Modular Climbing System with Six Elements in Solid Birch

six elements that reconfigure into about a dozen arrangements, which is what stops a climbing frame being ignored after the first month.

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 Baltic birch, pale and close grained, finished in a water based lacquer certified to BS EN 71 part 3
• 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 97.5 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
• Freestanding, no wall fixing, and it folds for storage
• Folds flat to 180mm for storage
• 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
• Folding hinges and pins
• A hex key, spare caps and printed instructions
• A printed safety card with the fall zone and supervision guidance

Assembly and safety

Flat packed and best done by two people. Allow about an hour and a half. Fittings are threaded steel inserts, so it comes apart properly for a house move rather than chewing out the timber. Check the fixings once after a month and then once a year, which takes two minutes and is the single most useful thing you can do for a piece of furniture a child climbs on.

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.