Get Organized: Clutter to Clarity!

One of the most important aspects of a Montessori home is preparing the environment for the CHILD to be successful. But…real talk. Whether or not you want anything to do with Montessori, clutter is never helpful, so clarity is clutch! And believe me, I know how easy it is to see things out and about and think, “Oh how cute! My little one would LOVE this!” – boom, impulse buy and no room left on the shelf. So if you walk into your child’s bedroom or playroom and it feels like a bomb just went off, I got you.

No matter what family stage you find yourself in — from pregnancy and getting everything ready for baby’s arrival to children in preschool and everything already feels like one giant mess — there’s an easy solution for how to get started. Put yourself on the level of your little one so that you can look at the room through their little eyes! THEN start decorating and making decisions. If you’re about to have a newborn, lie on your back on the floor in each room to see what they will see — you have a crawler, crawl around — a waddler, scoot around on your knees. You get the idea…see your home through their eyes and decorate/organize accordingly. Game changer, right??

Let’s go together for a minute to the main room in your home where your child plays. Do you have a big (but beautiful!) storage bin somewhere that is stuffed full of animals or toys? Every time your child wants something in there they have to dump the entire thing to find it. Or maybe it never even gets touched because, well…it’s just overwhelming! Lose the bottomless pits that are so beautifully displayed in every store because while they may be aesthetically pleasing, they are completely impractical if you want to engage your child. And if you’re just trying to hide all the “stuff”…well, you’re doing just that from your child as well. If it’s hidden, it’s not going to get used, so go ahead and find another home for it.

Unfortunately the same thing applies to the storage shelves that have the primary or pastel colored plastic bins that seem like a great way to “sort” the toys…you know what I’m talking about, right? Well, realistically things just get thrown in wherever they fit during cleanup and they simply aren’t inviting for the child. At this point you may be asking, “then where in the WORLD am I supposed to keep my child’s things?!”

Again, if you’re on the level of the child, you’ll see how and why the above options are overwhelming rather than enticing for a little one. You want things very clearly displayed and available for your child on a low, accessible shelf. Not 10 things stuffed onto one shelf, but 3-4 things separated and easy to pick up for play.

Humor me for a minute while I use a sweet tooth analogy because yes, I have a MAJOR sweet tooth. Think of each toy like a ball of cookie dough. When you’re baking cookies, you don’t plop the entire batch of dough onto the cookie sheet – what a mess! You separate each tablespoon of dough a couple inches so that you can easily pop each one into your mouth when the hankering hits. Am I right?

Same for your child’s toys – don’t plop them all into a basket, storage bin, or shelf space. Separate them a few inches and stop to notice which toys your child is interested in and which ones they aren’t using. Think about whether the toys they aren’t interested in is because they’ve outgrown them or they’re too advanced, then stash those away for later use. The best part about this is that when you pull them out again in a few months, it’s like a brand new toy that they’re suddenly so excited to explore!

So there you have it. I’m not telling you to get rid of all your things that have been taking over your child’s playroom. Rather, take a minute to set a few things out that you think your child enjoys (or give a few things that have been buried in the depths of a storage bin a try!), get on their level to be sure they are able to easily see/access them, and then simply sit back to observe the magic. If they gravitate toward two and never touch two, swap those out for other things you already have! You will be amazed to discover how less truly is more for these little, absorbent minds.