Yes please! What’s the deal with ‘yes’ spaces?

Montessori advocates creating what we call a yes space in the home.

A yes space is more than a baby-proofed room, it is essentially a space where we don’t need to keep telling our little one “no, don’t touch that!”. It is a place where they can have the freedom to explore without interruption, where anything that we don’t want our child to be able to manipulate has been removed & where they can play & investigate freely.

This doesn’t have to be an entire room if one isn’t available, utilising baby gates to portion off a section of a room is a great idea – we do want to avoid playpens here as they will limit our little one’s movement & we want them to be able to move around in their yes space.

To make the space as safe as possible, be sure to secure any large furniture to the wall, cover plugs, & move any loose wires. As your little one grows, physically & developmentally, be sure to re-evaluate their yes space to keep an eye on any new dangers that may arise.

A balance of independent play & interaction with a caregiver is also really important, so we try not to overuse this yes space.