We currently live in a medium sized 3-bedroom rental, so unfortunately we don’t have a separate playroom for Miss K. Instead, she shares her main play area with us in the living room. So far it’s worked out well.
At 17 months this is Miss K’s current play area:
Montessori Shelves
I’ve dedicated the 2 middle shelves of our bookshelves to place some of her toys and activities. These generally get rotated monthly with a combination of her own toys and toys borrowed from our local toy library. Unfortunately due to the current lockdown situation, the toy library is closed and Miss K is quickly becoming bored of her own toys. I ended up buying a few more toys for her and am trying to engage her with other activities.
Activity Table
Next to her shelves is a small wooden activity table that we received from Miss K’s godparents for her 1st birthday. It’s beautifully made and apart from a few bite marks, it’s held up well! There are 4 main sections: shape sorter, hedgehog cogs, bead maze and animal screws.
Miss K first learnt to pull herself up on the table and plays with it almost ever day. She loves pulling the animal heads off and I often find them together in a pile next to the couch. Now that she’s older we practice shape sorting and loves having a play with the beads.
Play Kitchen
The play kitchen was a recent addition that I was undecided for a long while. On one hand, it goes against Montessori philosophy as it’s pretend and on the other hand, I believe pretend play is important. I also have very fond memories of playing with my play food, cups and cutlery with my sisters and cousins while growing up.
In the end, I decided to purchase a play kitchen and found a simple but beautiful wooden kitchen from Temple and Webster. There are plenty of hacks online on how to convert play kitchens into functioning kitchens for little humans but for now I’m happy to keep it as pretend play for Miss K.
I bought a mixture of pots and pans, wooden food, and utensils from Ikea and Kmart, and am eyeing off some items from Erzi. Miss K loves her little kitchen and will happily cook, open the doors, and carry items around her play area. Needless to say it’s been a hit!
Shopping Trolley Book Storage
Next to the play kitchen is a wooden shopping trolley purchased from Kmart that stores some of her books. Miss K loves to flip through her books and will hand me a book to read. While she doesn’t have the concentration to read a whole book from start to finish, she loves the process of finding a book and sitting in my lap to flip through the pages. She can do this for up to half an hour or until I’m ready to call quits!
I love reading myself and am so happy that I’ve fostered this early love of books in my daughter. No matter what I’m doing, I try to stop what I’m doing and read at least 1 book with her before I go back to what I’m doing. My motto is there’s always time for a cuddle and a book!
Small Table
I found a really beautiful solid wooden side table for a great price at one of our local op shops late last year. It’s the perfect height for Miss K and she often plays with her toys or activities on this table or eats snacks on it. It was a lovely find!
Playpen
The playpen was bought in anticipation of confining an active crawling baby, however in the end Miss K skipped crawling and started walking late so we never used it for its original purpose! It takes up a lot of space so I somewhat regret buying the playpen. However, it’s been useful in helping Miss K learn how to pull herself up and cruising around.
At the moment it houses her soft toys and we’ve popped some pillows in there to create a cozy place for Miss K to lie down and relax. I’ve seen her sit and read a book amongst her cushions, so we’ll hang onto the playpen for now.
Do you have a separate playroom or a play area incorporated elsewhere? What sort of must have items do you have in your playroom? I would love to know in the comments below!
Marie xo