

James can already pull up on the mirror with no bar, by walking up with his hands, but we wanted a pull-up bar so that we could start doing stand-up diapering.

Are you familiar with stand-up diapering? If you have / have had a baby, you likely know the FIGHT that diaper changes can become. Once baby becomes mobile, he no longer wants to be laying flat on his back (at least this has been true for James). James started to really fight diaper changes and he is very strong!

Once baby can stand, many Montessori classrooms and homes switch to stand-up diapering. The child holds on to something and you change the diaper while the child stands. We installed a pull-up bar, but I have also heard of children holding onto the bathtub or a low shelf or table for stand-up diaper changes.

The idea is to recognize baby’s new developmental stage and to help him be a more active participant in the diaper changing process. Doing things with baby, rather than to / for baby, is a big focus in Montessori. I really like having the pull up bar in front of a mirror so that James can see what I’m doing as I talk about it. Right now, he helps by carrying his diaper from the closet over to the bar. Eventually, he will be able to help more by undoing his diaper tabs, pulling down his pants, etc. I also talk through each step of what I’m doing.

If you have an older baby / toddler who fights diaper changes, it can also be helpful to have two designs of diapers and let them choose: “Would you like an Elmo diaper or a Big Bird diaper?” so that they feel they have some say in the matter. We’re not to this point yet, but I’ve definitely seen it help with toddlers.

Right now, we are still getting used to the process and it can be a bit tricky at times. James is very steady standing with one hand holding on, but sometimes he doesn’t want to hold on and chooses to sit down. I sometimes need to support him with one hand while I finish changing his diaper. It’s still easier than wrestling with him on the floor though and he seems happier about it.

While this is very new in our home, I used to be an assistant in a Montessori toddler classroom before I got my 3-6 certification and stand-up diapering worked wonderfully there! I cannot imagine trying to lay down one of those big two year olds to change their diaper, that sounds so much harder to me! I’m hopeful that this will keep diaper changes from becoming a regular battle in our house.

As a reminder, I am Montessori trained for 3-6 year olds, but not for infants and toddlers. I found this article from the American Montessori Society website very helpful for Montessori diapering / toileting.

Montessori at Home, Montessori Products

A Montessori Play Space

July 17, 2017 8 Comments

Recently, a friend asked me where to buy “Montessori stuff”. While there are of course specialty stores and catalogues focusing on Montessori-friendly items, I think it’s a common misconception that Montessori means lots of expensive stuff. On the contrary, Montessori-friendly spaces are generally quite simple and it is just as much about the layout of the room as the items available to the child.

So a few months ago when we decided to turn our “office” (aka random room we never used, but called an office because it had a desk in it) into a playroom for James, I had a few things in mind:

Plenty of open space to explore
A low shelf with limited options that the child can choose from himself
Art hung at the child’s level (as opposed to the adult’s level)
A cozy space for reading books

We just finished the room this past weekend (as much as it will ever be finished, as I’m sure we’ll continually adjust as he grows), but have been using it for the last month or so and it has been great!

James has gotten to the point where he gets sick of being in his room; he wants to explore. He loves crawling around the rest of the house, and we certainly let him, but it is also really nice to have another space that is his.

This room is also our guest room, so has a large couch that folds out into a bed, but this has actually been nice because James likes cruising along the couch and it is soft, so we don’t have to worry about him banging his head on it. This isn’t as much of a concern now, but it was especially great when he first started pulling up.

We kept the room simple. There is a reading nook in the corner and I really love the little bookshelf (from Ikea) because it is easy for James to see and choose the books and it is a good size for him.

It holds about four board books and I rotate them regularly.

Eventually, I’d like to get a cozier rug and cushion like his reading nook in his room, but for now this is working well.

He has a toy shelf with two levels, which is working great now that he can pull up. I would only use a shelf with one level if he were not yet pulling up. I originally planned to get the same shelf he has in his room, but Ikea is really far from us and the shipping was really expensive so I got this one*on Amazon. It is listed as a closet organizer, but is working really well for this relatively small room.

I rotate the toys regularly, not on a schedule, but according to what he’s playing with. I observe him playing and, when I see that he no longer chooses a certain toy, I take it off of the shelf and add something different. I also try to include both toys that are easy and familiar to him, and some that are newer or more challenging for him.

I got this road rug at Ikea when I was in Houston. I think it was $15, so much less expensive than other ones I’ve seen. It’s pretty small, but a good size for this room.

I originally wanted a white rug…but then I realized his spit up is now a whole array of colors since he’s eating solid foods and that was impractical. Also, while he’s obviously too young to play with cars on the rug, he really likes patterned rugs and stops to examine different parts of it as he plays.

One of our favorite parts of the room is the big window, which James loves to look out. Unfortunately, the couch blocks it and there really isn’t another configuration that works, but when James goes over to the window, I help him get onto the couch to look outside.

Lastly, I wanted to hang some art at his level. I got a simple Winnie the Pooh Art Print for his reading nook. I wanted something literary themed, and while I know some prefer to not include any children’s books with unrealistic talking animals, I like to make an exception for the classics because they are so wonderfully written and such good stories. I have a very old copy of Winnie the Pooh that belonged to my grandmother and can’t wait to read it to him some day. I also liked the simplicity of the image.

Since he can pull up now, I also wanted something for him to look at when he was standing at his shelf. I decided to get 12×12 frames so that I could use calendar pages. This is super inexpensive, especially if you buy calendars from past years, and allows you to easily change out the images as the child’s interests emerge and change. I went with clouds for now.

Lastly, I added some black and white images to the inside of his shelf. These are from this Art for Baby – it comes with a fold out of all of the images and I simply cut out a few that he seemed to enjoy from the book. He sometimes sticks his whole head in the cube to get a better look and touch the picture.

While we’re using the room daily now, there are still a few things I would like to add:

Plants! I would like to add at least one hanging plant. I have the plant actually, I just need to figure out how to hang it.
A cozier cushion and rug for the reading nook
Either a mobile above his reading nook (I’m working on one, but am not sure I’ll ever finish) or some type of pretty glass hanging in the window

I really just thought the playroom would be a fun use for a room we never went it, but it has seriously been so great to have another space for him to play!

*Please note this post contains affiliate links – I get a small percentage if items are purchased, at no cost to you. I only include items I have and love. Thanks for your support!

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