Personalised Placemats

The thing that I love about Montessori placemats is that they stay relevant for such a long time. Sylvester is 21 months and he’s been using his placemat for a while, since around 15 months, I remember this video I posted when we was around 17 months showed how he took sips of his water during his meal and always made the effort to place his glass back in the glass place. I found it remarkable, but unsurprising really, because Maria Montessori taught us that children thrive in an environment of order.

"Order consists in recognizing the place for each object in relation to its environment and remembering where each thing should be... Such an environment is necessary for peace and happiness."

Maria Montessori, The Secret of Childhood

Our placemats provide that order, and a sense of routine at the table. They are crafted out of a beautiful natural grain solid acacia wood. It means that each one is truly unique and brings a little nature inside.

Now he’s a bit bigger, Sylvester really enjoys setting the table as much as Benedykt ever did. It’s a joy to watch this interest develop. It’s just a simple matching game, in essence, yet clearly so much more than that for Sylvester. He’s setting his own place at the table. It’s a statement. It’s an achievement. It’s routine. He loves it!

Benedykt’s 3 and loves his placemat as much as ever because, well, who doesn’t love something with their name on it? It’s ownership; it’s MINE! It gives a sense of space, identity and again: order. See this video of Benedykt setting the table aged 2y11m. 🌈

Our placemats have a new LOWER price. We offer variations: international layout or UK standard, and personalisation is optional.

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The table and chair set in our video below is the IKEA Sundvik. The chairs are sold separately. They make the set In white, too. I recommend the set, especially as an upgrade to the IKEA latt which we had for a few years previously. The best thing about the Sundvik is that it doesn’t have a lip around the table top. The lip that the latt has is a little bit of a hindrance when it comes to special awareness and consequences. For example, when a child drops or spills something on the latt, it collects on the edge and doesn’t necessarily teach them that the consequences of dropping something usually means it goes on the floor.

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