A Montessori Toddler Kitchen Part II
Montessori in Real Life
It’s been over a year since we first set up D’s functional kitchen. Reading over my original blog post on it, I realized it’s time for an update on how it’s set up, and how she uses it. For details about why we don’t have a play kitchen and how we first converted the IKEA play kitchen to a functional kitchen, see the original post. This little kitchen is D’s favorite spot in the house. This is where she washes hands. It’s where she finds and serves her own snack and beverage. It’s where she finds her placemat and dishes to set her and S’ small table. It is also where she helps prepare her own snacks, such as peeling and slicing carrots, juicing oranges, peeling eggs, or transferring crackers to her plate with tongs. She takes such pride in all that she does here.
Over the course of the past year, D has grown a lot in what she can do at this kitchen. The water dispenser is mostly used for hand-washing at this point. Occasionally she also washes dishes here too. Though it can be used for drinking water, she more often pours from a pitcher with water or milk that stays on her kitchen counter. Setting up a shelf beside the IKEA kitchen has given her more space for this, as well as food prep and serving snack. I also added a mini fridge where we mostly keep veggies and hummus or something similar for her snacktime. She can self-serve, but tends to only do so in the afternoons.
As she helps put dishes away, I placed some colored dot stickers in her kitchen cabinet to help her remember where the dishes belong. We also added a utensil divider for the same reason. Hand towels, placemats, and napkins are now stored in the low drawer of the new cabinet, next to the small laundry bin. As all things in our home, it’s a constant work in progress and it will continue to evolve as she gets older, and as S becomes a toddler himself. I guarantee there will be a Part III next year. :) But for now, it’s pretty close to perfect for D. Links are all below!
I know setting up the kitchen and giving your child freedom in the kitchen can be intimidating, which is why Bridget (of Montessori in Motion) and I created The Montessori Kitchen Guide eBook! Check it out for all your questions regarding introducing food and real dishes to babies, weaning tables vs high chairs, functional kitchens in any space, kitchen helpers, tricky behaviors at the table, toddler food prep ideas, and more!
Water dispenser disclaimer: This water dispenser set-up is not perfect. It requires your toddler to turn the knob rather than push a button to release water, which takes practice and getting used to. The dispenser can also tip if not careful, but D learned early on to hold the dispenser with one hand and turn on the water with the other. The lid may also rust, which is natural with metal, but good to be aware of. We did not put a hole in our sink to let it drain, but I’ve seen others do that with a bucket underneath. I just fill the dispenser partway so that it never overfills the sink, and only empty the sink and refill the dispenser up to 3 times a day. That sets a nice limit for D and prevents her from wasting a bunch of water.
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