Someone needs to write a Montessori/Ikea blog as it feels like you can almost create an entire Montessori home using products from Ikea! I recently visited Ikea and found so many new and interesting children's products. Here are a few that I love for a Montessori home.
- MÅLA Portable Drawing Case - This is new at our Ikea store this week and I love it. It's suitable for my toddler and for my older children. It comes empty but it is a great travel case for paper and pencils and other craft materials. It's good for taking around the house, inside/outside or at the beach or for waiting rooms or travelling. Perhaps for drawing while on the couch or in bed. It has elastics and a pocket for pencils and things and lots of space for paper. It has a hard surface with a clip for drawing on. A great screen-free entertainment/travel option.
- MÅLA Wax Crayons - 8 pack, these are a new chunky crayon for young children. They are arriving in my local store in the next couple of weeks. I will get a packet when they arrive to check out the quality.
- MÅLA Cardboard Frames - These are also due in my local store in the next couple of weeks, fantastic for creativity, self expression and portraits, perhaps even self-portraits.
- FISKBO Colour Frames - These new frames come in lovely colours including pastel yellow, pink, blue and green. They extremely light weight with plastic not glass so perfect for artwork on children's walls. The best toddler friendly frames I've found. We have the yellow one in Otto's Montessori toddler bedroom.
- MÅLA Watercolour Box - Watercolour paints with new colours.
- BORSTAD Hand Broom - 20 cm, small for children's practical life activities.
- BOTANISK Plant Pot Hanger - Handmade, a lovely way to display plants, especially in a child's environment.
- KROKIG Clothes Stand - 128 cm "On this clothes stand your child can hang up sweaters, jackets and backpacks on their own. The height is perfect, the movable hooks are big and the heavy base makes it stand stable." This is a new colour for us.
- SILVERPOPPEL Children's Apron - With the length 57cm suggest this is for for primary age children, has a hook and loop closure.
- SILVERPOPPEL Children's Apron - Hook and loop closure at the top back, not sure if this could be used independently.
- GLIS Three Pack Box - We have these and they are food for storing materials like pencils or crayons or materials with small pieces while out of rotation. These aren't super easy for a child to use but the size is good.
- LEN Dotted Grey Rug - 133x160 cm.
- RÖRANDE Yellow Triangle Rug - 133x160 cm I've seen this in person and love it. I probably wouldn't use it in the bedroom but it would look fantastic in the child's section of the living area or in the playroom. I really wanted to take this home!
- UPPTÅG Boat Rug - 133x160 cm, again this would look great in the living area or playroom. These colours are bright without being overstimulating.
- SVENSÅS Pegboard with Letters - 30x40 cm, great for creative writing, for making signs or notes, uppercase only.
- SMÅGÖRA Changing Table/Bookshelf - Although we used the floor for changing this could work in a nursery as the shelves could be used by a young toddler.
But perhaps you will find it interesting to see what I've actually bought in the last couple of weeks? (We have #1, #4 & #11 above).
- KRALLIG Seagrass Basket - 16cms, this is an extra small seagrass basket. It can be folded down for a basket to use on the child's shelves, we are using it open with a small plant in it - you can see it on top of Otto's toddler wardrobe here. Here we also have the 12cm Ikea Monstera in the basket - it's much smaller than how it appears online.
- LILLABO Toy Vehicles - Pull apart to rebuild, I present these in a basket and Otto loves to make them in different combinations. I don't know why I haven't seen these before. They hold Otto's attention so much more than I expected, he will build them and then spend time playing with them.
- IKORNNES Table Mirror - I intend to use this with my children for self portraits. The mirror is a good size for portrait as the child can see their entire face.
- LUSTIGT Paint Roller Set - These are fantastic for big art projects.
- KUNGSFORS Natural Net Bags - Set of two, perhaps one for the adult and one for the child! These are cute for produce, visiting the markets or storage around the home.
- BÄSTISAR Organic Elk Pasta - Am I the only one who is new to the Ikea food section? My children love pasta especially in fun shapes.
- IKEA 365+ Chopping Board - Set of three, these are a good size for toddlers and fit perfectly on the OSTBIT tray for practical life activities. Can be colour coded for the activity.
- REKO Small Glasses - These have been perfect for my toddler, they are super affordable and stack well.
- VARDAGEN Glass Bowls - 12 cms. This is a good size for a lot of Montessori activities including transferring activities, for pre-measured ingredients for baking or even for paint.
- DUKTIG Toy Kitchen Utensil Set - I really want to try some of these tools.
- OSTBIT Bamboo Tray - 25x33cms, we have been using this tray a lot. It's a great size for the Ikea 365+ chopping boards for food preparation trays and is also the perfect size for my toddler's Ravensburger puzzles which we alway present on a tray. As it's bamboo it's easy to wipe clean and really versatile. We have also used this for a play dough tray and a cutting tray.
- STRANDMON Children's Armchair - "Having your very own armchair in the right size is more important than us adults may think. It makes your child feel big and more involved, which helps them to understand and how they fit in their surroundings." The seat on this chair is deep so the child can see comfortably crosslegged or sideways. This is perhaps my all time favourite Ikea item! You can also see this armchair in Otto's room here.
Please note that the links may take you to your local Ikea and not direct to the product. These are the items that are new to me but stock varies greatly store to store and country to country.
Previous Ikea posts includes What's New A Ikea - for a Montessori Home (or School) March 2020.