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Baby Place Space for 6-18 Months: Inspired by Montessori and Reggio

October 23, 2012 by Anna Ranson

Create a simple yet stimulating baby play area using open-ended toys made from natural materials and incorporating some philosophies from Montessori and Reggio thinking.

When baby Bean was newborn we put together a baby play space based on Reggio ideas of simplicity, light and real materials, and that included no plastic toys or electronic gizmos. Now that she is sitting up, crawling and pulling up to stand already (please slow down baby girl!) her play space has moved to a safe area on the floor with a few new additions, and both she and her sisters love playing in it.

 In a little corner of the room we laid a lambskin rug (which keeps baby warm in winter and cool in summer) and a few treasure baskets and open-ended toys within easy reach. Reggio philosophies talk highly of including plenty of mirrors and natural light, so we used some acrylic mirror tiles behind some toys and a large stand up mirror which can be moved and repositioned.

The space includes:

  • travel size baby treasure basket [see post for instructions]
  • large oval treasure basket [made our own]
  • an African drum [from a market stall in Zimbabwe!]
  • small basket of real musical instruments [Amazon, music shops, local toy stores]
  • basket of wooden tree blocks and mirrored blocks [tree blocks from Myriad, mirror blocks from EduZone]
  • wooden, stacking rainbow [from Myriad Toys]
  • black and white high contrast images mat [from Amazon]
  • Montessori style number bead stacker [ELC but can’t find it now. This is similar and much nicer]
  • basket of sturdy, textured and lift-the-flap board books [Amazon]
These are pretty much the only toys that she has now, after I cleared out 4 large boxes worth of plastic, brightly coloured, electronic nonsense a few weeks back! She is very happy with these items and plays mainly with real objects anyway, hence reiterating the good common sense behind the heuristic play argument. You can read more about that in my first post about treasure baskets here.

* Edited to add: we are not at all anti plastic toys or materials! We have plenty in our house but I wanted to start with the baby toys that really served only one function and were not promoting much thinking or curiosity. They were easy to donate to others. The rest of the clutter is not so simple to sort and shift! We absolutely adore Playmobil, lego and duplo and of course they are all made from plastic, so the emphasis was more on the type of toy, rather than what it was made from.


The girls have really been enjoying playing here together in this new space and the lambskin rug has become a favourite spot for reading together. I look forward to seeing how the space evolves over the next few months!


Do you have any play spaces in your home? Please share your ideas! 

Coming soon in the play space series: 
  • setting up a creative area
  • setting up a writing table
  • creating a cosy book nook

Related Posts

  • Baby Play: Circles Treasure Basket
  • Baby Sensory Play: Raspberry SpaghettiBaby Sensory Play: Raspberry Spaghetti
  • Travel Size Baby Treasure Basket!
  • Baby Sensory Play: Discovery Bottles
  • Baby Sensory Play: Water
  • Reggio Inspired Baby Play Space

Filed Under: Baby, Heuristic Play, Montessori, Play Spaces, Reggio Emilia, Toys, Toys & Games, Treasure Baskets Tagged With: 6-18 months, Baby Play

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Comments

  1. Julia Deering says

    October 23, 2012 at 6:51 pm

    Well done for sorting out, and getting rid of the Plastique and the Bleepy!
    I visited a friend yesterday whose 12-month-old was obsessed with some large paint tins they had stored in a corner of the kitchen. Because they were heavy with paint they were stable, irresistible due to the sturdy plastic handles, and the lids(impossible to remove)made them the perfect drum-kit. It was so lovely to see him stay put for a bit and play so brilliantly with them. LOVE how the best toys often come from the most unexpected things!

    • Anna Ranson says

      October 27, 2012 at 3:23 pm

      Totally agreed! What a lovely play time you witnessed!

  2. Blissful Mama says

    October 23, 2012 at 7:15 pm

    Your play space looks great. We have such a small room it’s so hard to keep things organised… especially now that BB has decided to start ‘helping; to put things away! I don’t want to discourage him though. His absolute favourite things at the moment are all made from cardboard, he has a hug cardboard box which is his car and boat, he loves to fill it, he is also big time into a couple of long cardboard tubes that once held wrapping paper…

    • Anna Ranson says

      October 27, 2012 at 3:25 pm

      Cardboard rocks! It’s hard with a small place isn’t it. Have you tried just rotating a couple of baskets perhaps? That’s something we do upstairs in our house

  3. Rebecca says

    October 23, 2012 at 10:03 pm

    Oh this looks so lovely. i wish i’d been blogging when mine were babies. i really struggled with fun activities at this age.

    • Anna Ranson says

      October 27, 2012 at 3:33 pm

      thanks Rebecca! I wish I’d done these things when my eldest was young too!

  4. ISKCON Denver says

    October 23, 2012 at 10:05 pm

    acrylic mirror tiles– where did you find those?

    • Anna Ranson says

      October 27, 2012 at 3:34 pm

      I got these from Ebay

  5. Anonymous says

    October 23, 2012 at 11:10 pm

    Fab
    Anna I can’t wait to read the other areas you have coming up on your blog. My little girl is always sitting at her table with creative and writing resources but need some inspiration so really looking forward to your upcoming posts 🙂

    • Anna Ranson says

      October 27, 2012 at 3:35 pm

      Thanks! I’m really keen to write those up soon (once they’re tidy enough to photograph!)

  6. Carolyn says

    October 24, 2012 at 2:54 am

    This is fantastic! I’m pinning it.

    • Anna Ranson says

      October 27, 2012 at 3:35 pm

      thanks Carolyn!

  7. Anonymous says

    October 24, 2012 at 3:48 am

    This looks lovely! I would love to recreate this in my home. Where did you get your tree blocks and mirror blocks? Links to where such toys can be purchased would be a great help.

    • Anna Ranson says

      October 27, 2012 at 3:36 pm

      I’ve added the links now, thanks!

  8. Kimira Curic says

    October 24, 2012 at 10:06 am

    Lovely. I am in the process of reorganizing my home and throwing out as much plastic as I can too.

    • Anna Ranson says

      October 27, 2012 at 3:36 pm

      It feels good doesn’t it!

  9. Hayley Smith says

    October 24, 2012 at 3:13 pm

    This is such a lovely idea, very inspiring!

    • Anna Ranson says

      October 27, 2012 at 3:37 pm

      thanks Hayley!

  10. Lisa says

    October 24, 2012 at 10:14 pm

    I recently cleared out our kitchen closet & made a kitchen playspace for my 2 year old. We have a wood play kitchen & a small storage unit. It’s very simple but ever since I did it, my daughter has been playing in it constantly. Amazing how simplicity changes everything!

    • Anna Ranson says

      October 27, 2012 at 3:37 pm

      It really is isn’t it?! Less definitely seems to equal more in terms of how they engage with their environment

  11. Anonymous says

    October 25, 2012 at 3:16 am

    Can you please provide links to each toy that are in the pictures when you find a few minutes?

    • Anna Ranson says

      October 27, 2012 at 3:38 pm

      I have now, thanks!

  12. Lizzie says

    October 25, 2012 at 7:33 pm

    I too would very much appreciate links to each toy you mentioned in the post. This is wonderful and I would like to incorporate some of it with my 9 month old!

    • Anna Ranson says

      October 27, 2012 at 3:38 pm

      Thanks Lizzie! I’ve added them

  13. Bronwen says

    October 26, 2012 at 4:36 pm

    As with the treasure baskets, does this kind of area need to be brought out periodically so the baby doesn’t get bored of it, or can it be a permanent fixture?
    Love this blog!
    Thanks
    Bronwen

    • Anna Ranson says

      October 27, 2012 at 3:39 pm

      Thanks Bronwen, I’m leaving the area as it is for as long as she’s interested, but will update and rotate the items in her treasure baskets that are within the area. I may swap some toys too in the future

  14. Amie (Triple T Mum) says

    October 27, 2012 at 5:08 am

    Wonderful post! Have pinned to my 0-18 months old board.

    • Anna Ranson says

      October 27, 2012 at 3:39 pm

      Thanks Amie!

  15. David C Brown says

    October 30, 2012 at 9:41 pm

    I love this post too…it reminds me of my nursery! Did you see the article today about Slow Toys Movement in most newspapers? I thought you would like it!

  16. RedTedArt says

    October 31, 2012 at 11:04 am

    18month olds?! No no no, push the baby aside and LET ME PLAY! That looks so lovely and inviting! And aren’t mirrors just the best baby play thing. Beautiful post, you have such wonderful ideas and inspirations.

    Thanks for sharing on Kids Get Crafty!

    Maggy

  17. BabyToys Edu says

    November 3, 2012 at 4:53 pm

    This comment has been removed by the author.

  18. Sarah Deverell says

    November 8, 2012 at 5:26 am

    I am so glad I found this post! My little boy is almost 6 months old and I have been trying to decide what to buy him for Christmas and how to avoid all the plastic. I have just ordered some of the tree blocks and the rainbow stacker and hope to set up a play area for him similar to yours! So thank you so much for the inspiration! I will be donating all the plastic toys left over from my older daughter to a local charity 🙂

  19. CarlyTroop says

    January 20, 2013 at 7:27 pm

    Love this site! Some people think they need to buy plastic toys/noisy toys for their children but learning opportunities from them are very limited were as activities like this gives endless learning opportunities for children. They are so cheap to do but often they are more engaging. Plastic toys are so boring and most play repetitive tunes.Keep up the great work!

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  21. elham says

    April 4, 2013 at 9:37 pm

    this looks wonderful! : ) i LOVE your blog! it’s inspiring and i hope to use some ideas from it 🙂 thanks for sharing

  22. Alissa says

    April 12, 2013 at 11:22 am

    Love your blog!! I have done several of your activities with my children and they have loved them as well. Very accessible even for a non-crafty person such as myself.

    Could you please let me know where you got your play logs from or how you made them?

  23. Irene says

    April 12, 2013 at 11:35 am

    I sort of did things like this without even realising that this is what I had done… thanks for the post, really enjoyed looking through it.
    Could you post some play areas for kids that are past 18 months too, I have a 14 month old and wanting to see what would be appropriate for older kids, thanks!

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About The Imagination Tree Hello and welcome! I'm Anna, Mama of 4, early years teacher and play enthusiast from the UK! Click here to read more about me.

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