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Creating an Inviting and Organized Montessori Inspired Playroom

August 7, 2017 / 277 Comments

Three kids. Girl, age 10, Girl, age 5, Boy, age 1. How do I make this ONE space work for all three of them? This room, like all the other rooms in this house, was a blank slate (after we changed the paint, trim, and carpet when we first moved in). I wanted something neutral, so I decided to keep the grey that we painted the whole house in when we remodeled (See this post for more on paint colors in our home renovation). While we do have a lot of toys, I try to keep it fresh by donating toys we don’t play with often, and shopping for gently used toys at second hand stores and from small, family-owned shops. One of my favorite things to do is to treasure hunt around for bargain priced wooden toys, and many of the toys in this room were actually found second hand!

This is the space before and after the remodel. Purple with honey colored trim to grey with white trim. Beige carpets to grey carpets.

Here is the tour of this fun space now, starting with the kitchen area and closet. We removed the old shelving from the closet and added adjustable shelves from the hardware store, and an IKEA Kallax (formerly Expedit) cube shelf. I move things around often to spark interest in the toys, so as you scroll down you will see the closet has been reorganized at least once between taking these photos.

I love the simplicity of the IKEA wooden kitchen. Not too many bells and whistles, but enough to let the imagination wonder. A simple IKEA side table is the tea party table, filled with felt tea party goodies.

Wooden pretend food toys are also a favorite of our kids! You can shop all my favorite toys at the bottom of this post.

This sweet market is also by Le Toy Van and though it was one of the more pricey items in this room, its well worth it. The kids play with this A LOT. It is just the right size!  All of our wooden foods fit nicely in this market stand. We have an IKEA cash register to play with it as well.

Felt tea party goodies! IKEA tea party plates and cups.

The closet (reorganized from the earlier photo-we moved all the books from my oldest daughters room into here).

Some of her favorite reads 2nd-5th grade. Ashlyn is just going into Kindergarten so these will soon be for her! Ashlyn’s books are currently in her room since we read to her every night.

Fun cars and things that go.

The bigger items are stored here and come down for play! A few favorites include a wood barn, and a car racer track. You can shop for my favorite toys at the bottom of this post.

Wooden Anamalz brand animals, wood blocks, and an IKEA train set, all imagination friendly, noiseless toys.

The other side of the room does have a small TV, mounted high enough so that the younger children cannot control it, use it, or hurt themselves from it. Emily loves to play video games with friends when she has free time, so we wanted to make sure she had a place in this room too. She can chill out in a comfy bean bag and play games while her siblings play with their toys. We are not allowing TVs in bedrooms, so this is the only TV other than in the family room that the children can use. We also have a white, child size teepee that the kids love to play in, and will turn towards the TV on Friday nights when they watch a movie together and “camp out” in the playroom. This nook is excellent quality, durable, and made here in the USA!

Below the TV is the hands on play corner. Two IKEA Kallax shelves simply pushed together to make a 4×3 shaped L play space. I wanted to have lots of low level table space for the kids to play on without having too much furniture in the center of the room.  Ashlyn loves to play with her felt storyboard sets, LEGO Duplos, and castle here, while the open cubes have some of the larger toys that are safe for Arlo (our one year old) to play with while he rolls and scoots about. These shelves also are low enough to not be a danger to our small baby. (Though we ALWAYS supervise him in here). We are obsessed with Green Toys (the large vehicles inside the cubes). The toys have a simple design that encourages imaginative play, are just the right size and come in a wide selection! And they are actually made out of 100% recycled plastic here in the USA as well!

So many beautiful felt sets!

Everything is at the perfect height for little minds to play.

And in the open space, to encourage our baby to play, we have his toys out for him, including this IKEA play gym and IKEA rocking moose.

The kids love this space, and in the end that’s what matters most. And it sure was fun creating it for them!

See my favorite mess-free toys on this post!

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