Designing and furnishing a toddler classroom is a meaningful investment in early learning. Each item you bring into your space creates a safe, nurturing environment where young children can explore, move, and grow. No matter if you're opening a new center or updating an existing classroom, thoughtful planning at the beginning of this process will ensure you stay on budget and choose items that support the needs of both children and educators.
So, how much does it cost to create a safe, developmentally appropriate space for toddlers? In this article, you'll explore a full cost breakdown, including furniture items and manipulatives, so that you will have a clear, confident picture of what you can expect to pay as you make purchases for your space.
How did we calculate the cost breakdown in this article?
When calculating the cost of a high-quality toddler classroom, we based our calculations on a class size of 12 children ages 12 to 24 months old. This enrollment size aligns with recommended adult-to-child ratios for toddlers and reflects common licensing standards in most states. When choosing manipulatives and other learning materials for this cost breakdown, we chose developmentally appropriate products that support toddlers' unique learning needs and daily routines.
How much does it cost to furnish a toddler classroom?
From soft seating and durable storage units to learning materials and rest time supplies, the items on this list were carefully chosen to create safe, engaging, and developmentally enriching learning environments for toddlers of all strengths and abilities.
Lockers and Cubbies
To accommodate your classroom of 12 toddlers, you will need to provide 12 separate cubbies or lockers for personal storage. Items from home, like a diaper bag for younger toddlers, need a designated space to keep germs from spreading . It also helps teachers quickly and easily locate each child’s belongings, saving them valuable time and energy. While many variables affect pricing, like materials, sizes, and configurations, you can expect to pay anywhere between $1500 and $2200 for the locker or cubby storage needs for your toddler classroom.
Classroom Tables & Seating
Tables and seating in a toddler classroom are essential for supporting early learning and development. These versatile pieces of toddler furniture play a key role in classroom routines like snack time, sensory play, art projects, and group activities. For children 12-24 months you will need tables that are 14” tall and chairs that are between 6”-9” tall. In a well-equipped toddler classroom for 12 children, depending on the size, material, and features like rounded edges or adjustable heights you will need to budget between $1300 and $1600 for classroom tables and chairs.
Dining and Mealtime
In a toddler classroom meal and snack times are not just about physical nourishment, they provide opportunities for social interactions and ways to practice life skills such as table manners and healthy eating habits. Make sure you are setting your class up for success as you set the table with sippy cups, toddler silverware sets, plates, bowls, and placemats. Remember to keep bibs on hand for days when mealtime gets a bit messy. Mealtime supplies for a classroom of 12 toddlers will cost anywhere from $300 to $500
Cots & Mats
Toddlers need a comfortable place to recuperate. Make sure they get the rest they need with comfy cots or mats. For a class of 12 children, you want at least 12 mats or cots. You will also want a cot carrier to store them in a safe and sanitary way. You can expect to pay between 600 to $900, depending on the type of cots or mats you choose.
Gliders and Rockers
Comfortable gliders and rockers give teachers a place for one-to-one interactions with toddlers such as when they need soothing or want to read together. While toddlers are gaining independence, they still look to their teachers for emotional reassurance. You will want gliders with rounded edges, no exposed moving parts, and easy-to-clean upholstery. Depending on the style and how many you include in your classroom, plan to spend between $500 and $1,000 on this important piece of nurturing classroom furniture.
Carpets and Rugs
Carpets are more than cozy additions—they’re essential for a well-designed toddler classroom. Soft, durable carpets help define learning areas, provide important sensory input, and create a safe, comfortable surface for play, movement, and early group activities like circle time. For toddlers aged 12-24 months, carpets also support gross motor development and offer a clear visual cue for gathering and transitions—all while reducing noise and promoting a calm, organized learning environment. You will want at least one carpet in your classroom but larger spaces can fit 2 or more carpets plus runners for the walkways. Depending on variables like room size and what kind of material your carpets are made of a reasonable estimate for carpets for your classroom is $600 to $1200
How much does it cost to fill the learning centers of your toddler classroom?
Learning centers support toddlers' development by offering hands-on exploration, language growth, and foundational cognitive skills through play-based, developmentally appropriate experiences. As you stock your classroom's various learning centers, you want to ensure you choose age-appropriate, enriching materials, including storage options, while also making sure you have planned materials for each center's unique needs.
Storage Units & Containers
Storage units are essential for creating a safe, organized, and toddler-friendly learning environment. At this age, children thrive in spaces that are calm, consistent, and clutter-free—making accessible, developmentally appropriate storage a must. Look like Look for storage solutions that encourage easy clean up and toddlers’ independence with low shelves and storage containers, like shallow baskets, that initiate discovery moments. Be sure to include at least one lockable cabinet for the teacher’s use to safely store items like cleaning supplies or personal materials. Expect to spend $3000 to $3800 on high-quality storage solutions that support both safety and daily routines.
Literacy Learning Center
Literacy learning centers in a toddler classroom play a foundational role in supporting language development, early communication skills, and emergent literacy behaviors. Literacy centers in the classroom nurture curiosity about illustrations, vocalizingsounds, and storytelling—all of which lay the groundwork for later reading and writing. You will want sturdy age-appropriate board books, storytelling props like puppets or soft toys, book displays, and activities that introduce toddlers to the alphabet. Your literacy center should be a comfortable, calming space with carpets and soft seating. For a classroom of 12 toddlers you can estimate the materials that support literacy to cost between $800 to $1000
Block Play Learning Center
Toddlers are developing coordination, strength, and precision. Block play helps build both gross motor skills (carrying, stacking large blocks) and fine motor control (grasping, aligning smaller blocks). Block play also invites toddlers to experiment with cause and effect, spatial reasoning, and early math concepts like size, shape, balance, and quantity. Stock your block play center with materials including soft and wooden blocks, easy to grasp wooden figures, vehicles, and display photos of real-life buildings and architectural inspirations. Invest in a wide variety of materials that you can rotate in and out of your center to keep block play fresh and engaging. Because there is such a wide variety of block sets made of vastly different materials, the price fluctuates greatly, but you can expect a fully stocked block center to run between $500 to $900
Dramatic Play Learning Center
Dramatic play is a powerful tool for learning in toddler classrooms. While toddlers are just beginning to explore pretend play, this stage marks the foundation for social understanding, language development, and emotional growth. A well-designed dramatic play center provides toddlers with meaningful, developmentally appropriate opportunities to make sense of their world through imitation and exploration. The most expensive part of a dramatic play center is the play pretend furniture, but you can mix-and-match the furniture pieces to achieve the right balance for your classroom. For a complete furniture set that includes a dramatic play refrigerator, stove, sink, microwave, wooden doll highchair, armoire, and a wall-mounted mirror so toddlers can see themselves emulating adults, you would need to plan for $1600 to $2100
For the miscellaneous dramatic play materials like costumes, props, and pretend food the ballpark figure runs from $700 to $900.
Altogether, a toddler dramatic play center could cost between $2300 and $3000 depending on your inclusions.
Art Learning Center
Art in toddler classrooms is not about the final product—it’s about exploration, expression, and development. For toddlers, the process of creating with their hands is a rich, sensory experience that supports growth across many domains like cognitive, motor, language, and social-emotional development. Fill your art center with a variety of supplies like chunky crayons, washable finger paints, paint brushes with thick handles, large, non-toxic stampers and ink pads, dough, and rollers, and smocks. Remember, if it is a consumable item like paint or paper, you will need to plan to restock it regularly. To give your classroom of 12 toddlers a good starter art supply, you will need to budget $600 to $800
STEM Learning Center
STEM—Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math—might sound advanced for 12–24-month-olds, but toddlers are natural scientists. They explore the world by observing, touching, and testing cause-and-effect relationships. Invest in toys that utilize stacking, fitting, and balancing, as well as colored counters like an abacus, puzzles, and cause-and-effect toys like toddler-safe switches or buttons that produce sounds or light. STEM explorations that use a sand or water table or a light table offer multi-sensory ways to explore our world that are particularly engaging for toddlers. Make sure you have a large enough inventory of these toys and materials to rotate in and out of your center to keep play fresh and engaging. For a class of 12 toddlers, a fully equipped STEM center, depending on various materials and whether or not you include a larger light or sand or water table, can cost between $700 to $2000
Music and Movement Learning Center
Music supports cognitive, social-emotional, physical, and language development in children ages 12–24 months. A well-designed music center offers toddlers opportunities to move, explore sound, and express themselves—often before they even have the words to do so. Invest in age-appropriate instruments like: shakers, maracas, tambourines, castanets, rhythm sticks, bells, drums and xylophones with safe, rounded mallets. You will also need a way to play music, which can be a CD player with CDs or Bluetooth speaker that connects to a computer or mobile device with preloaded playlists. You can expect a music center for a class of 12 toddlers to be between $300-$600
Fine Motor and Manipulatives
Manipulatives encourage toddlers to grasp, pinch, twist, stack, and turn—all actions that strengthen the small muscles in their hands and fingers. These muscles are essential for later self-help skills like feeding and dressing. Invest in manipulatives and fine motor activities like: stacking toys, nesting cups, wire mazes with colorful beads, shape sorters, knobbed puzzles, and snap-together toys. As with most centers, you want a large enough inventory that you can rotate materials in and out of the center to keep play fresh and engaging. For a class of 12 toddlers, you can estimate that your fine motor/manipulatives center will cost between $600 and $900
What can you expect to spend on a toddler classroom?
If you add up all the furniture, essential supplies, and various learning center materials, you will get a ballpark figure of $13,600 to $20,400 for a classroom that exceeds expectations and gives the children in your care the quality education they deserve.
Now that you have a clear picture of what goes into building a high-quality toddler classroom, let Kaplan make the next step even easier. Our ready-to-use classroom shopping lists are designed to help you furnish classrooms of all sizes, age groups, and learning goals—without the guesswork. Need a customized quote or help choosing items that meet state licensing requirements and early childhood best practices? Connect with your local Kaplan Representative and they will gladly provide expert guidance tailored to your exact needs. Let’s bring your vision to life, together!
