Montessori homeschooling doesn’t have to break the bank. While there are many beautiful, wooden Montessori materials you can order online, you can go the DIY Montessori materials route for some or all of your Montessori materials at home.
As I’ve said before, you don’t need to duplicate a Montessori school. It’s wonderful if you’re able to purchase some of the wooden materials because of their beauty and precision, but it certainly isn’t essential.
Photos in Collage:
- DIY Dressing Frame from Child Central Station
- DIY Smelling Bottles from Counting Coconuts
- DIY Insets and Shelf from Noor Janan Homeschool
- DIY Color Box 3 from Pink and Green Mama (blog is no longer available)
- DIY Spindle Boxes from What DID We Do All Day? (blog is no longer available)
- DIY Cursive Sandpaper Letters from Making Montessori Ours
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links (at no cost to you)
My first experience with Montessori was in a day care center using handmade materials, donated carpet pieces for rugs, and Styrofoam meat trays donated from the grocery store for the trays on the shelves. There weren’t as many educational opportunities in my Montessori-inspired daycare classroom as in a Montessori school, but the positive change in the behavior of the children was the same change I see in children attending Montessori schools or Montessori homeschools.
Resources on How to Make Your Own Montessori Materials
Books and General DIY Montessori Links
The best book on making your own Montessori preschool materials is Teaching Montessori in the Home: Pre-School Years: The Pre-School Years
by Elizabeth Hainstock. This is what I used to set up my Montessori classroom in a day care center.
I have a list of all the DIY Montessori materials posts I’ve published here: DIY Montessori Materials.
I have the sensorial materials covered more thoroughly in a post of their own, too: DIY Montessori Sensorial Materials {Hundreds of Resources}.
If you want to make Montessori-based religious-education materials, I wrote a post on setting up a Godly Play classroom at home which has links to the books needed to make Montessori-based Godly Play materials.
Mont Home has photos for many DIY Montessori materials. Click on the links at the top of the page to find materials in each curriculum area.
Making Montessori Ours has many DIY Montessori materials.
The Little List has a page with links to DIY Montessori materials, although many of the links are broken.
My post on free Montessori materials online has links for free materials which can be downloaded and printed out. I also have a number of posts on DIY Montessori materials with links to resources for making specific Montessori materials.
Here’s the link to all the other posts in the Montessori Homeschool Classroom and Materials category.
Have you made your own Montessori materials, or do you plan to try making your own Montessori materials?
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Thanks for another great list!
I have made a free printable extension for the knobbless cylinders, if you’re interested!
http://forskoleburken.blogspot.com/2010/01/en-till.html
Cheers!
Thank you for your kind comment, Maria! And thanks for letting me know about your free download. I added it to my post: https://livingmontessorinow.com/2010/08/26/free-montessori-materials-online/
Thank you again Deb. You are resolving all my Montessori questions 🙂
Thanks, Sandy! I’m glad I can help!
What an awesome post… I’m a big Montessori fan!
Thanks so much for your kind comment, Kaveri!
I’m going to looking onto these. Something cool and interesting for my home daycare. With pre-school just starting here, new ideas are wonderful.
Thank you for sharing.
Take care and thank you so much for stopping by. I am following you and ready to learn whatever it is you can teach me.
Have a great and blessed day.
Thanks so much, Julie! In addition to my regular posts, I have an activity of the week every Monday with a favorite Montessori-oriented idea I discovered online. I really appreciate you following me!
What an amazing list of resources. This will be a go to for Montesorri information.
Stopping from Mom Loop!
Thanks for your kind comment! I’m glad you found my list helpful!
I love flexibility in materials that you can either make it yourself if you have the time and not the $$ or to buy. This is great that there are so many learning tools you can create right at home!
Thanks for your comment, Michelle! I LOVE that there are so many options now for parents and teachers who want to use Montessori methods and materials.
Deb, thanks for always interesting and useful posts!
You have little award on my blog! You can check it out here:
http://leptir-mojpribor.blogspot.com/2010/09/nova-nagrada.html
Thanks SO much for your kind comment – and for the Sunshine Award! You made my day!
What a wonderful list! And it couldn’t be more timely – I was just digging through my Reader to find these kinds of resources. I’ve decided to make my own color tablets (Box 3) and land forms — wish me luck! 🙂
That’s great, Mari-Ann! I’m so glad my list was helpful. Good luck – I’ll be eager to hear how your materials turn out!
Wow, thanks for all the great ideas. I recently started my own Montessori journey in homeschooling my 3 year old daughter. I am looking forward to reading your blog & I grabbed your button. Thanks again!
Thanks so much for your kind words, Jennifer! How exciting to be starting your Montessori journey … have fun! And thanks for grabbing my blog button! 🙂
I made a few things myself & also purchased some materials from Target. I blogged about it here: http://freeindeed-redkitchen.blogspot.com/2011/07/montessori-inspired-activities.html
Also, I am loving your site. You have such great ideas!
Thanks for your kind comment, Jennifer! I love that you’re making so many of your own materials! Thanks for sharing the link to your post! 🙂
Finding sites like yours have been such a blessing to us…we went the handmade route for so many things…thanks to all who share their amazing ideas…thank you!!
Thanks so much, Cherine … I had fun finding so many great resources online! I’d love to have you link up with Montessori Monday at https://livingmontessorinow.com/tag/montessori-monday/ (you can add any Montessori lessons/activities to the linky each Monday or any day during the week!) It would be great if more parents could see your wonderful ideas, too! 🙂
I like your suggestions about the preparation of montessori materials. I think these ideas can help teachers as well as parents.
http://www.ilm-foundation.com
Thank you so much for this VERY helpful information! 🙂 I am so glad that you are willing to share your knowledge so that the homeschooling mama can learn!
The best place to buy Montessori material is Kid Advance Montessori is the best choice for you. A few days ago, I have purchased Ball Tracker for my child here at an affordable price. Montessori experimented and created learning materials to facilitate the child’s spontaneous learning.