I’m Megan Holden, the owner and founder of The Treasure Trove. I am a stay at home mum to two little boys, Alfie who was born October 2020 and Freddie who was born January 2022. I am passionate about education and child development and have a background in Education; where I have spent almost 10 years as a Primary School Teacher, teaching a range of ages. 

Before becoming a teacher, I studied Psychology, with particular interest in cognitive psychology and also developmental and behavioural psychology. This is really where my passion for child education, child behaviour and child development first started to come to light. 

Prior to my teaching career, I worked in several Early Childhood Centres, did A LOT of babysitting and nannying and have also worked, managed and supervised several After School Cares and Holiday Programmes. I have always enjoyed working with children and have developed a real passion for their education in every area (social, academic, developmental, motor, emotional education etc).

My background in working with children has paved the way for where I am today. 

I am now a stay at home mum to two young boys and I absolutely love it. I especially love that I can apply everything that I have learnt and everything I understand about children and their education and development into my own parenting, and am able to use quality resources and toys to help with this, thanks to The Treasure Trove. We are a montessori family, where we adhere to montessori philosophies within our home. I have set up The Treasure Trove with the intention to support core montessori principles within classrooms and within the home as well.

In our family, we use everything that we sell at The Treasure Trove so that it gets a genuine stamp of approval from real children within the home. I often share examples and snippets of my boys enjoying the products on my social media platforms: @thetreasuretrove.co.nz (facebook and instagram).

How did this business come about?

The idea sparked when Alfie (my oldest) was about 6 months old and I started to really look more in depth into the Montessori Philosophy. I fell in love with the values, education and the philosophy as a whole, so I started to apply the method to our everyday life at home. 

Also at 6 months old, Alfie was starting to need new toys that provided a new level of interaction. I wanted toys that were engaging, thought provoking and had an educational component. I searched the shops but was getting fed up with continually coming across plasticy toys that had lights, buttons and all the gadgets but all they did was entertain the child, not engage and have them interact; which is what I was after (there is nothing wrong with these toys, they were just not what we were looking for and didn’t align with our family values and philosophies). With all the research I was doing into the Montessori method, I also really wanted toys that aligned with those core principles.

As I continued to grow my understanding of The Montessori Theory, I started to search even more for toys and activities that aligned. So after a lot of searching and frustration, I decided that I would just go and do it myself. I found some amazing suppliers and have been testing all the products and books that come in on Alfie and Freddie -who have been having the best time!

I decided to make The Treasure Trove Montessori-INSPIRED, rather than straight Montessori, because I wanted some flexibility within the store. All the products I have chosen to sell have some element of Montessori in mind, whether it is classed as ‘traditional’ montessori or not. We are also not a classroom, and I hold that in my mind whenever I search for montessori inspired products. I really want this business to reflect the reality within the home as well as being educational and engaging for all children.  

You do not need to be a Montessori parent to enjoy the benefits of these toys, activities and books. My intention for all the products is that they can be enjoyed and offer educational benefits to all children, regardless of whether the family is a Montessori family or not. 

Enjoy browsing our store. Everything that we sell has been selected with a lot of thought, love and passion! If you have any questions or would like any recommendations -or even a personal shopper, please reach out to me, I would love to help. Contact me via email: inquiries@thetreasuretrove.co.nz

You can also visit the activities pages for age appropriate ideas on a range of activities you could be doing with your child. (These are being updated all the time so keep coming back to them!)