Three Bay Montessori Shelf 900mm Wide in Birch Plywood

A shelf at 800mm, which is the height a four year old sees the whole top of. That single number is most of what makes a Montessori shelf different from a small bookcase.

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: 900mm wide by 320mm deep by 800mm high
• Age range: 18 months to 8 years
• Material: 18 layer Baltic birch plywood with the edge exposed and rounded to a 3mm radius, which is the detail that stops a plywood edge catching a shin
• Finish: water based lacquer or paint, certified to BS EN 71 part 3
• Load rating: 20kg per bay evenly distributed
• Standards: BS EN 12520 and BS EN 12521 for domestic furniture, finish to BS EN 71 part 3, and the tip test in BS 4875
• Edges and fixings: every exposed edge rounded to a 3mm radius, every fixing recessed and capped, and no pinch point anywhere a hand goes
• Assembly: flat packed, about 40 minutes
• Weight: approximately 17.2 kilograms
• Height: 800mm, chosen so a child can see and reach the top
• Bays: three, each 300mm wide
• Fixed shelves, because an adjustable shelf here is a pinch point
• Anti tip restraint supplied and it should be used
• Light enough for a five year old to move, which is deliberate
• Comes apart flat for a move

In the box

• The shelf, flat packed
• Fixed shelves and dividers
• An anti tip restraint
• Corner caps and spares
• A hex key and printed instructions

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.