At some point in the spring we did a little face lift to our play room. This room faces the living room and there are no doors. So anyone who comes into our house sees this room. With that in mind, I wanted the space to be stylish but easy to play in.
How We Approach Toys
We only have one toy that is battery operated and it is a toy camera (that my kids are obsessed with). The majority of our toys are wooden with the exception of staple toys like magnatiles or legos. Generally speaking, for the most part, our toys are aesthetically pleasing and do not make noise. This definitely helps my sanity given that the play room is on the first floor most mornings toys are gradually strewn throughout the house.
The kids get new toys on holidays or birthdays from us. We don’t usually buy new toys outside of these celebrations. Both sets of the kids’ grandparents live out of state, and so they’ll get new toys from them about once or twice a year (in addition to holidays and birthdays) over visits. We established pretty early on with grandparents that we don’t do battery operated toys and I’m grateful that both sets of grandparents have honored this request. Toy boundaries are a real thing! At the end of the day, the toys are in your house, not whoever is gifting the toy. I’ve definitely returned toys to grandparents to have them either give to someone else or return to the store. We run a tight ship with toys and it’s served us well.
Once the kids have outgrown toys, we give those toys to a new family! I try to give them to my siblings or C’s siblings and if they don’t need or want them we’ll give them to friends. And if the friends don’t need them, I’ll donate them to a nonprofit. I’m grateful to have an entire playroom, but I only want to keep toys in the room that are actually played with.
Updates We Did After (Almost) A Year
First, we brought down the white mounted shelves and the bookshelves that were hanging in their shared bedroom and hung them in the playroom. It typically takes me a year to understand how we live in a space, and I realized I wanted a dedicated reading corner in the play room. We sold the glider we had from when A was born that was in the play room (Yes, I was so sad about selling this. And no, C didn’t bat and eye and was happy someone was willing to take it) and I bought these AMAZING floor pillows for the kids to sit/lay on when reading. They are stylish and really handle all the rough and tough play from my kids. It’s a little odd to not have a chair or couch in this room, but right now it doesn’t make sense. I’m typically sitting on the floor playing with the kids anyway and a couch or chair would take up space that could be used for building forts, a train track, or playing grocery store.
I bought this table and chairs set that I’m obsessed with (and so are my kids – which I suppose is what actually matters, lol). It can transform into so many different uses. We’ve used it all sorts of ways – from building legos to flipping it on it’s side and turning it into an ice cream shop. It’s so awesome.
The Closet Organization
The closet in this room has the ability to store a lot of things. I didn’t realize how incredible having a closet in the play room would be. Later on in life, I’m sure we will pack this with all the kids gear. For now I’ve designed it to be more montessori style and it essentially houses the toys that don’t really have a spot to sit out in the room. The first shelf is for G and all of her toys are displayed. The next shelf up is for A and is where he stores his leftover legos, and random trinkets and goodies and artwork he collects at school, the dentist, church… iykyk.
Under the bottom shelf are baskets for blankets, all the balls we have (so.many.balls.), and a step stool. On the top shelves are things that get pulled out on rainy days like music makers, play dough, other craft things, or toys that have parts that are tiny and possibly still choking hazards for G.
Playrooms don’t have to be an explosion of toys! They can be functional, happy, messy and fun. And they can be organized and (after everything has been picked up) pretty cute!
