Montessori Inspired Playroom Tour

Montessori Inspired Playroom Tour

Aside from when I was a child, I don’t think I have found so much joy from being in a playroom. My goal when I was designing this space was to create a Montessori-inspired playroom that could also function as an office. I am all about creating spaces that have dual functionality. The reason being two-fold. First off, kid’s evolve & grow out of spaces very quickly. Two, it saves space in other parts of the house. Another thing I kept in mind when designing this space was the balance of neutrals and color. If you were to take a tour of my house, you would see that I am partial to whites and neutral shades. However, the playroom was my chance to explore with color.

A Little Pre-Cursor

Before I dive into specific toys, materials & tools, I want to preface that I am no Montessori expert. I am just a mom who appreciates the method and enjoys incorporating it into my parenting choices. If you are interested in exploring the Montessori method more, I encourage you to pick up a copy of The Montesorri Toddler (it is an excellent book). Or if reading isn’t your thing, check out Raising Little Goose on Instagram.

Items from above photo:

1. Nugget in color Daybreak. We LOVE the Nugget. This is Miller’s favorite place to cuddle his stuffed animals, watch for cars driving by, and a great landing pad for his climbing adventures.
2. Baby Quilt from Crate and Kids (discontinued) and Pillows from the Hearth and Hand Target line.
3. Pikler Triangle – hand-made by grandpa, but very similar ones are listed on Etsy!
4. Balance Board. Miller mostly uses this for sliding down and walking across right now, but his 6-year-old cousin loved surfing on it when he visited recently.
5. Gathre Padded Mat. This is the Padded Midi+ in the color untanned. This has been one of my favorite purchases. It is flat enough that the Pikler sits evenly on it, but squishy enough to provide a soft landing. It folds in half for storage (although finding a place to stash it is tricky). Gathre has a mother’s day sale coming up that is usually pretty good!

Items from above photos:

1. Giant photos w/ frames are from Smallwood Home. Photos are by me :) The photos are 25×17 and the little phrases are the 13×13 size.
2. Document boxes are from The Container Store. I will be honest, I never understood the purpose of these until I needed a good place for papers I did not want to toss.
3. Giant glass canisters are from The Container Store. These are great for displaying crayons, markers, paint, etc.
4. The shapable hand is a good ole’ IKEA find. I bought this to help teach Miller sign language.
5. The Rainbow stacker is a pretty little wooden piece by Sabo Toys. I snagged mine from Bitte Shop.
6. Water Hyacinth Baskets are another Container Store find. Baskets are hands down the best way to hide random small toys and trinkets. I can’t tell you the number of items that we have that don’t really have a great “home”. Enter BASKETS.

Items from far left photo:

1. The Chalkboard/Magnet Board/White Board is an Amazon find. I bought it for the magnetic functionality. However, the whiteboard will come in handy once Miller is in school.
2. Below the chalkboard is a movable bucket organizer from IKEA. We store magnets & random trinkets in these.
3. That friendly fox is a lovely little hand-stitched stuffed animal from Sparrow Stitchings on Instagram. She makes these out of recycled materials and will even repair them if they get “boo-boos”.
4. The “MILLER” name puzzle is from Bitty Bean Handmade, but unfortunately, her shop is now closed.
5. The stacking blocks are also by Sabo Toys, and they are from Bitte Shop.
6. The shelf that the fox, puzzle, and other trinkets are sitting on is the Flisat Shelf from IKEA. It technically is upside down here, but I wanted the bar to hang things from.
7. The red, blue & orange silks are the mini play silks from Sarah’s Silks. 
8. The Alphabet & Colors mats are also from Gathre. They are the micro size.
9. The book shelf is the Flisat book display from IKEA.

Items in middle photo:

1. The Kid sized cleaning set is Melissa and Doug. Miller loves carrying these around pretending that he is cleaning.
2. The cube shelves are the Eket cabinets from IKEA. These come in different colors with the option of metal legs. What I love about these is that they come individually or as a certain amount of cubes, depending on what you need. On their legs, these are the perfect height for Miller to play on top of the shelves.
3. It’s hard to see, but on the top left shelf is a wooden fruit-cutting set from Melissa and Doug.
4. The peg board, tiny books, cube, bug catcher, and stacking rings are all from LOVEVERY. I can’t recommend LOVEVERY enough. The toys are of great quality, you get a lot of toys for the price you pay, and the kits come with really helpful tips on playing with your child at certain ages. You can subscribe via this link and receive $20 off!

Items in right photo:

1. Wooden shelf is the Lustigt from IKEA. The cool thing about this shelf is that you can shape it more vertically or horizontally and leave shelves out if you wish.
2. Green Sailboat puzzle is Grimm’s.
3. Blackjack racing car is from Candylab.
4. Wooden Auto Transporter is Bajo brand from Bitte Shop. I love this one because it is essentially three cars in one. They are beautifully made and roll smoothly.
5. The table beneath the shelf is the Flisat table from IKEA. This table is super popular in the sensory play world. You can arrange different sized bins inside the lips of the table which is a great spot for littles to dig around in different materials. There are a lot of different Facebook groups full of sensory bin ideas.

If I missed anything, please feel free to ask about it in the comments below! Hope this is helpful for someone out there!