My Playroom

[DancingQueen]

dcmom - I love that. I have wooden shelves galore downstairs in a pile I just have to buy the brackets to hang them up - that is the plan eventually in that room.

[DancingQueen]

so I made some changes - but more changes are coming.


Here is my train table - now in my living room. I have it set up with cars and car tracks right now and I rotate the train stuff in and out. The pictures were taken during the daycare day so bare with the random toys scattered where they don't belong..LOL



Here is my coat hook in the play room. It holds puppets and dress up clothes. There are several dress up items and accessories missing because my daughter has them in her room this week (long story)



I turned some shelves around to make separate areas. to the right are all of my bins with misc. toys that are zip tied down and that is my "things that move" and free play area. In those bins are blocks, cars, action figures, animals and other misc toys.
to the left is my kitchen area where there are 2 large kitchens and one tiny one and tons of food and dishes


this area was covered in the past with the train table and shelving so the squares didn't go to the wall but we're planning to finish the area



Better view of kitchen area. Above the kitchen is my wall mounted TV. The wires have since been tacked down.

[DancingQueen]

This is my quiet play area. But with my age group it NEVER gets used for that. I have a bean bag chair that I had to take out because all the little ones ever did was take it, walk around with it, or throw it. Same with a foam love seat I had there - any suggestions greatly appreciated. And all they do with the books is take them off the shelf and throw them. REading takes place when we all read together but as an individual station I think my group is too young to utilize it properly. Again - I'll take suggestions.





I'm still not happy with this area. I have a couple of doll house type toys and small little people and characters for it. But the kids just want to drag them all over. I have a large doll house that I can't even leave in the play room because every time I leave the room it ends up fallen over with someone sitting on it. I'm at my wits end with the destruction. I'm hoping that the terminated child being gone will help a little

[DancingQueen]

And here is the larger doll house - i have in my living room with a bunch of little people and dolls for it - but it stays in the living room because I have more control over it not falling over out there.



And here are the fun letters we made with our Cricut. I knwo they are black but they were the only colors we had and the kids love them. This is also our art wall. I just took down last week's art and started with this weeks. At the end of the week I send stuff home and we start over again. The kids love seeing their art displayed



I moved my big shelf out of the play room and into a n empty area of my kitchen and now I use it for what it was intended. I have all my arts and crafts in the bins and my printer up top and paper and daycare documents onthe shelving. The kids have already learned not to touch anything in there without permission since it is in the kitchen and I spend a lot of time in there (because it is betweein the livign room and playroom so I can see everyone) I am able to make sure this rule is followed and they do a great job. As you can see I'm still organizing this shelf.




As you can see I still need some help.

My husband and I are buying brackets this weekend to hang a 12" wide shelf all around the playroom just above the ltters. On the shelf will be clear buckets - labled with extra toys, crafts, linens for daycare etc. So that will be nice. We are also buying more of the colored squuares to finish off the room.

My other nightmare area is my shoe/coat area. I think I found a solutin and we're buying that next week as well.

I take constructive critisim very well and would appreciate it. Please bare in mind my kids are mostly age 2. I have my own 4 year old and another 4 year old starting next week (M,W & F) plus I have one SA but he is here for 1/2 hour tops.

the young ones are really really really making it hard for me to stay organized. They drag all the kitchen gear out of the kitchen area and into my actual kitchen to have tea parties on the kitchen floor. Or they take all the cars out of the bucket and have them all over the entire house. They are too young to be of much help during clean up so most of the work is mine and I just can't stand it some days. So the more organized I can be the easier all of that will become I'm sure.


OH and please remember that I have 1008 sq ft home. so space is ABSOLUTELY an issue

[SandeeAR]

Wow, I wouldn't know what to do with a room dedicated to the day care! Since I have 3 babies and one 2 y/o, I'm able to do this in my den. I have a small 1400 sq ft home. Den, Kitchen, Bath and 2 bedrooms.

[melskids]

looks good! i have one suggestion though, in the quiet reading area, there is a cord running along the wall. i would find a way to move it, or secure it to the wall. they make cord holder thingys that look like tubes with double sided tape to secure to the wall. i only mentioned it cause i know that wouldnt fly here with my licensing...

[SilverSabre25]

Looks pretty good! For the quiet area, my suggestion is to do something similar to what I did for our little "quiet corner"--turn the bookshelf so it's perpendicular to the wall and put it out near the edge, with the shelves facing the other wall, making a little "nook" (I hope this makes sense in print the way it does in my head!). Then get a bunch of pillows (just regular bed pillows) with bright, pretty pillowcases and toss them in the corner and one of those stuffed animal nets hung in the corner above the pillows to make sort of a "roof" over the area and a place for that pile of stuffed things to go. Yes, the pillows will get dragged around, used to make "houses", used to play "naptime" or "picnic" or whatever else, but it's having the suggestion there that's important I think. My kids LOVE our book corner and spend a lot of time in there even when the pillows are elsewhere. Plus, they really enjoy playing with the pillows.

[katie]

The shelf you have with the colored buckets that sit at a slant, I have that too. I found that they just dump those and it becomes a nightmare daily. I put stuffed animals in it instead of the little things and that helped. I def have learned that with that age they are dumpers. You have to minimize what is out for the grabbing to a few options and then rotate the rest in and out. So some higher shelving for that. Walmart/Target have the shelves for 30 or 40 bucks and they are nice. Then you can get rid of the hanging shelf and move the puzzles and some of the "dumpable" items out of reach. I tried the reading area too. They don't use it unless we are reading together either. So put your books again up in visible sight but not dumpable sight. Then I would just open up as much space as possible for them to set up the days or weeks items they can use and let them rip!

[DancingQueen]

he shelf you have with the colored buckets that sit at a slant, I have that too. I found that they just dump those and it becomes a nightmare daily.

that was a problem here too. But someone on this board (sorry i don't remember who) suggested i zip-tie the buckets to the shelf and it has been a LIFESAVER!!!

[gkids09]

I had the same exact problem with my reading area...The kids always threw the pillows and bean bags, or constantly fought over them. So...I replaced them with a twin size mattress. No bed, just the mattress, flat on the floor. They can't pick it up (Heck, I barely can!), so there's no throwing, and I have since made the rule that only two people at a time need to be in the reading area at once. (Three's a crowd, especially when books are involved.) The twin mattress holds two kids perfectly, and they can even be spread out. You could probably also use a crib mattress. Just put a sheet on it so it looks inviting. I also have blankets and pillows on mine, just in case...I have one kid who comes in EVERY MORNING and goes straight to the reading area and goes back to sleep. ha! Hope this helps a little. I like your room

[Preschool/daycare teacher]

I had the same exact problem with my reading area...The kids always threw the pillows and bean bags, or constantly fought over them. So...I replaced them with a twin size mattress. No bed, just the mattress, flat on the floor. They can't pick it up (Heck, I barely can!), so there's no throwing, and I have since made the rule that only two people at a time need to be in the reading area at once. (Three's a crowd, especially when books are involved.) The twin mattress holds two kids perfectly, and they can even be spread out. You could probably also use a crib mattress. Just put a sheet on it so it looks inviting. I also have blankets and pillows on mine, just in case...I have one kid who comes in EVERY MORNING and goes straight to the reading area and goes back to sleep. ha! Hope this helps a little. I like your room

Not trying to hijack, but can you post a picture of your reading area? Or send it in a PM so this thread isn't off topic. That is such a neat idea! I'm trying to set up "centers" but I'm not very creative...
In fact, I think I'm going to go add a new thread for center set ups...