In Montessori, babies and toddlers are given as many real experiences as possible when it comes to eating. What I mean is that they are given the chance to eat at a real table, with real dishes, and the chance to feed themselves. The same goes for other children as they grow. Children are complete humans from birth who deserve our respect, love, and beauty.
Easy Montessori DIY Placemats for Starting Solids
Giving them real materials helps to provide all that and more. So many wonderful possibilities and opportunities. A placemat may not seem like much, but it really is. It provides a baby/toddler with the chance to use real materials, it speaks to their sense of order and gives them (or plants the seeds for) the ability to set the table, and it's a beautiful touch. Practically, it can also make eating easier by keeping plates/bowls cups from sliding around.
Now, there are tons of commercially available {these, these, and these are all beautiful} Montessori placemats. But, I wanted to try my hand at making my own. Embroidering Montessori placemats is in no way, shape or form my idea. It's been done a million times by a million people. But, I thought I would share what I did in case you were looking for an easy DIY.
You'll Need to Make:
- IKEA Burp Cloths
- Embroidery Thread
- Your dishes
- Fabric pencil
To make these, I took the burp cloths and cut them into 4 pieces using the outer edges of the fabric. I chose this because the burp cloths were large, not distracting, absorbent and I knew they would be easy to wash/dry/clean. Plus you can't beat the price. Once I had them cut, I simply hemmed the edges with my sewing machine.
When all the placemats were hemmed, I placed a set of our dishes on top of the placemats and traced them with the pencil. Then, I used some coordinating colors to hand stitch around the lines I had drawn. I picked the colors because I liked them, not for any particular reason. And that's literally it. I store them folded on a tray in our children's kitchen.
I only made a set of 4 for now, we do laundry pretty frequently so that has been enough. I also used the star fabric that came with to make a set of non-embroidered placemats for Henry and Nora. I will say they shrank some in the wash, but otherwise this has been a great addition to our weaning experience.
Have you made or bought Montessori placemats?
Have you made or bought Montessori placemats?
