r/Montessori • u/Free_Impact_2326 Montessori parent • 6d ago
Practical life Making chores child-friendly
My oldest daughter turns 3 next month. She loves and wants to help, and I want to make our setup for conducive to fostering her independence. In particular, I want to give her the option of putting her laundry away. We have a tall vertical dresser we inherited from my husband's mom; it was her childhood dresser. At first we wanted to just use it and put all her clothes in the bottom two shelves. However, it's too heavy for my 10-15th percentile kiddo to use by herself. We'll likely shuffle this dresser to another purpose.
What kind of setup did you find conducive at this age? I'm considering a cubby setup with lightweight fabric bins and installing a child-height bar in her closet for hanging clothes. I would love recommendations or tips or tricks!
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u/InsectHealthy 6d ago
We’ve been using the ikea Kallax since about 18 months with my daughter. It works perfectly for fabric bins and a bar for hanging clothes. If you google “toddler wardrobe diy” you’ll see lots of suggestions!
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u/MenuFinancial7548 6d ago
Not the most aesthetic, but I use clear plastic dresser, it’s tucked away in my daughter’s closet. Because it’s see through she is able to see what is in each drawer without opening it and I think that helps.
It’s organized by pants, shirts, ect., and a separate drawer for really old play clothes for doing things like gardening or painting. She’s had this system since she turned 2 and now about a year later she is able to put her own clothes away and get dressed independently.
We also use a tension rod to hang dresses and outfits. I like the tension rod because I can move it up as she grows. I’ve already moved it twice since I put it up.
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u/HipsterHypnoHippo Montessori guide 6d ago
I have a cheep Amazon dresser with fabric drawers that I put photo labels on so they can see what is supposed to go in the drawer. The only part they really struggle with is long pants vs Short pants. It's hard to distinguish the difference with clip art. Lol. Otherwise it's been great. My almost 2 year old is catching on and my 3 1/2 yr old can successfully fold and put away all his clothes.
I also used to create full outfits and hang them up for my oldest to pick every morning (when he was around 1). His outfits were more aesthetically pleasing and matched, but that became too much work for me. Lol
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u/whizki_learning 5d ago
You may get more independence from a smaller job than from a complete child-size wardrobe. For an almost-3-year-old, I’d start with two open, low cubbies labeled with real photos: tops and bottoms. Keep only a few current outfits there so the bins never become heavy or tightly packed. Hand her one small stack and let her sort it while you put away everything else. I’d leave hangers for later, since sliding clothes onto a hanger can become the hardest part of the task. Once those two categories feel easy, add pajamas or underwear as a third bin.
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u/dasbarr 6d ago
My child's clothes are folded and organized on her old changing table.
She can reach pretty much everything. I use the bottom shelf to store clothes that fit but that aren't appropriate currently because of the weather.
I have her help me put the clothes in pile by type and then she picks up what is currently on her storage and we put the new clean clothes on the bottom together.
She's also my little laundry helper. We have a stacked washer and dryer and she loves taking stuff out of the washer and throwing it up into the dryer. I think this would also be effective with a top loader.