There are TONS of Montessori-friendly products for toddlers at IKEA. We’ve put together a list of our TOP 10 personal favorites. These have been tried and true. Keep in mind, this is our list of favorites out of the products we have bought. We have a wish list a mile long of products we still want to try out, so we could very well be missing out on something great. If a product is missing from our list, it doesn’t mean we don’t love it, it could just means we don’t have it!
P.S. We have a similar list of favorite Montessori-friendly IKEA products for babies, so check it out! We’ve continued to enjoy many of the favorites from when our daughter was a baby into toddlerhood!
We mentioned the Besta shelves in our favorites for babies, but thought it was worth mentioning again. The Besta shelves have been by far the most used Montessori-friendly IKEA product for our toddler. These are a staple in our living room, her primary play area. They house her toys and books. In Montessori environments, open shelves are used so children can see and access their toys and books independently. Many Montessori families use the Kallax cubed shelving from Ikea, but we much prefer the Besta. The Besta shelves are wider, which is necessary to house most of her puzzles and some of her larger toys.
We like that the Besta shelves are also more customizable. They come in multiple sizes and you can also add shelving. We have the two Besta shelves shown above. Both have two cubbies. One is shorter and one is taller – we added shelving in the center of this one.
Our toddler isn’t using the potty quite yet, but we’ve been using and loving the potty seats from IKEA. We have both the LILLA green potty, as well as the TOSSIG potty seat that sits right on top of the regular toilet. Ikea also has another potty seat called the LOCKIG. It’s slightly bigger and more expensive than the green LILLA potty. Our daughter prefers the LILLA potty chair the most. We love how low to the ground it is. This makes it easier for her to use it independently. We also love how affordable it is! We have more than a couple so it’s always quickly accessible no matter what room we’re in.
We have this watering can and our toddler has observed us using it and has taken an interest in using it herself. It is a little bulky and the water comes out a little fast for her to use it 100% independently. Helping take care of plants is a great practical life skill for toddlers practicing Montessori. We also have this watering can in a mini, kid-sized version, but unfortunately, IKEA doesn’t offer this item anymore. This mini one is a bathtub toy for us! You’ll also see IKEA releasing limited edition colors of this watering can, so keep your eyes open if that’s something you’re interested. We have the classic white version and love it!
We have these outdoor chairs, called the IKEA PS VÅGÖ. These are the adult version but they also make a child-size. We like these chairs not only for their modern design, but also the fact they sit low to the ground so our 2 year old can climb on/off them independently. This makes them very Montessori-friendly!
We have a kitchen helper and try to involve our toddler in food prep and cooking, but we don’t let her get near the stove. However, she LOVES the child-sized play pots and pans, called the DUKTIG 5-piece toy cookware set. She loves to pretend she is cooking right alongside us. We even keep her play pots and pans in the same kitchen cupboard as ours. She also loves pulling these out on her own as well and pretends she is cooking.
We skipped the bright-colored, plastic children’s serve-ware and use “real” adult versions instead. Our daughter typically eats off of the same plates we do, but we do like using smaller sized bowls for her smaller portions. We have ones from IKEA that are no longer carried, but they are very similar to these ones (called VARDAGEN). We also have these BLANDA MATT bowls which are bamboo.
The Mini Fridge from IKEA (called the TILLREDA) is probably our top favorite Montessori-friendly item from IKEA for our toddler! It allows our toddler to access cold foods 100% independently. There have been plenty of times where she initiated getting food herself and was clearly hungry, but we wouldn’t have known otherwise. We love that her mini fridge gives her a sense of confidence and independence. We bought this fridge originally for our bedroom to keep breastmilk in at night (I produced collected excess in the haaka and also had to pump once baby started sleeping more!). So this mini fridge has been well worth it! Once our daughter grows out of it, we were thinking we would move it back in our bedroom or put it in the guest room to keep drinks in. Or we could sell it, as mini fridges seem to have a good resale value.
Our step stool (called the MÄSTERBY) from Ikea is another one of our most used items. Unfortunately, the exact one we have is no longer sold in stores (in the US), but IKEA has plenty of other step stool options that may work for you and your family. We use this step stool primarily for teeth brushing and hand washing. We have very high countertops in the bathroom so we needed a pretty tall step stool. Obviously our toddler can not use this step stool 100% independently, as it requires close adult supervision, but we are helping with teeth brushing anyways so it works for us. We have a kitchen helper in our kitchen, but it just didn’t make sense (financially or otherwise) to use something similar in the bathroom.
IKEA does sell many solutions for children clothing storage, but we chose to make our own using a popular Montessori IKEA hack! We opted for this DIY Montessori wardrobe for a couple of reasons. For one, we wanted something accessible for a young toddler and most of the wardrobes are geared for older children. We liked the look and functionality of this wardrobe as well as its small footprint. After researching many of the Montessori wardrobe options, one of the reasons we went for this specific IKEA hack is because it offers longevity. The Kallax unit is so versatile that once our daughter outgrows the wardrobe, we can surely use the piece of furniture elsewhere in our home. It was also one of the most budget-friendly options we found!
Our IKEA wardrobe is made out of the KALLAX 4-cube shelf and the KALLAX drawer inserts.
A mirror is a must-have in a Montessori-inspired home. This was also a favorite item our daughter used as a baby and continues to use as a toddler. We didn’t buy a specific mirror for our daughter. Instead, she just enjoys the free-standing floor mirror we already had in our master bedroom – we have the IKORNNES. She enjoys looking at herself, talking to herself, playing in front of the mirror, getting dressed in front of the mirror and brushing her hair in front of the mirror (or watching me do her hair!).
POÄNG Children’s Armchair: The POÄNG chair is an IKEA icon. Before our daughter was walking, we picked up the children’s POÄNG chair. We just couldn’t resist! It’s so cute! Plus, it fits in perfectly with the Montessori approach of having child-sized furniture that can be used independently. Needless to say, we had high hopes for this chair, but our daughter just hasn’t used it as much as we thought she would. As a baby, she did use this chair to pull up on when she was learning to stand and walk. However, now, her baby dolls and stuffed animals sit in it more than she does. When our daughter does use the chair, she likes to stand on it dangerously instead of sit in it. Our daughter is a BIG reader, but her favorite thing to do is read with us. Even when she is reading independently, she prefers to read elsewhere – the floor, our couch or our Nugget. Despite this, we are going to keep the chair in hopes that it will get more use in the future! It will definitely fit older children as well as toddlers, so there’s still a chance this chair will get the love it deserves!
Thanks for reading! We hope you enjoyed our top 10 favorite Montessori-friendly items for our toddler from IKEA!
For more information on how to adapt your home and life to a Montessori lifestyle, check out this article we are featured in over at Porch.com HERE or click the image below:
Check out some of our other popular Montessori related articles:
