Montessori Home: Kitchen

Our oldest daughter being fourteen means we have had our kitchen set up for children for quite awhile.  So long I no longer think about it, until someone comes over and begins looking for a plate.  The first thing I recommend in creating a Montessori friendly kitchen is to remove any unsafe tools from a child's reach.  Sharp things, poisonous things, things you would be devastated were they to get broken.  As you see the children are allowed to use sharp items with supervision and we have red tape marking a 'do not enter' space in front of the stove.

 Next create a space for the items your child uses, silverware, plates, bowls, cups etc.. and place them on a low shelf or drawer.  Do the same for food items, table setting needs and tools the child needs for clean up.  You can see in this picture the cups are next to the water dispenser (yes, I have an earthen ware one, but we prefer Hello Kitty) On the next shelf is everything the girls need to make pancake batter, another time it might be muffins.  On the bottom shelf are the cloth napkins for setting the table.

Washing dishes is another favorite toddler activity.  (Again remove all the knives.)  We really love our learning tower stool for this as the sink is too high to reach with a traditional step stool.  Although our children out grew the tower by about 3 years old I still think they are a good investment.  You can check them out here http://littlepartners.com/

Remember when your child washes dishes you more than likely will need to rewash them.  Please do this when your child isn't present.

I will talk more about kitchen preparedness is future post.