How to Organize a Playroom

Children love to have their own space for their toys, books and dress-up clothes. If you can create a playroom, you'll minimize the late-night Lego injuries as well as defining a clear space for your children to play.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Baskets
• Shelving
• Pen
• Index card or old business card

1. Identify which room you'd like to have as the children's playroom. Perhaps your children are sharing one room to sleep in and the other room is the playroom. Or you might have a guest room that can provide space for the children to play.
2. Place similar types of toys in baskets and label them. Remember to label with pictures as well as words. Not all children are ready or able to read labels, so pictures will go a long way during clean up time.
3. Create a library area. Place board books in a basket and place it on a shelf. Place soft or hard back books on the shelf, too. If you have chairs, set them up near the books so that children have a quiet place to read.
4. Create an arts and crafts area. If you have a child-sized table, put it near a bin or basket with crayons, pens, stickers, glue sticks, blunt scissors and yarn. Your children will revel in their ability make their own art projects.
5. Put dress up clothes in a large basket or pop-up hamper. It's much easier for children to put dress up clothes away in this type of receptacle than to hang up each item.
6. Adorn the walls of the playroom with art that your child has brought home. Not only do the walls provide a great spot for the copious art projects that your child creates, it builds your child's self esteem to see their work displayed so prominently.

Tips & Warnings

• Try to minimize frustration and enable their own clean up skills by providing appropriate places for children to put their toys away.
• Supervise the use of scissors.