Playroom Stations

The playroom can quickly become a disaster area! But, with a little planning and creative thinking, you can set up your child's playroom in a way that helps both of you keep it straight.

The first thing is to come up with a "stations" plan. Think of a preschool room. There is an area just for reading, one for painting, one for eating, you get the picture? Now, if you do this at home, it helps your child learn where everything goes. Plus, if you do it just right, you can make it fun for them to keep it straight. Another bonus is that when you go to clean, everything is near the space that you created for it. Here's how you do it.

If possible, use physical barriers to section off areas of the room. An L-shaped bookcase is perfect for creating a reading area. Let one or both sides of the bookcase surround a corner or section of the room. Fill the space with cushions, pillows, stuffed animals or comfy chairs. Label the area with a sign that says, "Brayden's Library" or "Susan's Quiet Place", whatever you can think of to communicate to your child that this is the area for books and relaxation. You can further encourage them to stick with the plan by letting them use a special lamp or light in this area. Just make sure that it is cool to the touch, unbreakable and safe for children.

On the same side of the room as the reading corner, you might want to put a desk or table for other quiet activities. Puzzles, clay, art supplies and board games can be stored in this area. To protect your carpet, put down a rug or office chair mat. Use interesting items from around your home to keep art supplies in. A clear sugar bowl can be used for beads. A decorated coffee can is great for markers. Restaurant style sugar shakers make great yarn and ribbon dispensers.

The next area can be for louder activities. Video games, electronic toys, tools and other noisy items should be kept near each other. This is helpful for playrooms that are used by more than one child. Section off a loud area with upholstered chairs to absorb sound and corral kids into one area.

The last section should be for gross motor toys. This area is best kept near the closet if possible, so that you can store tunnels, tents, slides and small trampolines in the bottom section of the closet. Kids will have to put one item back to play with another because there won't be much room if they don't! To make a playroom closet accommodate clothing too, build a shelf below the hanging clothes. Children's clothing doesn't hang down far anyway. The shelf can be used for bins of socks or underwear, stacks of t-shirts and for storing other normal closet items. The big area underneath will be great for putting big toys away and out of sight.

Keep the room more organized while teaching the kids how to clean up after themselves. Make a game of guessing where things go. Asking questions like, "Where do you think a loud toy like this would belong?" will help kids to generalize information and apply their knowledge to figuring out the correct answer. Let them use the baby hangers or infant hangers in the closet to put away their own laundry and keep that area neat as well.

When you get everything set up for success, you can concentrate more on helping your child succeed in keeping the playroom organized.