Designing Indoor Natural Play Spaces Part 2

In part 1 of this article I talked about all the concepts to keep in mind for designing your play space. Now I will share with you my tricks to have fun, affordable, natural play spaces and beat the boredom without the use of screens.    

Anything can be Anything: Similar to designing outdoor nature play spaces, using the concept of open ended play objects will get you far in the imaginative play world. These objects are simple and free or cheap. Some of my staple items are a basket of silk scarves,  sets of different sized branches lined up in neat stacks for building fairy shelters, and  good old-fashioned wooden blocks. The sky is the limit with these open-ended play objects. For a long time sweetpeas favorite thing to play with was string or rope. She used it to hoist up blanket forts. Sometimes it was a tail wagging behind her as she galloped like a horse. Sometimes the rope pulled a stuffed pet rhino around the house as she took it for a walk. I thought to myself at first, what is my child going to do with rope? Every time I cleaned up I would find the rope we have for camping out on the floor. I kept putting it back in the closet with the camping gear and next thing I knew it was out again, being happily used. I finally conceded and it has lived in our toy box ever since.  

When In Doubt, Get Boxes Out: Empty boxes are by far our best go-to, imagination, boredom toy. With some scissors, tape and markers and just a few tweaks you can have a whole city laid out before you, complete with crawl spaces and drawbridges. My children regularly make cozy kitchens, tiny dollhouses and pet stores from a stack of old cardboard boxes. I have a small pile I keep in a corner of our sun porch, ready for use at all times. I also keep a few smaller cereal or granola bar boxes to complete all the fine details. I recently kept a clear, to go, dessert box and found it the next day full of painted on brown squares of cardboard. Sweet pea was selling brownies.  If boredom strikes I send them to the recycling bin.

Tiny Nature Treasures: My favorite things to display are tiny nature treasures. My young people are often finding beautiful things to awe over in nature. Displaying their finds is a true value to them and our commitment to a healthy, green planet. A great way to display these finds is in a wooden utensil organizer. These boxes have many small compartments that fit lots of different sized objects. They make everything beautiful and accessible. We found an old wooden toy tray at a thrift store that once housed wooden dolls. It made a perfect nature display tray. I added a magnifier to the tray to get an even closer perspective and a tiny basket to collect things in. Little pickle loves to fill the basket with the shells we collected on the beach from our trip to the coast this summer. I used to look at delicate trays like this and think, that will all end up broken and trashed on the floor by the end of the day. What I have witnessed is that objects lovingly put together often have a certain amount of gentleness associated with them. When the children help find the natural materials they are less inclined to play rough with them. Our nature tray does not get played with in the same ways the baby dolls do but it adds that element of peace, beauty and nature imagery to the play space that we all seem to enjoy.

The 4 Month Rule:  In an effort to only keep what we really play with, every four months I sort through our toys and figure out what they have grown out of and what needs to be retired. Before I give away anything I think my children have grown out of I hide it away in a closet for four months. I give them this long to notice that it has gone and ask about it. If after the four months no one has noticed I decide to give it away. My oldest is particularly sensitive to anything being given away so I started this as a way to purge without having a big argument about it. I also do this with artwork and paperwork. I would like to apply the same method to sorting through my own paperwork and I am slowly getting there. It is hopeful to see my daughter’s neat stacks of paperwork and in time my own will also be organized.

It is totally possible to have a small number of well-loved toys that tend toward the natural and inspire imagination. With a little creativity and organization, you can live in an uncluttered home that shows off your style and meets the needs of adults and children alike. If you want to learn about designing natural outdoor play spaces please check out my other blog post on this.  Good luck and happy designing!

Designing Indoor Natural Play Spaces Part 1

So many parents I know, myself included hate the weird, loud, plastic toys that are so prevalent in childhood toy manufacturing today. So many parents I know also can’t afford to get the eco or wooden versions of toys on the market that cost an arm and a leg. What is a parent to do? I have not completely solved this conundrum but I have set up a playroom in the heart of our home, that is fun, playful, imaginative and a space I want to hang out in as well as the children. A few tips from books and learning from Lifeways, an early childhood program that centers around making homelike, natural spaces for children to be in, has helped me to create both function and order in my kids favorite play-space, the Den. 

Design for you and them: Design a space you like to be in that incorporates your children’s playthings. Your children might be drawn to different activities, try to design the space so that it follows their lead but is also easy to clean and put away at the end of the day. An ideal play space let’s children really get into their play but also is pleasant for you to look at and a place for you to be. 

The young child wants to be close to their parents while they play, they learn through mimicry and often play in a way that imitates the parent’s activity. The more the toys are similar to what you use and things you like to see, the more harmonious your home will feel. Also remember to keep in mind their favorite activities. I accessed what my children were most drawn to playing with. When I saw their biggest interests I narrowed the playing field so I did not have too many options available at once. 

Display is key: If children can’t see the toys they tend to do the “dump everything out” game instead of actually playing with the toys. The way I store toys is by category in baskets, all transportation toys go in an old milk crate that has been labeled and has a picture. We use one of those Ikea book shelves that line the walls with small squares to fill with basket storage or mini displays. The top two rows are dedicated to adult things including a family altar, art books and picture albums as well as a basket filled with our home tools and hardware. The bottom 2 shelves are dedicated to the children’s playthings. Milk crates make great sturdy tubs that are easy to take out and see through. Pretty, square, baskets display things and also make it easy to take out. These can often be found at thrift stores. If you can’t find them used, the new ones are a good investment, they last, have the beauty in your home factor and can be used for dozens of things.

Limit the Screens: It takes a concerted effort to not let screens take over your child’s world these days. Every family is different in what makes sense for them around screen time. What we have figured out for us is we limit the kind of screens, what is seen on them and for how long. Sweetpea and Little Pickle are allowed to watch shows on the TV for up to 2 hours on the weekend, 1 hour on a school night. That is it.  We recently started letting our 7 year old play an educational game on the computer, she can decide if she wants to play the game or watch a show for the allotted time. We don’t do hand held or personal video game devices. Media is public and in view of the parents. We weed out shows for weird messages and incorrect information. I often end screen time by watching the last few minutes of the show with my children, that way we transition together to the next activity. The TV lives in our adult living room away from the children's play things. When its not in use we put the TV to sleep by putting a pretty cloth over it.

Art Table: For Sweetpea, my 7 year old daughter, her art table is the heart of her play. A whole corner of the den is dedicated to all her tinkering. She also has the majority of one closet to collect her supplies.  The base of the art table is a thrift store table and chair covered in an old Mexican oilcloth. I love oilcloth for its beauty and function. It’s so easy for her to make a mess and clean it up while still having a nice space to be creative. I have a few different sized boxes on the table for her to collect all her supplies in and half finished projects. There are several little buckets filled with markers, tape and scissors giving her easy access and clean up for these items. I also bought a set of those little drawers that can live on top of her desk for all the random bits and bobs she collects for collage. Above the desk is two push pins holding up a ribbon with clothespins. This is a way to display some of her recent creations. A collection of various artwork of her choosing goes up on the ribbon and is switched out monthly. The table is often covered in scraps of cardboard and ribbon or a stack of old catalogs waiting to be collaged. This is her artistic spot and part of giving her creative freedom means I try not to control it too much. Still she knows the rule, art always happens at the art table, so no messy painting projects for me to help clean up anywhere but on that table.

Play Kitchen & House: Little Pickle, my 2-year-old daughter, is more random in her interests. A toddler seems to like variety in their play so they need to have a few options readily available. The one thing I see her come back to over and over is playing house and caring for babies. We made an affordable, small kitchen set from an Ikea hack for sweetpea’s second birthday. The kitchen sits nicely in the corner of the playroom with a basket of fake food and dishes that can be used with it. I collected this food over time, selecting the wooden and metal pieces from different consigned sets and getting some of it from friends as presents.

Instead of plastic cribs and gear for her babies we use baskets found at thrift stores. We line them with handkerchief blankets and old swaddle cloths. These make pretty and cozy beds for babies and when she is all done playing it is also easy cleanup.

I have talked about all the concepts to keep in mind for designing your play space and I have started talking about some of the areas we have created. Next post will be even more info on the different sections for play and some tips for beating boredom that doesn’t cost a dime. Stay tuned!