Practicing Montessori at home takes on a whole new dimension once you get to the dinner table.
In “Montessori From the Start,” Paula Polk Lillard and Lynn Lillard Jessen stress the importance of using glass and breakable objects –“If we want to help the child to develop controlled movements and care in handling his environment, we have to give him items he cannot handle roughly, or throw about, without realistic consequences.”
And what happens if something breaks? Which, obviously, is going to happen. They continue, “If an accident occurs…we demonstrate how to clean it up. By our matter-of-fact attitude, we indicate our acceptance of mistakes as part of the learning process.”
I’d say this is a pretty high bar for parents to follow, but Lillard and Jessen turned out to be completely right. Bean is extremely careful when it comes to her glass and ceramic dishware, and I don’t remember us ever teaching or explaining to her that she had to be careful. She just knew.
If I sub in a plastic/paper fork or plate or cup, all of that goes entirely out the window. She throws and plays with them. She’ll always set a glass on a coaster or table top, but sippy cups end up under the sofa. She doesn’t take care because she’s a naturally cautious child; she can tell that the material is different, and so treats them differently. It’s actually kind of fascinating.
An added bonus is that we also never really had to teach her how to drink out of a glass or use a fork. Because her tableware looked just like ours, only miniature, we could see her watch us using our forks/spoons/glasses, and she’d just mimic us until she got it right.
Pulling together her real-life tableware was kind of difficult, unsurprisingly. Companies just aren’t making ceramic dishware for toddlers. So, we had to get resourceful and shop around, and pull together tableware from unconventional sources. This is what we ended up with, and are still using daily two years later.
Clockwise, from the top left.
1.Montessori Services’ Small Glass Creamer Pitcher — These are also available at restaurant supply stores, but otherwise hard to find one-off. Since the glassware is so small, the pitcher comes in handy to refill a glass at the table. This pitcher is so tiny and sturdy, Bean was using it herself in no time. (Lillard and Jessen also stress using glass, as opposed to ceramic or metal, so children can see the water as it’s poured out and therefore understand the process better.)
2. Italian Bistro Pitcher, 8 oz — As Bean grew older, she drank more water necessitating a larger pitcher. These are also available at restaurant supply stores.
3. Ikea Duktig Plates and Bowls — These are terrific. Ikea categorizes these as toys, but also says they’re food safe. These are just the perfect size for little people. Bean can easily carry them to the table, and they fit about just as much food as she can eat.
4. Crate and Barrel’s Fusion Appetizer Fork and Espresso Spoon — These were the hardest to find. Flatware meant for children is usually not that much smaller than regular flatware, and more likely appropriate for 6 or 7 year olds. One and two year olds need something very very small. I bought a wide-variety of flatware, and these have always been my favorite. They aren’t dainty (which is a problem once you go miniature) and they’re solid without being bulky/clumsy, and the satin finish is beautiful. They just fit perfectly in a toddler’s hand. We even carry these with us when we go out to eat; they’re just that irreplaceable.
5. Ikea Marit place mat — We have dozens of these, and they’ve held up awesomely after two years of near constant use and washing.
6. Ikea Pokal Glasses, 5 oz — We’ve been going up the Pokal series, starting at the very smallest. These are miniscule, the size of shot glasses. They were the perfect size when Bean started using them around 6 or 7 months, and we went up to the next size up around 1.5 years old.
7. Ikea Dinera Bowl — As Bean got older, she needed bowls for soups, chili, pasta, and oatmeal. These are perfect because of the flat, sturdy base.
