When I was a child, one of my fondest memories was when we had been out or at school and coming home to our playroom all clean, organized and change around from the way it had been!! Haha, silly I know. But I remember that feeling of 'WOW, this is really special'...and it gave us the incentive to keep it that way!
I must admit, my mum was the playroom queen!! We lived in a small 3 bedroom one bathroom house, so my sister and I shared one room and the other was our playroom.
Its funny how these days our houses are getting bigger and bigger, but as a child you don't care weather you lived in a 3 bed, 1 bath or a 5bed, 2bath, study, games etc... Its about how you make that playroom or even if its just a 'play corner' a special and interesting place for your child.
Our house at the moment has a front room and a living area... Boyd and I have always enjoyed our 'theatre' room in previous houses but its now time to put the theatre on the back-burner while our kids are young and prioritize a playrooms for our kids!
Here is how ours is set up (at the moment), I try and change it around every 6 weeks. Change your playroom around often! Your kids will love it!
I'm sorry the photos aren't good quality...my camera is stuffed. But here they are anyway...
The baskets in the bottom shelf have different toys in them.
From left to right
- Drawing papers and pencil case
- Balls
- Cars
- Wooden building blocks
- Play dough and utensils
- Soft toys
- Kitchen toys
- Instruments
And the self above is Luke's bigger more major toys and books on the top. I've hung a nice bright picture canvas which I picked up from a friends garage sale above. A gorgeous bright mat on the floor to brings it all together! The shelving is from IKEA and mat is from Spotlight.
We have a lounge that we (the adults) can sit on, or its great if you have other kids over. Throw on some nice bright cushions to match it with the rest of the room.
Chalk board in one corner, drawing table in another and our 'band corner' is in the other!
I have also hung a few bright and educational posters around the room!
Its so easy to keep your playroom clean and organized if you and the kids tidy up and put all the toys away before lunch and then before dinner/bed. Luke knows he cant just throw any toy in any basket. If a ball has to go away, he looks for the basket with the other balls...they really do learn very quickly!
Dont get 'over it' and just chuck anything in any basket! I know it can be tempting at times, but if you stay on top of it, it wont be hard to maintain!
The red tub we keep under the TV is for all those small toys you can't label and put in a box! One Box for those toys only!! If the box/tub overflows...its time for a throw out!! Every time I do a playroom change around I go through the toys and throw out ALL MacDonald take out toys, toys that are broken, or toys with lost pieces!
I don't have any toys in Luke's bedroom. It keeps the line between bed and play very distinct. Mum did this with us too when we were kids and I now think its great! It also means ALL the toys stay in one place!
Yes Luke can bring toys out to the living room during the day, but at lunch and dinner, all the toys go away into the playroom!
My mum also put a big plastic tub in the laundry cupboard with toys we were over playing with. Then in a month or two she would bring it out. It was like Christmas and all of a sudden we loved those toys again! This is a great idea... I haven't done it yet, but definitely one I will in the future.
Luke today having a 'quiet time' watching Play School
I hope this helps you with your playroom or play corner organization!!
Let me know your ideas and tips too!!
Go on, off you go, clean, tidy and rearrange the playroom, I know you want too :)
