If you had asked me a a year ago whether I would want a children’s area in my living room, I probably would have laughed. I’m a minimalist when it comes to my space – I like things to be open, light, and uncluttered. The thought of brightly coloured children’s toys scattered around my house would have given me mild anxiety, but having been a parent for almost a year now, I can tell you – things change.
The living room isn’t just a space for adults. It’s also where my little Jamila spends the majority of her day – whether that’s eating, crawling around, or jumping on our backs as we complete our daily prayers. As she transitions from baby to toddler, the more I come to understand that our space is her space too. The way that we design, care for, and structure our environment should also therefore reflect her needs.
One of the key principles of Montessori is to have a prepared environment. The environment should be beautiful not just to us as adults, but also to our children too. Their tools of play should be accessible to them, organised in a way that provides them with structure whilst allowing them to move freely between activities.
These were my aims when creating a space for my little one in our living room, and I feel that I have achieved this without compromising on the aesthetic of my home. I’ve actually come to love her little play area, or ‘play station’ as my husband calls it, much more than I thought I would – because whenever I see it, my heart feels full of gratitude to Allah for having blessed us with such a wonderful little girl who fills our lives with chaos and colour.
To start off with, we purchased a low TV stand which we use as a shelf. I particularly liked this one because of the unusual design, which can be used to section out different activities. The space provides Jamila with a few different options, but not enough to overwhelm her. It also fits perfectly into a little alcove, which means that the unit is tucked away but still accessible.
Jamila loves reading (or rather being read to), so I wanted to make her books accessible to her in the living room. In the past I’d placed a pile of books on top of the shelf, but I wanted to make these easier for her to reach. I purchased a card stand from Amazon and it’s worked perfectly as a book stand, allowing her to see clearly which options are available and choose which ones she wants to read.
Montessori encourages artwork to be displayed at the child’s eye-level. At the moment Jamila is rapidly picking up language, and although she can’t quite string sentences together, she does understand a lot. I’m encouraging her to understand words like ‘Bismillah’ and ‘Alhumdulillah’ using my Muslim Manners Language Cards, which I’ve strung up on the wall and use with her daily. I love seeing her face light up after sneezing as she waits for our enthusiastic ‘Alhumdulillah!’, or seeing her open her mouth for food when I say ‘Bismillah’ during meals. You can download them for free along with other useful tools from my Resources page.
I’ve filled the shelves with a few of her current favourite toys, including sensory balls, an object permanence box, a xylophone, and building blocks. A key principle in Montessori is observation. As parents, it’s important to observe which activities your child is enjoying and which ones they’ve moved on from, and rotating the activities accordingly. When she’s a little older and less inclined to put absolutely everything straight into her mouth, I’ll be introducing her to a plant which she can nurture and care for, and this will (InshaAllah) sit on her shelf, too.
Montessori Muslim 