There is nothing that I enjoy more than an up-scaling project. I bought a second hand, rundown IKEA children’s kitchen. My goal was to transform it into a functioning child’s kitchen.
The idea behind having a practical child's kitchen, is to assist your child in becoming more independent, helping them to gain self confidence, whilst also enabling them to develop practical life skills.
Once your child is confidently walking unaided, you can teach them to go to their kitchen and take the crockery and cutlery that is needed at meal times. You can also involve your child in the food preparation process, by allowing them to help, pour, mix, chop, peel and serve food.
Although most traditional Montessori households use ceramic plates and glass cups that are child sized, I started off by introducing child sized plates and cups made from wheat (as seen in the picture below). This gave me a fantastic teaching opportunity, to explain how they are made. I then moved onto regular child sized plates and cups, once I was confident in knowing it wasn't intentionally going to be thrown across the room.
Teaching your child how to become more independent and responsible, really helps to boost their confidence and reduce tantrums.
Products
- Sandpaper
- Wood filler, to fill the damaged wood
- Grey wood paint
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