What Is a Learning Tower?

Kitchen helper, step stool, toddler tower, climbing stool, Montessori tower. The names and the styles vary, but every one of them exists for the same reason — to let a small child reach a worktop comfortably and safely, so that they can take part in whatever is going on. A learning tower is enclosed on all four sides, and those rails are the point: they support a child who is standing, and they stop them stepping off the edge.

Learning towers are popular in the Montessori community, where the method is built on child-led activity with the aim of supporting and developing independence. Child-led does not mean a child may do whatever they like — it means the environment answers their stage of development, and that within it they are free to act on their own. This is where a kitchen helper comes in: a way to climb up to the counter and offer yourself as sous-chef, or up to the basin to brush your first teeth. Safely, and within reach.

Does Our Family Need One?

Stepping out of the LAKALUK role for a moment and answering as a mother of two, aged three and one: a climbing stool has been both a joiner-together and, honestly, a babysitter. My children and I are the best team in the kitchen. They climb to the basin and wash their hands themselves, and I do not have to lift them there. What parent has not daydreamed of cooking without a small person hanging off one leg, where splashing in the sink buys another ten minutes of your own time?

Nobody is stopping you using a chair, a box or something else instead. But with those the height is rarely right — and, most importantly, it is the enclosure that gives you the peace of mind that what is happening is controlled and safe.

What Can You Use It For?

  • Doing it together. Children want to help and they want to be included. Lift a child to your height and you give them the chance to do — and to develop through everyday work.
  • Cooking and baking. The kitchen helper is named for a reason; this is where it gets used most. Washing vegetables, stirring batter — everyday tasks that build coordination and concentration almost as a side effect.
  • A small helper with the chores. Sorting laundry, washing fruit, even washing windows. Why not.
  • The joy of running water. Washing hands and faces, brushing teeth, admiring your own reflection while you are at it.
  • The view from higher up. Something as simple as a new and higher vantage point — one of the reasons being carried is so good — supports the developing senses.
  • Art and making things. Put a project on the worktop, water and mess included, and you can carry on with your own tasks while keeping an eye on it.

And a reminder worth repeating: a learning tower is designed to be used safely and is certainly safer than a chair or a step bench, but it still needs an adult present.

Material and Design: What to Look For

1. The Material

The most common material for learning towers is plywood — but there is plywood and there is plywood. A learning tower is a practical object and cleaning it should be quick and actually possible, so pay attention to how the plywood has been finished. Plywood that has simply been painted or oiled is how a maker saves on material: over time moisture and dirt soak into it and it becomes hard to clean. The practical answer is factory film-coated plywood, which is hygienic and so easy to clean that water and a cloth leave the surface looking new every time.

2. Tower, Table-and-Chair, or Folding?

There are three kinds. First, the plain tower. Second, the table-chair tower: in one position it works as a learning tower, and a couple of simple movements turn it into a table and chair sized to the child, which supports that same independence in practical everyday tasks. Third, if there is not much room at home, a folding tower that can be put away quickly when it is not in use.

When Can My Child Start Using It?

Depending on the child’s height and development, twelve months is the ideal moment to start — with a parent present, as above. For some children a little earlier, for some a little later. Commenting as a parent rather than as a shop: our own child was interested at ten months, mostly in getting to the basin. We let her use it more independently at a year.

What Sets LAKALUK Towers Apart

There are several learning tower makers, in Estonia too, and the choice is wide depending on budget, needs and taste in design. Parents who value doing things alongside their child, and who care about practicality, tend to love ours — because:

  1. They offer a safe way to climb higher, and it is safe up there: rails are fixed on all four sides.
  2. They are easy to assemble. So far there has not been one mother or father who could not manage it.
  3. They are made of film-coated birch plywood, which means the tower is moisture-resistant and, oh, so easy to clean. Every parent’s dream.
  4. They are good-looking, practical and functional, in several designs and three colours.
  5. They are designed and made in Estonia, by hand, in our own workshop.

See all our learning towers