Our Playroom/School Room

School Room 2016

So it hasn’t even been that long and I’ve changed the room again.  Some big changes too.  I really love how the room looks now and the extra storage space and better organization.

These are our Math and some language shelves.  The printer is also here with paper and laminating sheets and other stuff like that above it.  The tops and top shelf of the tall shelves is storage.

Moving to the right on the other side of the doorway these are our sensory shelves.

These bedside tables are used for building materials and the barn.  The Botany cabinet is also here and my laptop with my chair.  Those colourful things under the table are balance pods.  

These are the toy shelves but it’s an older picture.  The books are now in the Peace Corner and the landform trays are on our new shelf.  Otherwise it’s the same except the toys get rotated and the duplo is now in a bigger bucket on the shelves above because we got more at Hannukah.

This is our Geography area.  My husband turned our end table turned light table into storage for our puzzle maps.  I got an amazing deal on puzzle maps on clearance from Affordable Montessori.  The dresser contains our craft materials.

These is our new table and shelves.  I sold a bunch of things on kijiji to get some spending money.  The “table” is the two end tables that used to be under the window.  Pumpkin 1 was growing out of our little table.  The stools are from Walmart and are actually for the tub but they’re super light and stable and they’re adjustable so they’ll grow with the kids.  And as I told my husband, when he’s old and decrepit he can use them in the shower.  The two small shelves back to back are also from Walmart.  The are our Science shelves.  The back side one is mostly empty.  I plan to put the Fraction Circles on top and I’m sure I’ll fill them up faster than I expect.

This is just a view from the other side.

This is our language shelf with a small table I already had.  It’s perfect for my son to sit at.

This is our Peace/Reading corner.

Our bells are beside the Peace corner.

So, this is our room now.  I’m really enjoying it this way.  I love having more storage space and there’s actually a little more room without the big wide table there.

School Room 2015

So we’re “officially” homeschooling since this is the year Pumpkin 1 would start school in JK.  All my daycare kids but 1 have started school so our day is much slower.  I’ve finally gotten the room mostly organized.

Math Shelves. Bottom shelf is the Spindle Box.  Next is Qwirkle tiles and counting bead string.  Above that is craft sticks for counting, Binomial Cube and the RightStart Math abacus.  Next is the hanging bead stair, number tiles and beads and a basket of grooved number tiles for tracing.  Above is the small Number Rods and math cubes.  Next is tidlewinks for counting, a geo-reflector, and translucent shapes for the light table and the cuisenaire rods.  Top shelf is children’s books and the top of the shelf is storage.  On the left of the shelf is a bed table that we use for a low floor table.

This is Math and Geometry shelves.  Bottom we have some musical instruments and the block is a screw board that my kids have taken the screws from.  Above is a tangram/mosaic type activity, counting bears with pattern cards and counting bears with a sorting tray.  Next is pegs with number peg boards, stacking/counting/puzzles and a fraction type puzzle.  Above is 1 box from the constructive triangles and the Geo-Cabinet and cards for it.  Next shelf is Discovery Toys Busy Bugs and Boomerings, Melissa and Doug Magnetic pattern activity and the Knobless Cylinders.  Top of the shelf is storage.  To the right of the shelf is carpets for working on.

Moving to the right is my daughter’s doll house.  Underneath is a rocker board and balance pods.  The bin has wooden blocks and on top of it is a bucket of smaller blocks.  On the right of the tables is where we keep the laptop.

This is my corner.  I have my chair, laptop and shelves with my books.  The top of the shelf is the math beads I’m DIYing.  There’s a garbage pail on the bottom shelf and storage behind the chair.

These are our toy shelves.  You have books, the black bag has a doctor’s kit with real instruments, the Discovery Toys Motor Works.  There are Schleich animals, Magna Tiles, and balls and bean bags.  Widgets, Mr Potato Head, and cards/planes, etc.  There is also duplo, wooden train track and the Discovery Toys Castle Marbleworks.  Behind the Marbleworks is a lacks and latches board and magnadoodles  The top shelves on the right have Montessori puzzles and above is the landform trays and globes.

Above the toys is our calendar, our Feelings board and some cards we use during circle time.  Also the artwork on the wall changes by season.

This is our Geography section.  There’s the World Puzzle map and below it the felt world map I made and some biome animals with cards.  Bottom boxes are continent boxes.  Right now we have Australia, Asia and South America.  On the white dresser is our new Flags and pin map.

The dresser is for our art supplies.  Beside the pin map is the paper and tray for the metal insets and the metal insets.  Above the dresser we hand artwork on two wires I had my husband attach to eyelet screws.

Next is our mini-trampoline which is a must have, especially in winter when we don’t get out as much.  The box the kids are sitting on is where we store our dress up clothes.  It’s a great place to sit and watch out the window.  The neighbours are getting a garage put in and it’s entertained the Pumpkins for HOURS.

This is our kitchen corner with our Elves and Angels wooden kitchen set.

The china cabinet houses our bells.  We have two sets of bells because the first set was all banged up in the mail and the tones didn’t all match.  They did send a second set free of charge but didn’t package it any better so it was all banged up too.  I had to go through and find the best matches.  I keep the odd ones in front for my son to get into without disturbing the good ones.  I don’t believe the company I bought from sells the bells any more.  The cabinet tends to accumulate clutter as seen on the right.

Across the room is our language area.  The bottom shelves are puzzles.  The container has picture sequencing cards and under it is a magnetic ball maze.  Above is some practical life activities -pompoms and tweezers with a tray, a scooping activity and I’ve added a pouring activity.  However the kids need to ask for what they need to do the activities or it just winds up a big mess everywhere.  Above is cursive grooved tracing tiles, the moveable alphabet and a chalkboard.  Above that is the sand tray and our sound containers and a curved line/straight line cards activity.  The top of the shelf (which you don’t see in the photo) has our telephone and storage.

This is our Science area.  The bottom shelf has insects in resin.  Above is some card activities such as Living/Non-Living.  The tray has Safari Ltd Lifecycle sets.  The drawers are the Botany Cabinet.  On top of it is leaf cards and a fall matching activity.

This is our sensory shelves.  Bottom is a barn and animals that don’t fit anywhere else.  Beside it is the brown stairs.  Above is the pink tower and to the left is a hight grading activity and in the basket is the coloured pegs colour grading activity I made.  Above is the fabric matching, sound cylinders and baric tablets.  The two shelves beside are the Knobbed Cylinders and there’s a plastic screw and bolt activity.  Above is the printer and the shelf to the right is the rough/smooth boards and a basket of the Geo Solids with cards.  Above the printer I added some shelves (actually I’ve added shelves to all the shelf sets.  You just need some shelf clips from the hardware store and they also sell shelf boards you can get cut to fit.  It’s a great way to get more storage space out of your existing shelves).  The white shelves have paper and the light pad.  The shelf on the right has the mystery bag, the Thermic Tablets and a magnetic activity.  Above them is my books and the shelf on the left has storage and the top of the shelves are storage.  The rope you see on the top we use as a “walking the line” activity.  Nest to the shelves is the Red Rods.

This is our table that we work at and sometimes eat at.

And that is our School Room.  I hope you enjoyed your tour!

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Our New School and Play Room

September 2014

A while back I was just running out of space in our small playroom.  I said to my husband, “you know, it’s me and the kids that live in the house the majority of the time, you’re only home and up for a few hours.  It’d make more sense for daycare and home schooling to have the biggest room for us and the small back room for the living room”.  My husband agreed as long as there were no toys in the living room.  So we set about switching the rooms.  It was a large task as we decided to repaint the living room now to be playroom as it needed it.  So, lots more shelves, lots more space and also lots warmer (the back room was cold), also brighter and more centralized.  It’s perfect….well….almost….I’m always improving it some how.  And here are the pictures.  I’ll start on one side and go around the room to the right.

Montessori shelves

Montessori shelf

Montessori Shelves

Music center

Toy shelves

Dresser holds art supplies with some world puzzle map and metal insets on top

Work table with Dinning room table and Pumpkins

Play kitchen

Montessori shelf

At Last…Our Playroom/School Room

Posted on December 23, 2013

I finally have our playroom “almost” how I want it.  It’s not a very big room so it’s been a challenge to have everything I want organized yet there still be room to play.  This room doubles as a playroom/daycare room/school room so it’s not an ideal Montessori room.  Also with Pumpkin 2 going to be getting into everything before I know it, I’ve had to arrange things so that materials with small parts are up high.  So, with that in mind, enjoy your tour!

Lots of light from the two windows.

Looking to the right of the room.  Against the gate is a carrom board, a game from India.  You can’t see them but beside the chair is a pail that holds two carpets for doing our work on.

Looking to the left of the room.  Do any other mothers have the same problem of their stuff being all disorganized while the kids’ toys are all neat and tidy?

The drawers on the right have all the craft stuff.  The containers on the top usually have pipe cleaners in them but the kids use them up fast.  The shelf has the metal insets on the top, below is the geometric cabinet and board games, below that is a basket with cards for the cabinet, emotion cards and the land form trays, bottom shelf has a toy laptop and the doctor’s kit, playdough and a file with different types of craft paper in it.  The shelf is a 9 cube shelf that I put together without all the dividers so that I’d have more space.

This white shelf is an end table that I’ve made into a light table.  The world map puzzle is stored on top as there isn’t really anywhere else to put it.  Underneath are puzzles, movable alphabet and in the container is pre-reading card activities.  On the bottom are puzzles and our magna tiles (a favourite with all the kids).

On the window ledge here you can see the small pieces from the pink tower and the knobless cylinders.  On the shelf I have the knobbed cylinders which have small pieces in them and the sand paper globe which also has the pin that is a choking hazard.  The top row is a shape sorter, our French books and Montessori puzzles.  Below that is board books, Wedgits (another favourite) and a stacking toy and puzzle.  Bottom shelf is toy trucks, object permanence box and Hape peg puzzle.

This is our reading corner.  I need to make it a little more cozy.  And maybe a mirror on the wall.  You can also see the dressing frames leaning against the shelf.  I need to find a place for them still.

This is our main Montessori shelf.  The drawers on the top hold the objects for the language sounds.  There is also some cards and a container of cards, some Toob figures I just got and a bingo dabber picture done by Pumpkin 1.  First row is magnetic Mighty Mind, Melissa and Doug spelling puzzle and sandpaper letters.  Next row is some fine motor activities, the knobless cylinders, and the touch boards and Thermic tablets.  Below that is my cloth spindle “box” and number peg boards, the baric tablets and weigh scale and the geometric solids.  New row is the pink tower, Melissa and Dough latch puzzle and the colour box.  The bottom has the brown stairs, screw board and our music instrument box.  To the left of the shelf is the red rods.

This is our calendar and weather chard and the shelf has our toys in it.  Cars, Jenga blocks, Barbies, animals, connecting toys, tools, peg board, Little People, scarves, Pumpkin 2′s toys, and Duplo.

This is our new Elves and Angels’ kitchen.  The shelf has a box of dress up clothes, play food and dishes and above that the Leaf cabinet and our music collection.  Above that is materials for Practical life activities (out of reach of Pumpkin 2) and above that is a bunch of stuff for crafts.

So that is our playroom.  It’s been a long time in the making and will probably still go through changes.  It’s not ideal, lots of things out of reach but I think it’s more important to be safe.  Most of the Montessori material is too advanced for Pumpkin 1 but she’ll be old enough for it before I know it.  Also I use it with my 3 year old daycare child and sometimes with my after school daycare children.  I think I’ve done a good job with the amount of space we have.  Everything is organized, and not too cluttered.  The toys are mostly open ended toys or learning toys.  We have a nice area on the floor to work and a beautiful table to work at just the right height.  The rocking chair is great for me to watch from and nurse Pumpkin 2 in.  It’s safe enough for Pumpkin 2 to roll around and pull stuff off the shelves at his height and Pumpkin 1 can reach most of the things.  The gate keeps the dogs out and the kids out when need be and keeps them in when I need them in.  The walls are simply decorated and I’m able to display the children’s art work.  I did put things above their eye level but I don’t want things ripped of the wall and the paint ruined.  So, would you like to come and learn with us?