Preparing for a Five year Old

Mr Man is getting older and taller and recently I realized that he has outgrown the little kids table and chair set we have been using the last four years. His materials are also growing in complexity and need a larger space to be spread out and used effectively out of the reach of Little Miss’s curious reach. We decided to set up my old desk on the one side of the playroom to create a space just for Mr Man. The children who visit my home for preschool each morning, and Little Miss have all been told it is a space for children five and up. They have acceped this explanation and not one of the children have explored or disrupted the space.

We also set a narrow shelf up beside the desk with the more complicated materials. The division and multiplication boards, the moveable alphabet, and the stamp game all permantly reside here. I will be adding more shelves and materials as we work through them and he moves more into abstraction. Mr Man loves that he has a safe space to store his paper work, his scissors and cutting materials, and his books. While the younger children play I can sit with him at the table and show him a material. Then I can move through the room as usual from child to child while he works undisturbed. So far it is working out beautifully!

To be completly honest I am not happy with the change. Sure it is functional, but it does not appeal to me aesthically. I am not a fan of the metal chair. The room no longer looks like a sweet little preschool space. It feels more crowded. However I am choosing to ignore the side of me that wants a pinterest playroom in order to indulge the educator in me who sees the necessity for this change. Aethetics are important in a child’s space but, sometimes in browsing my Montessori and Homeschooling Facebook groups I notice that aesthetics are being valued over the practicality. No matter how beautiful a play space is, if it does not serve the children who use it then it is pointless. So for now I will keep this space functional and maybe over time I will find a way to make the chair more appealing and find some organizational method to clear the surfaces and make it all appear cleaner.