Our "Play Space"

So a friend requested that I blog about our play space so she can see what types of toys/activities we have and utilize and how we set it up. Okay, technically she said "play room" but since it's definitely more than one room (if we're being honest, it's the whole house, though primarily two rooms), I'm going to call it a play space since it seems a bit more appropriate.

Firstly, I'm not like some play space expert. There is no genius that went into setting this all up. It just kind of went where it fit. But anyway. I digress...

So here is what I guess would be the actual "play room" looks like. It is technically a formal dining room, I suppose, but you can see how well that worked out. (Ignore the atrocious wall paper. It's on our list of things to do...some day...it's at the bottom).

This is looking into the play room from the kitchen.

 

 Going in a circle here. B is vacuuming. One of his favorite past times.

 

 And the rest of the play room. You can see into the living room from here where there books and art stuff is, but we'll get there in a sec.

 

 

So because specifics were asked for, here's some close-ups. I apologize for the terrible iPhone pictures in advanced.

 

So here they have a wooden work bench and then a shelf with lots of toys. On the top in the green basket is all their food/kitchen accessories. Their abacus. A puzzle that's too large to fit with the others.

 

The top shelf has first their doctor kit. In the pink monkey box are their dinosaurs and animals. Then the animal bucket and owl box have finger and hand puppets. And the last cubbie is a shape size sorter.

 

The bottom shelf has all their musical instruments in the first little box. You can't see it here, but on the other side of the ride-on toy is their little play piano as well. This way all of their musical stuff is together. The next cubicle has their two pull string toys - a snail and alligator. These toys get so much play time use that I think everyone should have one. Also in the same cubbie is one of those round stacking things. In the next cubbie are two hammering toys. One with pegs, the other has four balls that fall down when they are hammered. B really loves that one. And the last box holds a million and two wooden blocks. Which are the best toys in the world. Seriously.

 

 

 

Okay, so this is like caddy corner to the last shelf. You can see the piano here at the bottom.

 

The top shelf are two large floor puzzles - a farm one and a dinosaur one.

 

The second shelf is a box of lacing beads. Then a box of letter puzzles. And lastly a box of number puzzles.

  

The third shelf holds our lacing cards. These are some serious favorites. We also have wooden stacking animal cubes, and a pink tower.

 

And the bottom shelf has a conglomeration of wooden puzzles which include this, this, this, this, and this. Then there is small boxed puzzle which is great for beginners putting pieced puzzles together. And lastly a box with four puzzles, that is a bit trickier.

 

 

Then they have their play kitchen and way too much food and accessories to even try and tell you about, but does include this, this, and this. They also have their play mailbox, which they loooove.

 



 

Next is the homemade sensory bin. I was too cheap to buy a "real" one so I had J make one instead. It does the job. Painting it on my list of DIY projects before it gets too cold. Underneath is an old lap top. It no longer functions but the kids love playing on it. And we still have a learn and groove table even though it's a bit young for them now, because I just love it and am not ready to part with it, ha!



 

Then we have this little nook. On the wall is this fantabulous felt map that I scored for a whopping $3 at Kohl's! All the pieces are stored in a box on the side of the sensory bin table. All their cars and play vehicles are there on the road rug. The car ramp is a favorite, and we have a different version up in B's room, too.

 

Then we circle around to this shelf (directly across from the car and map nook). The top two bins contain different arts and craft stuff I don't particularly want them to have free access to all the time - paints, sequins, scissors, etc.

 

The seconds shelves contain an animal bucket full of pipe cleaners and wooden beads. Seriously, I would have never thought of getting them this because it seems a bit random, but they freaking love these and play with them every. single. day! So I think everyone should invest in some. Beside that in the plastic container is a fossil digging kit. They're slowly working on it.

 

The third shelves include a book of magnetic animals, as well as a box of magnetic animals and two blue board things that they can stick the animals onto. Beside those is my old iPod speakers that they use as a cash register, and a yellow basket which contains their jump ropes and binoculars.

 

The bottom shelves contain a bin of miscellaneous stuff. Mostly baby dolls clothes and accessories, as well as happy meal toys (yes, we do eat fast food on occasion - okay, way more than I care to admit sometimes). And then there are also three sets of magnetic dress up dolls. These, these, and these. Oh, and their push-cart is there beside the shelf, as well.

 

 

 

Next to that vertical shelf is all of their dress up stuff. Currently it's all on this great dinosaur coat rack that used to be their cousin's, and the smaller pieces are in the little crate below it. I want to get some pegs to stick on the wall to give them better access to all the clothes, since there is a lot more than it seems, and they could access it more easily.

 



 

And the circle around the room is completed with their train table. It's Imaginarium brand, but I got it off Craigslist and cannot actually find it online. We have a super basic wooden train track and this awesome farm set. I eventually want to get them the stables that go with it, and someday, a girl can dream anyway, the whole doll house and city. But they both play with this soooooo much, I think it'd definitely be worth it.

 

Oh, and I should have taken a picture, but above the train table is a ton of kid art. There is a framed painting, some canvas paintings, and a string that I clip their newest pictures to. It's not exactly "high class" wall art, but it's the best wall art in my house, I think!



 

Okay, so then their stuff continues into our living room. They have a book shelf with all of their books. It's a lot of books (that I badly need to organize). I get that. But dude, they read all. the. time. We spend hours reading every day. And they "read" to themselves all the time, too. There really is no such thing as too many books. Seriously.

 

Oh, and those cute little chairs their tia made for them.

 

 

And then they have this little art area on the other side of the reading area. We have this little table for them, so I don't feel too bad that it's been, err, decorated. And this great easel. On the shelf we keep all the "art" stuff that I'm (mostly) comfortable with them utilizing any time. This includes construction paper, coloring books, dry erase books, tons of stickers, crayons, colored pencils, markers, and dot paints.

 

And it keeps going. In between the living room and library couches is their tent. They have bean bags and blankets in there. And oftentimes things I don't want to know about like moldy raisins and curdled milk... Folded up and stored back there is also their tunnel. And also these fantastic blocks.



 

And finally, last but not least, in our very disorganized library they have a book shelf full of their board games and more "academic-y" books, flash cards, counting bears, etc.

 

 

So there you've got it. This is clearly a kids house and J and I are just living in it.

 

I must add that most of this stuff we have been given or gifted by other people. We are truly blessed that we have awesome friends, and the kids have great godparents whose kiddos are a bit older so we get awesome games and toys from them. There are a few things not included in all of this, like H's baby dolls. She has a crib upstairs that my paternal grandfather made me. Her Bitty Twins and double stroller are also hanging out in the living room, and I didn't show that. Or the floor of my library covered with games currently. Trust me, you didn't really want to see that any way.

 

Also, I do realize that they've got it made. But we're also home a lot - especially during the winter months, which are, you know, like 9 months out of the year. And since they are home, and not in daycare part of the day, it all gets utilized. Everything in this house gets played with at least once a week, though if we're home the entire day, typically at least a minimum of once a day. 

 

We are always on the look out for new and cool activities. I love getting ideas from other people, so if you know of something really awesome that we should include, let me know!