Designing a Montessori Home: The Entryway [+FREE DOWNLOAD]

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Designing your Montessori home is all about creating accessibility for children and opportunities for them to do things independently. The entryway is a great place to start in creating your Montessori home. For us, it is definitely one of the places I see Montessori principles at work the best. Before we set up the entryway in our new house I was constantly reminding my son to take off his shoes. Now he takes them off immediately upon entering. Having a place to do it has been key. You may be wondering how to set up a Montessori entryway for your toddler. This blog post helps you design a Montessori entryway to fit in your space, whether you have a live in a small space or have a large mudroom to accommodate the entryway. This post goes through the key parts of a Montessori toddler entryway and also includes a FREE download for a weather-appropriate clothing choice board!

A Montessori entryway gives your child the tools they need to get out the door more independently. It can also help reduce power struggles as you get out the door. Toddlers crave autonomy, choice, independence, and order. The Montessori entryway provides all those things for your toddler as they prepare to go out the door. An accessible entryway embodies the Montessori principle of '“freedom within limits,” giving your toddler age-appropriate choices and independence. This post shares some ideas for how to design a Montessori entryway both in small spaces that don’t have a mudroom or proper entryway and in larger spaces. Below I outline a few different functions we have had in our Montessori entryway both in our small apartment and in our larger house.

The Montessori entryway in our small apartment with a small seat, shoes, a mirror, and a place for coats

A Seat for Putting on Shoes

The most basic aspect of a Montessori entryway is a place your child can sit to take off and put on shoes. Having a dedicated spot to do this is helpful as a visual reminder to take off shoes as well as functionally as a place that makes it easier for them to work on these skills.

In my old apartment, we had a small weaning chair (Sprout Kids code OnTheWay10 for discount) by the door. This worked very well to give him a space to do his shoes without taking up too much space. Now that we have more space we have a shoe bench. Other cheaper and space-saving options include a small stool or even a pillow placed by the door.

In both places, we have kept a pair of shoes underneath the seat. With the small chair, we only had space for one pair of shoes (since we also kept socks there), but with the larger bench, we now have a selection. This has worked well as more options are great as he gets a bit older. If you have a small space though, you could likely fit two pairs of shoes under the small chair or have two pairs next to the chair in a tray. In our apartment where we only had one pair of shoes under his chair, we stored more of his shoes in a basket under his little kitchen which was right by the entryway station. As he got a bit older he knew he could access them there and would sometimes take shoes from there. Having two pairs of shoes is great for toddlers to give them some choice and autonomy, but also avoid being overwhelmed. Now that my son is a bit older he chooses from all season-appropriate shoes, though we guide him to assess the weather when it comes to rainboots.

We store socks and shoes in our shoe bench

In addition to storing shoes where he can access them, we have always stored socks with the shoes. This was less important in our small apartment but now that we are in a house with multiple floors having shoes by the door is incredibly helpful. He still doesn’t do his socks independently but once we get them on he does his shoes.

Hooks for Coats

Another key aspect of a Montessori entryway is a place for your child to keep their coat(s). This creates an organized space and allows them to be involved in maintaining their things and space. From a young age, I would model to my son by hanging up his coats on the low hooks.

I got this small magnetic set of hooks because the door in our apartment was metal. I stuck them on the door and hung two outer layers from it. Now that we live in a house I am using the same hooks but we mounted them to the wall with screws. As winter approaches I should get another set so that my daughter and son can both have coats on the low hooks.

You don’t need anything fancy for coats in your Montessori-entryway, but having a low space where your child can access coats on their own is very helpful for providing them with autonomy. Command hooks work perfectly well. If you are looking for stick-on hooks that are a bit prettier, we love these and use them on his little kitchen for his broom.

A Mirror

We love having a mirror in our Montessori entryway. You can get one that has hooks on it as well, though you want the mirror hung fairly low so your child can see themselves so hooks underneath may not work for coats. In our home now, we have a mirror from IKEA that has storage behind it. Behind the mirror, we are able to store some hats. For summer we can store hats and sunglasses. We hang my son’s helmet below the mirror.

In our old apartment, we still had a mirror but it was very small. We used a picture frame without glass and placed a mirror sheet we got for babies from our Lovevery play gym in it. It was incredibly simple but it worked. It allowed my son to see himself in the mirror before going out the door.

Other additions

Our weather station, coats, and visual routines in our old apartment

We also have a weatherboard by the door (another option here) that allows us to discuss the weather before going outside. In my old apartment, we also stored our visual routines in the entryway. Now that we are in a larger space and don’t spend time in the mudroom except when coming and going I have moved the routines.

I am also adding a choice board for weather-appropriate clothing [you can download it for free here!]. This will guide my son in making weather-appropriate choices (such as not wearing rainboots when it is sunny outside). This gives a visual of what clothing is appropriate for what weather and encourages developing independence in choosing clothing.

Your Montessori entryway doesn’t need to be anything fancy. It can be as simple as a basket or tray with shoes, a couple of command hooks for coats, and a place to sit to put on shoes. The goal of Montessori at home is to provide your child with opportunities for autonomy and independence. Setting up an accessible entryway station is a great way to give that to your toddler.

I will be sharing more ways we set up Montessori spaces in both our small apartment and larger house.