I'm Annie Hays! I have been working with young children in a Montessori setting for nine years, and love implementing the philosophy at home with my little boy. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Human Development & Early Childhood Education, as well as a Montessori teaching credential for ages 3-6, and I love what I do!

Organizing toys for my three-year-old is quite different from preparing a classroom, but a home can still be a Montessori-inspired space.

When it feels like we’re drowning in toys, I prioritize these three tenets of a child-centered space: keeping his things accessible, functional, and inviting. For us, having an open, low shelf in our living area works best, so that while we are doing our work in the kitchen or on the couch, he can do his work close by.

Just like in a classroom environment, a low and accessible shelf helps children see where their activities go and learn to put them away when they are finished. Paradoxically, having fewer options available leads to more meaningful play.

To set up a child-centered space conducive to independent play, try using a toy rotation system, choosing one thing from each of these categories: 

• Something to Build
• Something to Solve
• Something to Create
• Something to Pretend
• Something to Read
• Something From Nature to Explore

Something to Build

Open-ended play encourages creativity and collaboration, invites concentration, and fosters problem-solving skills. We rotate through wooden blocks, magnetiles, a marble run, or train tracks to build big structures - and of course, knock them over when we’re done!

While I don’t suggest using bins of toys (they just invite dumping) I find my biggest basket or wooden box so that it can hold as many pieces as possible. I always make sure it’s a sturdy box with handles, but small enough that Pete can independently carry it to a work mat when he’s ready to play. This also ensures that clean-up is reasonable for a 3-year-old since we only have a limited amount. We observe his play to see when it’s time to change it up - but haven’t rotated out his marble run since Christmas!

Something to Solve

On the flip side, toys with an end goal and a clear purpose are self-correcting, and help children identify their own mistakes. We can make these more inviting by leaving a puzzle undone - as an invitation to be solved. These materials build frustration tolerance and task persistence as children work toward the end goal.

Our job is to observe without correcting, assessing their level of mastery. If they catch their mistake, we know they are closer to mastering the material, and ready for more challenge. If they don’t notice the control of error, we make a mental note of that but don’t interrupt. We support them just enough to get through the tricky part but always allow them to finish the task themselves, so they have the feeling of: I did it!

Through observation, our job is to select something for our children to solve that’s not so easy that it gets misused, but not so hard that they get overly frustrated and want to give up. Of course, it’s always fun to complete something you know you’re good at, so we rotate puzzles in and out that Peter has mastered before. When he hasn’t seen it for a while, it feels like a new toy!

Something to Create

I love providing a stack of blank paper at Peter’s level so he can help himself anytime he wants to make a love note, a birthday card, or just create something to hang on the fridge. We select a few art mediums to have available, assessing his fine motor skills and looking for a proper pencil grip. Stickers are great for practicing pinching - just remove the white background sticker to set them up for success! Rock crayons and stubby pieces of chalk encourage proper pencil grip - we waited to introduce long crayons and pencils until we saw he had created a good habit of holding a writing utensil properly.

His Montessori teacher in toddlers gave him a lesson on using triangular crayons, and he has used a proper pencil grip ever since! Rotating through paint sticks, wax crayons, and watercolors keeps these invitations fresh, and we love watching him add his little monogram “P” as a signature to each of his masterpieces. Of course, we also have magnets available at his level on the fridge for him to display any of his artwork!

Something to Pretend

Young children love mimicking the world they see around them, and they often process situational questions and emotions through pretend play. In Montessori, we lean into reality since young children are so fascinated with the natural world around them. Try selecting animal figurines that are anatomically correct over cartoons. Offer vehicles of community helpers that your children see driving around the neighborhood. Try finding child-sized but functional tools they see adults around them use. Of course, having baby dolls available (to girls and boys!) is always a lovely invitation to practice nurturing care.

I put our costumes in this dramatic play category as well — Peter loves wearing a white coat when he uses his doctor kit, a firefighter jacket with his trucks, and butterfly wings whenever we go to dance class. He also loves the mermaid dress he picked out at the store, and we’re excited to lean into fantasy even more around age 6 when he enters the second plane of development! Organizing these dramatic play items into individual baskets (and offering one at a time) leads to less clutter and more productive play. 

Something to Read

Storytime is an essential part of our bedtime routine, and we also love sprinkling books around the rest of Pete’s environment. Placing books front-facing makes them a little more inviting, especially as we rotate them frequently. We display books on his toy shelf, in his little playroom, and we set up a little reading nook with a rocking chair at the top of the stairs.

Pro-tip: when I’m tired of reading a bedtime book for the millionth time, I move it from his bedroom bookshelf to his independent reading basket. This makes the rocking chair more inviting for him, and then together, we get to read something new(ish) from a fresh rotation. There is also a little book basket in the restroom to use as needed, (game changer during toilet learning!) and another stack of books under our coffee table. We can’t get enough - especially keeping them accessible and inviting! Try keeping a library of all your books in a closet, then rotate through a few books at a time, creating a cozy spot to read together or on their own. 

Something From Nature to Explore

While nothing can replace outdoor play, we love bringing life and nature into Pete’s environment.  We have various jars and dishes full of treasures we have collected on nature walks, most of them as simple as a handful of acorns or a row of rocks displayed on a shelf. He also has a watering can accessible to him to help us care for plants that are within reach.

When he was 1-2 years old, we had a few soil spills here and there, where we consistently redirected playing with plants to watering them instead and sweeping up the dirt together. Nowadays, I can’t remember the last time he misused the plants that are still well within his reach. Try sprinkling your child’s environment with real things from nature to examine, sort, and collect, helping them connect with the world around them. 

A Few Final Thoughts: 

If you’d like to prepare a child-centered space, start simple, sort by function, and then observe the child at play to see what adjustments you’d like to make! Maybe something isn’t as functional as you envisioned and needs a little change. Maybe the materials are too hard for the child so they get overly frustrated, or perhaps they are too easy - so they get mistreated. We use observation to guide our decisions as we prepare a child-centered environment that invites exploration, concentration, and most of all, meaningful play. 

I absolutely love curating a space to be accessible to young children, functional for their little hands, and most of all, inviting to their curious minds. Feel free to follow along with my professional and parenting journey on Instagram @tinyhumans___ and drop any questions below. Happy preparing!