Best Montessori

Items You Can

Find at IKEA
by Ashley & Kevin · February 5, 2020

In this mini-guide, I’m going to feature the best

Montessori furniture (and other) purchases that you
can find at IKEA.

When it comes to Montessori furniture I like

supporting smaller businesses (like Sprout Kids) when
I can, but sometimes it makes sense to purchase from
IKEA (whether that be because of the low prices or
their wide selection of items).

Here is a list of our favorite Montessori purchases

we’ve made from IKEA…

Montessori IKEA Items

Montessori Style Shelving

Unit

The KALLAX Shelf Unit is the Montessori shelving

you will see in our main playroom.

On the website, you will see that the KALLAX shelves

are upright and titled as bookcases, which may cause
you to pass right over them when looking for shelving.
But when laid down on its side, this shelving unit
makes the perfect Montessori playroom shelf.

A lot of Montessori shelving units are completely

open and utilize trays to separate the activities, but
having these little cubby holes built into the shelf is
great for toddlers so that they can easily remember
where each activity goes on the shelf.

This Montessori style shelf at IKEA can be found in

different sizes. We have the unit with 8 cubby holes in
our main playroom and recently purchased the
smaller unit with 4 cubby holes for our daughter’s
bedroom shelf.

Montessori Style Bookshelves

As you probably know, with a Montessori inspired

playroom you want to have the activities and books
displayed beautifully to encourage the child to
interact with each.

We are big on having books on display in different

areas of our house, and we’ve found two different
IKEA bookshelves that are excellent for this.

The first is the FLISAT Wall Storage, which mounts to

the wall and displays books beautifully. Depending on
the size of the books it will only display about 3-4
books, but that amount seems to be perfect for a
toddler.

I love that this bookshelf can be mounted on the wall

at the child’s height so that they are drawn to the
books, rather than having the books stored
somewhere they might not see much.

We have two of these IKEA bookshelves stacked on

top of each other in our Montessori inspired
playroom. The bottom one is the perfect height for
our toddler, and the top one is a little too high right
now (so mom and dad use it so we can read while she
plays)!

The second IKEA bookshelf that is great for a

Montessori home is the FLISAT Book Display. This
one sits on the ground, as is small enough that it
doesn’t take up too much room but also large enough
that you can fit at least 10 books if you don’t mind
stacking them on top of each other.

We bought this used and use it in K’s Montessori

bedroom with about 6-8 books placed in it. Although
some books are hidden behind others, we like it
because it still displays the books at the front
beautifully for the child to encourage engagement
with them.

Step Stool For Bathroom

Independence is, of course, a big part of the

Montessori Method, and with this, we want to allow
our toddler to be able to independently climb up to
the sink in her washroom.

IKEA offers some great children’s step stools that

make a great addition to the Montessori home. The
step stool we purchased from IKEA seems to be sold
out, but I found another on their website (TROGEN
step stool) that looks like it would do the trick if you
don’t mind a yellow color.

As mentioned, we use this step stool in our upstairs

washroom so that K can climb up to the sink to be
able to wash her hands or brush her teeth without us
holding her up or setting her up on the counter. We
paired it with a sink faucet extender so that the water
is in her reach.

The IKEA Step Stool doubles for one of her favorite

Montessori practical life activities – laundry. Our
laundry room is just down the hall from her
washroom, so we bring the step stool over to the top-
loading washing machine to allow her to help put the
clothes and detergent in.

Functional Kitchen

I wrote a full post about the IKEA Montessori

Functional Kitchen, but I have to include it here as
well as it was one of the best purchases we’ve made
from IKEA for our little one.

Although this DUKTIG Play Kitchen was designed for

pretend play, it has become popular for Montessori
parents to turn it into a real functioning kitchen for
children.

With a few easy modifications, this IKEA play kitchen

can be used to pour water for drinking or washing, act
as a counter or cutting board to prepare food, and
store the child’s dishes and utensils.

I would call this IKEA kitchen one of the best

Montessori purchases out there, as it allows for so
much independence for children in the kitchen.

Our daughter loves to get her bowl and spoon in the

morning for her breakfast, put away her dishes when
they are washed, or wash her hands in the sink (yes
sometimes that includes splashing at her age)!

Toddler Reading Chair

The POANG Children’s Arm Chair makes a great

addition to a Montessori playroom as a beautiful
reading chair, although it doesn’t get used too much
just yet by our currently 21-month-old.

We bought this IKEA chair when K was small and she

has used it lots as a gross motor activity as she pulled
herself up using it when she couldn’t stand or walk
yet, and later started climbing up on it and back down
to the floor.

There have been times when she has picked up books

and looked through them on her own in this chair, but
I think it will get a lot more use down the road when
she is reading more independently. Right now we are
often reading together sitting on her Nugget Couch in
the playroom.

Plant Display Stool

Taking care of plants or flowers is another popular

and fantastic Montessori practical life activity for
little ones, and for this, we’ve recently purchased a
FLISAT children’s stool from IKEA.

This stool is designed for kids to sit on as a regular

stool, but we are using it to display a plant at our
toddler’s height in her playroom.

Having a stool for the plant is more of a luxury, as it

could easily sit on the ground or shelf, but it’s nice to
have it displayed at her level and the perfect height
for her to help water it or wipe down the plant leaves.

IKEA Drawing Easel

At 21 months old, K is showing a lot of interest in

artwork including drawing with crayons or markers
and painting. She has an easel to use at her
Montessori school, but at home, we only had a little
drawing booklet for her, so we purchased the MALA
Easel from IKEA.

On one side of the easel is a chalkboard and the other

is a whiteboard, but it also pairs perfectly with their
MALA Drawing Paper Roll that allows you to use it for
painting and drawing with crayons.

This easel is at a perfect height for toddlers and would

make a great addition to any Montessori home.

Drinking Glasses For

Babies/Toddlers

In Montessori, we encourage our children to drink

from an open cup as soon as they have the
coordination to attempt it (often months before most
parents think their child is ready).

The POKAL Snaps Glass wasn’t designed for babies or

toddlers, but at 2 oz they are the perfect size for a
drinking glass for little hands.

We started our daughter off with a plastic cup for

learning, and when we felt she was ready we moved
to these small shot glasses from IKEA. They are well
made and, although a few have broken, they hold up
to drops really well.

At a very reasonable price, these drinking glasses are

a great purchase for toddlers learning to drink from
an open cup.

Wrap Up
Those are the best Montessori items we’ve found at
IKEA for our little one, but I am sure I am missing
some great finds.

If you have any other recommendations for IKEA

products that fit perfectly in a Montessori home
please let me know in the comment section!

Thanks for reading and I hope this post helped you

give you some ideas for your home

 SHARE 1  TWEET

27K

 27K

Ashley & Kevin

Parents to the best little girls. Documenting our Montessori
journey.

VIEW COMMENTS (15) 

 — PREVIOUS ARTICLE

Best Montessori YouTube

Channels

NEXT ARTICLE — 

Montessori Toddler Bedroom Tour

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Our New Montessori

Parenting Journal
July 4, 2019

Welcome to our new website –

MontessoriMethod.com. As new parents to our
beautiful daughter, we’ve decided to start…

Preparing For A Newborn

Montessori Style!
October 22, 2019

K is going to be a big sister! We are expecting another

baby girl in March 2020. It’s…

How To Teach A Toddler

To Catch
October 28, 2019

Today’s post is a fun one, as I want to share how I

taught my baby girl how…

Montessori Toddler Class

October 8, 2019

Big news coming from our household, as our daughter

just started Montessori school! K is now in her…

9 Gross Motor Skill

Activities For Toddlers
November 1, 2019

In this post, I’m going to cover my favorite gross

motor activities for toddlers. Our daughter K (who…

Montessori Toddler
Wardrobe
December 30, 2019

Our latest Montessori furniture purchase was a new