Best Montessori Items You Can Find at IKEA

In this mini-guide, I’m going to feature the best Montessori furniture (and other) purchases that you can find at IKEA.

When it comes to Montessori furniture I like supporting smaller businesses (like Sprout Kids) when I can, but sometimes it makes sense to purchase from IKEA (whether that be because of the low prices or their wide selection of items).

Here is a list of our favorite Montessori purchases we’ve made from IKEA…

Montessori IKEA Items

Montessori Style Shelving Unit

The KALLAX Shelf Unit is the Montessori shelving you will see in our main playroom.

On the website, you will see that the KALLAX shelves are upright and titled as bookcases, which may cause you to pass right over them when looking for shelving. But when laid down on its side, this shelving unit makes the perfect Montessori playroom shelf.

A lot of Montessori shelving units are completely open and utilize trays to separate the activities, but having these little cubby holes built into the shelf is great for toddlers so that they can easily remember where each activity goes on the shelf.

This Montessori style shelf at IKEA can be found in different sizes. We have the unit with 8 cubby holes in our main playroom and recently purchased the smaller unit with 4 cubby holes for our daughter’s bedroom shelf.

Montessori Style Bookshelves

As you probably know, with a Montessori inspired playroom you want to have the activities and books displayed beautifully to encourage the child to interact with each.

We are big on having books on display in different areas of our house, and we’ve found two different IKEA bookshelves that are excellent for this.

The first is the FLISAT Wall Storage, which mounts to the wall and displays books beautifully. Depending on the size of the books it will only display about 3-4 books, but that amount seems to be perfect for a toddler.

I love that this bookshelf can be mounted on the wall at the child’s height so that they are drawn to the books, rather than having the books stored somewhere they might not see much.

We have two of these IKEA bookshelves stacked on top of each other in our Montessori inspired playroom. The bottom one is the perfect height for our toddler, and the top one is a little too high right now (so mom and dad use it so we can read while she plays)!

The second IKEA bookshelf that is great for a Montessori home is the FLISAT Book Display. This one sits on the ground, as is small enough that it doesn’t take up too much room but also large enough that you can fit at least 10 books if you don’t mind stacking them on top of each other.

We bought this used and use it in K’s Montessori bedroom with about 6-8 books placed in it. Although some books are hidden behind others, we like it because it still displays the books at the front beautifully for the child to encourage engagement with them.

Step Stool For Bathroom

Independence is, of course, a big part of the Montessori Method, and with this, we want to allow our toddler to be able to independently climb up to the sink in her washroom.

IKEA offers some great children’s step stools that make a great addition to the Montessori home. The step stool we purchased from IKEA seems to be sold out, but I found another on their website (TROGEN step stool) that looks like it would do the trick if you don’t mind a yellow color.

As mentioned, we use this step stool in our upstairs washroom so that K can climb up to the sink to be able to wash her hands or brush her teeth without us holding her up or setting her up on the counter. We paired it with a sink faucet extender so that the water is in her reach.

The IKEA Step Stool doubles for one of her favorite Montessori practical life activities – laundry. Our laundry room is just down the hall from her washroom, so we bring the step stool over to the top-loading washing machine to allow her to help put the clothes and detergent in.

Functional Kitchen

I wrote a full post about the IKEA Montessori Functional Kitchen, but I have to include it here as well as it was one of the best purchases we’ve made from IKEA for our little one.

Although this DUKTIG Play Kitchen was designed for pretend play, it has become popular for Montessori parents to turn it into a real functioning kitchen for children.

With a few easy modifications, this IKEA play kitchen can be used to pour water for drinking or washing, act as a counter or cutting board to prepare food, and store the child’s dishes and utensils.

I would call this IKEA kitchen one of the best Montessori purchases out there, as it allows for so much independence for children in the kitchen.

Our daughter loves to get her bowl and spoon in the morning for her breakfast, put away her dishes when they are washed, or wash her hands in the sink (yes sometimes that includes splashing at her age)!

Toddler Reading Chair

The POANG Children’s Arm Chair makes a great addition to a Montessori playroom as a beautiful reading chair, although it doesn’t get used too much just yet by our currently 21-month-old.

We bought this IKEA chair when K was small and she has used it lots as a gross motor activity as she pulled herself up using it when she couldn’t stand or walk yet, and later started climbing up on it and back down to the floor.

There have been times when she has picked up books and looked through them on her own in this chair, but I think it will get a lot more use down the road when she is reading more independently. Right now we are often reading together sitting on her Nugget Couch in the playroom.

Plant Display Stool

Taking care of plants or flowers is another popular and fantastic Montessori practical life activity for little ones, and for this, we’ve recently purchased a FLISAT children’s stool from IKEA.

This stool is designed for kids to sit on as a regular stool, but we are using it to display a plant at our toddler’s height in her playroom.

Having a stool for the plant is more of a luxury, as it could easily sit on the ground or shelf, but it’s nice to have it displayed at her level and the perfect height for her to help water it or wipe down the plant leaves.

IKEA Drawing Easel

At 21 months old, K is showing a lot of interest in artwork including drawing with crayons or markers and painting. She has an easel to use at her Montessori school, but at home, we only had a little drawing booklet for her, so we purchased the MALA Easel from IKEA.

On one side of the easel is a chalkboard and the other is a whiteboard, but it also pairs perfectly with their MALA Drawing Paper Roll that allows you to use it for painting and drawing with crayons.

This easel is at a perfect height for toddlers and would make a great addition to any Montessori home.

Drinking Glasses For Babies/Toddlers

In Montessori, we encourage our children to drink from an open cup as soon as they have the coordination to attempt it (often months before most parents think their child is ready).

The POKAL Snaps Glass wasn’t designed for babies or toddlers, but at 2 oz they are the perfect size for a drinking glass for little hands.

We started our daughter off with a plastic cup for learning, and when we felt she was ready we moved to these small shot glasses from IKEA. They are well made and, although a few have broken, they hold up to drops really well.

At a very reasonable price, these drinking glasses are a great purchase for toddlers learning to drink from an open cup.

Wrap Up

Those are the best Montessori items we’ve found at IKEA for our little one, but I am sure I am missing some great finds.

If you have any other recommendations for IKEA products that fit perfectly in a Montessori home please let me know in the comment section!

Thanks for reading and I hope this post helped you give you some ideas for your home 🙂