Montessori on a Budget?
Montessori on a Budget?
Avoid Common Mistakes
Here are a few tips for Montessori on a budget:
Buy only traditional Montessori equipment as shown in our albums.
Remember that many pieces of traditional equipment include extras that you do not need. For example, you only need the geometric solids, you do not need the box, the stands, or the flat 2D shapes. The geometric solids need a basket or box, but you can make that out of anything.
Avoid cheap, filler material because you will end up wasting money. Keep this money to buy real Montessori equipment. This is the most common mistake that parents make when they cannot afford to buy the entire set of Montessori equipment. It is far better to buy fewer things that are authentic.
Make a DIY shelf with a wooden board and bricks. These wooden boards provide sanding, waxing, and buffing work, too.
Know that printed imitations of classic Montessori material are utterly worthless! I know everyone is selling them. Ignore this!! No printed cylinders, no printed geometric solids, no printed pink tower, no printed colored beads, no printed golden beads… Use a set of wrenches to let your child handle a set of objects, make your own tool and wood sets, buy a single sphere and pyramid from any source, stack dishes, make your own colored bead bars, and so forth.
Buy a few pieces at a time, involve your child in making a video with the material, and re-sell the material with the video. A few parents have invited the buyer’s child to the house for a lesson, selling the material at a profit!
For the golden bead sets, you can buy the introductory tray with one each of item for units through thousands. Then buy the cardboard sets for the rest. You can make the number cards by hand by following the illustration.
Avoid gimmicks such as school schedules (see my schedule post here).
Use my 2023 Montessori teaching journal for yourself.
Avoid all cheap toys! They always contain toxic material ranging from plastics to heavy metals. For example, avoid miniature plastic animal sets. Instead, make or buy one nice toy animal made from wood, fabric, stone, or another non-toxic material.
Buy my color book! It has printable material for Color Boxes 1 & 2. You can make accurate colored tablets using them. I made them for a parent who was trying to manage her equipment budget. There will be material for the final color box, too. I like the wooden color tablets best, but I do avoid the plastic ones that Nienhuis now sells. You can also make your own, if you have the paints.