Montessori Shelves Organization for Small Spaces

For this month of 12 Months of Montessori Series, I’m sharing our simple shelves organization at home. I’m sharing our set-up at home and what works for us.

To start with, we don’t have a dedicated school room at home as we are not homeschooling fulltime.  Our sitting room is where we do almost everything related to schooling.  In here we have two shelves, one intended for free play toys and the other for our “Montessori” or schooling.  Now let me be clear that these shelves are for Vito’s materials. Sometimes, Mavi gets to play with these materials as well but they’re mostly intended for my toddler because the big brother has his own room now and that’s where he keeps his stuff.

As seen on the image above, the contents on the bigger shelf are Vito’s current favourite “toys”. The top layer has the following:  Schleich and Playmobil dinosaurs, Duplo, Leapfrog Fridge Phonics, Magnatiles.  Vito is free to use and play with these anytime he wants.  The bottom layer are basket inserts which contain our Schleich animals, cars and trains, alphabet and number puzzles, Melissa & Doug Lacing Beads and thingamobobs LOL. It’s a convenient way of storing toys in one area so its easy for me to look for the materials when I needed them.  You can read more about it here. 

On the side, I have a basket of books which Vito and I can freely pick for reading.  Sometimes he picks books just to look at pictures, other times he asks me to read it for him and most of the time, he just reads it by himself just like with his favourite book Dear Zoo wherein he would used our Schleich animals to retell the story.

 

Our “school” shelf is located in the hallway and this is where I place most of our “Montessori” materials.  I keep this shelf simple and not too busy.  In this shelf I have Life Cycle of a Green Plant and Montessori Tree puzzle (our themed unit for next week), sandpaper numbers (have to get sandpaper letters soon!), color tablets, writing materials as he loves to use pen and trace the cards, knobless cylinders and Melissa & Doug Basic Pattern. This is my “with Mommy’s supervision” shelf.  When Vito wants to use any of these materials, I have to be there… not really there to work with him but see how he’s using the materials, making sure he’s taking good care of them and using them well.  For example in the morning, he works on the knobless cylinders  independently while I observe him.

Both of the shelves are from IKEA and it kept me sane for 2 years.  I rotate toys on a weekly basis except  the favourite toy/s stick around for  awhile. 

With just two shelves its easier to maintain and manage!  Currently, the shelves are pretty much useless as we are spending a lot of time outdoors.

So a “small space” shouldn’t be a hindrance in learning.  What’s important is that as parents, we are able to set-up an environment that is conducive for learning.    Hope you find this post useful!

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This post is part of the 12 Months of Montessori Learning which is hosted by Natural Beach Living and The Natural Homeschool.

5 Ways to Have a Peaceful Homeschool Room | Natural Beach Living

Our 2016 Homeschool Room Tour | The Natural Homeschool

How to Prepare a Montessori Home Environment for Afterschooling | Living Montessori Now

Montessori Homeschool Organization | Mama’s Happy Hive

Evolution of Our Homeschool Classroom | The Kavanaugh Report

Montessori Shelves Organization for Small Spaces | The Pinay Homeschooler

Little Fish, BIG EMOTIONS | Every Star is Different

Start Your Homeschool Off Right | Christian Montessori Network