Furniture and Home Ideas for the Growing Needs

Incorporating the child friendly elements in our adult world is no easy feat. Lots of deliberate consideration has to be taken into account when selecting furniture.

My boy playing with a shape puzzle in his Montessori-
inspired room with lots of shelves!

To kickstart learning, the home environment was laid out like a Montessori-inspired classroom. Shoe racks become temporary 3-tier bookshelves that were laid around the perimeter of the room. Everything in his room was kid-size and even the tables and chairs are bought specially to accommodate his growing years from infant to toddler. Educational toys and play toys are placed in trays and basket to facilitate easy handling for the tiny hands.

Visual stimulation in terms of animal printed wall stickers, inspirational banners, flash cards and educational posters can be found in almost any part of the house except for the master bedroom and toilets.

Big anti-slip play mats are laid minimize running accidents from our hyperactive boy. Such mats act as a clear geographical boundary of his personal space, away from our adult space. Anti-slip stool also functions as stable stand in the bathroom for our little one to wash his hands. Those foam hand wash dispenser makes teaching our son easy to master the art of washing his hands.

Materials including art supplies are always made accessible to our boy and books of different genre and the 2 main languages are placed in baskets that are placed around the house. Some of the props such as fireman hat with rain boots, rock star’s sunglasses for role play are made available for dramatization.

Glass and fragile objects should be out of reach for the inquisitive toddlers. Electrical devices with cables should be carefully kept away from them. As the little one may enjoy pressing all the switches in the home, securing the rarely used switches on.

As your child grows older, some of the furniture like shoe rack shelves can be returned to their original uses. Exercise flexibility and creativity when you are redecorating your house to meet the developmental needs of your child. Also keep in mind of your budget as you will always want to maximize the lifespan of the furniture bought to accommodate the different ages of your children.

I always get much inspiration from IKEA and school’s classroom. It doesn’t have to be your child’s school as it can be all around you if you have childcare centre near your home. Take a peek and you will enjoy the sights and sounds of the classroom scenes. Make your home as welcoming and cosy as possible. When my students and friends come over to my home, they always comment the home looks very cosy and inviting. Some even like the kindergarten classroom concept in my home. Have fun and play around with the different ideas. Who knows, yours might just work!