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Connections
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| Posted: Feb 04 2010 at 9:22am | IP Logged
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If you were designing a playroom for all ages (baby to pre-teens) with a focus on simplicity what would you put in it?
What toys do you find are revisited again and again?
Any special areas you would set up?
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: Feb 04 2010 at 9:42am | IP Logged
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We remodeled a large room in our basement that we call the "playroom". We have a 16yo son so we wanted to include space for him as well as room for the littles to play. Right now, the room is sort of divided in half. The north west corner is sort of seperated by two couches and a television/VCR/Playstation. Someday, we would like to put a pool table or ping pong table in the north east corner so we had lights installed that would be just above it. The other side of the room is lined with bins of various toys for the other kids. I want to get low shelves to line the wall, but that's a "someday" thing, so the bins are serving the purpose.
The one thing we did that has helped us keep this room in order is to only allow 3 toys out at one time. Everything else is put in our storage room. So, right now, there is a bin of Legos, a bin of army guys, and the huge set of blocks. When the kids want to trade the army guys in for the knights and castle, or something, they are always free to do so. They just have to trade one for the other. This makes clean up easy as well because there is no question regarding where the toys go. Legos go in the Lego bin, blocks go in the block bin, etc. We also have a bin of mixed baby toys along the wall. Our baby is now a toddler and more interested in getting into his brother's stuff though, so we should probably put that bin in the storage area.
Along the back wall of the room is a long table. The kids can do art and crafts here, but they usually choose the kitchen for that. Right now there are two jig-saw puzzles set up on this table that we all add a piece to every now and then. If my dd was younger, I would make sure to have a "baby doll area" set up. She's 10 now though and prefers to keep her stuff in her bedroom.
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Becky
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SusanJ
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| Posted: Feb 04 2010 at 10:08am | IP Logged
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My kids are enormous fans of tinker toys, legos (we still do just duplos) and dress up. We also rotate toys. It cuts down on the clutter so much and helps the toys all get more play.
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: Feb 04 2010 at 10:25am | IP Logged
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I think I would make sure there was a closet or wardrobe that could house the toys being rotated out but have open storage for the few toys that would stay out. I'm a recent convert to toy rotation and love it, but my toys are in the basement, and that's kind of a pain.
I would leave Duplo out all the time as even my husband likes building things with it but the baby likes it too and won't choke. Its our "constant" toy in the boy's room.
I would have a child sized table and chairs as well as a bar height table and chairs(with really sturdy chairs/stools or even floor mounted for safety with baby) so that the big kids could play a game, regular sized legos, or puzzles without the baby getting into it.
I'd have a window seat with tons of pillows and maybe some floor pillows for reading.
Limiting by type is good. Maybe pick so many "types" of toys to rotate in addition to the Duplo: Lego, K'nex, Playmobile, Tinkertoys, Traintrack, Dress-up/playsilks, puzzles, games, Schleich figures, etc...
Limiting by category is also good for communicating to grandparents/relatives for gift-giving ideas. I think it is easier to deal with an onslaught if you know you can chunk the legos in the lego bin with the others, etc... This can also help you keep it simple if you find you need to scale back in the future, if there is already a bunch of one type, parting with some of it is easier. We regifted a "batch" of our Duplo to cousins for Christmas, and our boys helped sort through it and didn't miss what we got rid of.
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SusanJ
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| Posted: Feb 04 2010 at 11:50am | IP Logged
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Lindsay reminded me of something else that has worked well for us. We definitely encourage gift givers to give more of something we already have. Two Christmases ago several relatives added to the very small Duplo stash that my kids were loving but couldn't build much with. This year my dad sent the biggest can of Tinker Toys I've ever seen. This way they can be more creative with a single toy and it is easier to pick up and dump all in one spot. Of course this also mean we can lose 150 Tinker Toys in the couch and not even notice . . .
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LucyP
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| Posted: Feb 04 2010 at 12:10pm | IP Logged
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Definitely a mirror by the dressing up clothes - ours love the mirror.
A big basket (flatter rather than deeper) of random wooden blocks including branch blocks.
Puppets and a facility for a puppet theatre (I made a doorway one)
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: Feb 04 2010 at 1:23pm | IP Logged
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Ditto Lindsay and Susan. We always ask grandparents for the favorites around here - Legos, army guys, Schleich Knights, Craft Supplies, wooden blocks, etc. It really cuts down on the junk toys that pile up in the corners collecting dust. I caved over Christmas and got my son the spyglasses he was begging for. The thrill lasted for about 2 weeks, now they are just sitting on top of the dryer. Meanwhile, he's playing with Legos, army guys,knights, blocks etc. We do have a Thomas the Tank Engine set and I keep wishing they would take interest in that, but they really haven't. My older son has even set up elaborate track configurations for them, hoping they will get interested, and they are as long as he is with them, but by themselves they don't seem to care much for it. 
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Waverley
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A couple of things I would take into consideration when designing a playroom (particularly if you are looking to create simplicity) is color and lighting. I believe these 2 things can really make a difference and set a tone for a room. For example, because our playroom is already a very active space we chose to use a more "relaxing" color on the walls. We also limited the amount of open shelves and artwork on the walls. For us, the visual busyness created a busy atmosphere. In addition, consider installing dimmers on light switches and setting up smaller areas that can be illuminated without having to light up an entire large space. Dimming the lights can really bring down the stimulation level in a room.
I agree with the idea of creating a reading atmosphere - maybe even a reading corner with bean bags/pillows and a bookcase (where the books face out) where you can rotate books.
I love reading this thread. Thanks for starting it.
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Waverley
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Paula in MN
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| Posted: Feb 04 2010 at 3:35pm | IP Logged
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Connections wrote:
| If you were designing a playroom for all ages (baby to pre-teens) with a focus on simplicity what would you put in it? |
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You've gotten great ides for the "stuff" that accumulates. I have one word.....built-ins.
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 Paula
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4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life
Topic: Simplicity in the playroom
