Montessori At Home Mondays with Marie Mack
Small Space Montessori Setup
Wow! Our last post in our Montessori At Home Monday’s series. I’m so excited to share with you all and thank you, again, Seemi!
Did you miss the previous posts? Check them out here:
Small Space: Introduction and Entryway
Small Space: Bedroom and Closet
The Kitchen
The kitchen is my favorite place to have my children! I am part Italian and have been working in the kitchen as long as I can remember. I want to bring that same love to my children, so I have made their time there enjoyable.
First, we have the table. This is an Ikea table and chairs. Definitely affordable and very easy to clean. The children can move the chairs in and our easily. This space served as our space for EVERYTHING! Art projects, experiments, water work, food prep, flower arranging, and, of course, meals.
When doing Montessori homeschool setup in a small space everything you have gets used in multiple ways. Often I perched on a stool next to this table to be with the kids are their level. They had so much pride in being able to complete tasks with ease because of the smaller size materials. I would encourage you to make a table a priority in your setup.
Low drawers are one of my favorite things to setup for the children. They are easy for kids to open and very easy to reach. This drawer we used for extra clean up rags for the inevitable spill and a couple utensils for cooking. The measuring cups are twofold. My daughter pulls these out as a nesting cups work. With my son, we use the measuring spoons for scooping and are always discussing the amount we are using. Of course he doesn’t really get what ¼ tsp is at this point, but one day it will click because he has always heard the number while we cook together.
I apologize for not having a picture of our cabinet setup for this apartment, but here is an example of another setup we had for our children in the kitchen.
This is a low cabinet, primarily for our son. On the left we have a couple of snacks he could choose to get to any time. His utensils are in the basket. The wire rack worked perfect to have cups on top and plates on the bottom.
The Montessori Method is meant to have beautiful thing, but sometimes beautiful, expensive things can break in the learning process. I was so excited to help Samuel work on his pouring with the small milk jug in the picture. The first time he took it out to work with it, it broke. We used that learning experience, first, to help him learn how to pick up broken glass carefully, and second to use our financial mind while choosing materials. The glass plates in the picture are from the dollar store. I found the small glass cups from a second hand thrift shop. I want to give my children all real materials to learn how to work with them correctly, but I do not want to break the bank by replacing expensive Montessori specific materials each time learning happens and something is broken.
Series Wrap Up
Montessori homeschooling in a small space is a lot fun! As a work at home mom, I found a lot of comfort in a small space. My children were always where I could see them and I didn’t have to spend hours every day cleaning and maintaining a big home on top of my online work. Because of our small space, I had the opportunity to focus more on my children; not maintaining an extravagant home.
I hope you are encouraged that any space can be make into a Montessori home and working within a budget is always possible. Although specific Montessori materials are beautiful and wonderful to have, your child will learn and thrive in a loving home with a little preparation.
I really enjoyed sharing our small home space with you!
About Marie Mack
Marie is a work-at-home mother of two. She co- blogs at Montessori on a Budget with Kimberly Huff and Lisa Nolan. She is also a contributor to Confessions of a Montessori Mom blog. After much self-study and with a background in education, she chose to follow her own children in their education and created the blog Child Led Life. She would love to hear from you on Facebook, Pinterest, and G+.
Thank you for checking out our Small Space Montessori Setup!
Where to Find Supplies
Many of the things you will need to make your home more Montessori and child friendly can be found easily at places like the Dollar Store, Target, and Walmart. You can also find a great selection of tools at For Small Hands, a company founded by a Montessori teacher.
Related Products
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