S/O What is a playroom?

[mackmama]

I've been thinking about turning a room in our house into a playroom but wanted some clarification.

-At what age is a playroom useful?
-If you have a playroom, do your kids *only* play in there - or does a playroom just mean that's where the toys go after playing with them in other parts of the house?
-Can the toys leave the room at any time?

[Nicsmom]

We have a small room next to the kitchen that we turned into a playroom. That's where 90% of the kids' toys are. That's where the kids are supposed to play, and toys should stay there always. They play there very often but not always. Also, sometimes toys overflow to the rest of the house. I tell DS1 (DS2 is 20 mo so he still does not get it)that if a toy leaves the playroom it should return to the playroom when he's done playing with it. It doesn't always happen but in general he does follow this rule. The problem is DS2 who does not understand this concept yet.

[hillview]

We have a small room next to the kitchen that we turned into a playroom. That's where 90% of the kids' toys are. That's where the kids are supposed to play, and toys should stay there always. They play there very often but not always. Also, sometimes toys overflow to the rest of the house. I tell DS1 (DS2 is 20 mo so he still does not get it)that if a toy leaves the playroom it should return to the playroom when he's done playing with it. It doesn't always happen but in general he does follow this rule. The problem is DS2 who does not understand this concept yet.
:yeahthat:

[KrisM]

Our playroom has recently been changing. For a long time, it held only toys and most of the kids' toys were there. They'd bring them to other rooms, but they got put away in the playroom.

Now, we have a computer on a kid sized desk that is theirs to use, a TV, and beanbags for TV watching. It holds all the games as well. Most of their other toys are now in bedrooms. They still come out and into the family room, but they go away in bedrooms.

I imagine in a few years, as there are fewer and fewer toys in the house, the playroom will be more of a game room and homework space. As they grow into preteens and teenagers, it will likely be a spot for TV and homework, etc. I don't think it will be our room until the last leaves the house :).

[daisymommy]

In our house, we only had DS when we moved in, and he was 2. But we started right off with setting up a playroom for him.

Our living room is very small, so we only have a smaller IKEA bookcase in one corner with a few baskets of toys on it, but it's not alot. If it can't fit there, we don't allow it in the living room. There just isn't space, and it creates a feeling of clutter and claustrophobia. Our house layout is weird. It has multiple very small rooms on the main level. I don't know what we were thinking when we bought it. I wish we could tear down a bunch of walls and make it more functional.

The kids have their own rooms, but that's where my older kids keep their small toys where the baby/toddler can't get to them (Legos) and fragile projects they don't want ruined, or special toys. Not a common play area for them + siblings.

Our playroom is large, and and is a place they all 3 can go get noisy and it doesn't bother me so much. It has large things that don't fit anywhere else. It's "the" place to hang out in our house for the kids :)

Home Play are:
Play Kitchen, table set and chairs, doll bed & dolls, stroller, shopping cart, dress up box and mirror on wall.

Wooden train table and train set.

Block building corner, with a short bookcase filled with wooden blocks, and a rug in front to sit down on and build/play. Baskets of city blocks, cars, people, pretend trees, etc.

Bookcase filled with puzzles, activities, games, puppets and a puppet stage next to it.

Playset area, with wooden farm, dollhouse, castle, etc. and people, accessories.

[Simon]

The #1 use in our house: its where we send kids + friends to play so adults can relax/converse in the living room.

Secondary, its a play space distinct from bedroom/sleeping space and gives older sibs a place to play while littles are sleeping.

[abh5e8]

ours is the basement...its where big toys go. rocking horse, bouncy horse, trampoline, all the ride on toys, basket ball, baby swings (hang from ceiling), easal and paints, play house and tent. its a huge open room with laundry at one end. there are also a few boxed toys, like a rice box and other sensory type toys.

upstairs, most toys live in the hall closet and they play in the living room. books are in the office and they have baby dolls/beds in the bedroom.

[lhafer]

I moved my 22 month old into my almost 6 year old's room a few months ago, and turned the nursery into the playroom. There are pictures of it on here if you search by my name.

We have a 1 story house, and the toys were always in the living room. I was sick of it. It has worked out very well so far. Sometimes toys make it back into the living room, but DD1 knows she's supposed to put them away. I foresee living it like this for a few more years.

They play in there together and separately. And many times it will be too quiet, and I look and they are in the play room playing quietly. It's great that they play in there because it's the front room of the house, and the kitchen/living room are towards the back of the house.

[buddyleebaby]

Our playroom is the sun room, which is right off the kitchen. Its main purpose is to give the kids a place to play on the main floor other than the living room. Toys/games are allowed out of the playroom but elaborate "set-ups" have to stay in there. When my son was younger, we used the playroom as the place for baby safe toys, and a space upstairs as the place to play with toys that were not. Now that he is older, most things are mixed together.

In our playroom we have a play kitchen and play food, a futon and armchair, assorted toys in a bucket organizer (trains, legos, cars, magnatiles, play-doh, etc.). We have two large shelving units that hold books (and books and books), art/craft supplies, puzzles, and board games. We have a small craft table and chairs. There is an old tv, vcr and tapes from the library, and a nintendo gamecube.

The rest of their toys- imaginext sets, ag dolls, barbies, my son's train table, stuffed animals, little ponies, figurines, action figures, etc. are all in their room(s).

[ellies mom]

For us, the playroom is where the toys live. Their big toys (play kitchen, doll house, etc) are in there along with a play table, bookcase and futon (it doubles as a guest room). Building toys tend to stay in there all the time because that is where the table is. Their favorite toys tend to gravitate downstairs and are played with there. We keep a tote in the living room that I toss those toys into and every few days, they get put back into the playroom and the cycle starts over again.

ETA- We've had a dedicated play area since DD1 was pretty young mostly because we had the space but originally it was "my area" as well. The girls go through phases where they play in there a lot and when they don't. My oldest is more likely to just go in there and read but the youngest has always played in there more. She is more of my "toy/doll child"

When I'm really struggling with getting them to keep it picked up, I toy around with getting rid of it. But because it also functions as a very needed guest room, it kind of limits how well it functions for other purposes such as a craft room. So instead I just did a pretty brutal purge and got rid of a lot of the toys that did nothing but lay on the ground and the stuff that I hated. Right now, they are keeping it pretty well picked up so I'm letting it live. As DD2 gets older and uses the big toys less, I can see moving the toys in her room and doing a full blown re-do of that room.

[maestramommy]

Our kids play in the playroom about 50-75% of the time. They also watch TV in there:p Sometimes they play in the livingroom, esp. in the winter because the woodstove is in there. All of their toys are in the playroom, no where else. They can bring them to the livingroom, but afterwards it has to go back.

[mousemom]

We have a play room and for us it mostly just where the toys live. Mostly, DS takes things out of the play room and plays with them in the living room. But when we are done playing, they go back to the play room. In our house, the play room is off the living room and kitchen, but not in eye sight of the kitchen, so I don't think DS likes to play in there alone. We do have a table in there that we use for play dough or other crafts. It has also worked well when we have friends over to play.

[AnnieW625]

We do not have a dedicated playroom do the girls toys are confined to their Ikea Trofast containers in their room. Most of their toys have to stay in their room because we do not have space for them. DD1 also has an old pop up hamper that she has stuffed animals in. We have a really small Fisher Price block table that has some Mega Blocks in it in our living room. DD2's anywhere chair, and a small wooden table with two chairs is also in our living too
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[mackmama]

Ok cool - your descriptions have helped me figure out how a space in our house could function as a playroom when DC gets a little older - I'm thinking about 2yo. I like the idea that toys live in the playroom, can come out, but then have to be put back away. I love the idea of less clutter in the LR! I also *really* like the idea of a playroom for playdates.