Climbing Wall Bar System with a Slide and Rings in Solid Ash

a wall mounted bar system with a slide, rings and a rope, which turns a metre of wall into the thing a child uses every day in February.

The Montessori idea behind this is simple enough to say in a sentence: a child who can reach a thing can choose it, and a child who can choose it will use it. That is why the bed is on the floor, the shelf is at knee height and the tower exists at all. It is not a style. Almost everything sold as Montessori furniture is a normal piece of furniture made smaller, and the test of whether it is the real thing is whether a two year old can use it without an adult, which is a question you can answer by watching rather than by reading a product page.

Specification

• Dimensions: see the contents list, the largest element is 1100mm across
• Age range: 10 months to 7 years, with adult supervision under 3
• Material: solid English ash, which is springy, pale and the traditional timber for anything a child will climb on
• Finish: water based lacquer, certified to BS EN 71 part 3, sanded to 240 grit
• Load rating: 80kg per element, tested to 150kg and 30,000 cycles
• Standards: BS EN 71 parts 1, 2 and 3, which covers mechanical safety, flammability and the migration of elements out of the finish
• Edges and fixings: every edge rounded to a 5mm radius and sanded to 240 grit, with no exposed fixing on any climbing surface
• Assembly: flat packed, about an hour, and it comes apart for storage
• Weight: approximately 76.2 kilograms
• Rung spacing: 100mm, sized so a foot fits and a head does not
• Rung diameter: 28mm, which is what a small hand can actually grip
• Fall zone: 1200mm clear on every open side, and a mat is recommended
• Wall fixing: required, into masonry or a timber stud, and there is no way around it on a wall mounted system
• Bars are removable so the wall can be made good later
• Adult supervision under 3 years, which is on the printed card too

In the box

• Every element in the set as listed
• A reversible ramp with a slide face and a rung face
• Rope and rings where the set includes them
• Wall fixings and a making good kit
• A hex key, spare caps and printed instructions
• A printed safety card with the fall zone and supervision guidance

Assembly and safety

Flat packed with a hex key and printed instructions. An anti tip restraint is in the box and it is not optional on this piece. Furniture tip overs injure a serious number of small children every year in this country and every one of them is preventable with two screws. If you cannot drill the wall, tell us and we will send the freestanding ballast kit instead at no charge.

How long it lasts

Most families buy this for one stage and then move on, and that is fine. It holds its value better than almost anything else in a child's room because it is solid timber with no printed decoration to date it, and we run a buy back on our own pieces at up to 40 per cent, refinish them and sell them as second life stock, which is the honest version of a sustainability page.