A Playspace For Both Girls & Boys

by Faith

Our playspace was fun to create. It was our second time setting one up. The first time had been when our oldest daughter was just 18 months old. Since then we've added 3 more children to the mix, another girl and 2 boys. We relocated about a year ago and that gave us the chance to really start fresh with the room. Our new room is much smaller than the old, but I think we've done well in keeping it fairly minimalistic and open - important if you actually want them to have room to play!

On the left is their play kitchen - a favorite spot for my 2 year old twin boys and perhaps my favorite piece in the room (it's just beautiful - I wish the picture showed it off better). In the center we have our original train table which we simply use as a platform for imaginative play. Figures on top are a combination of store-bought wooden people, animals, and structures, as well as handmade gnomes that a dear friend created and several wooden animals that my husband made for the kids (his first efforts at toy making - they love them!). These days the boys love sitting on top of the table and pushing their trains and cars around. We keep several woven baskets under the table to store small play things - usually figures of some sort.

Our playstand/canopy no longer fit in the new space so we re-purposed one side of the playstand along the back wall to hold their trains and other toys. There is a doll bed along the wall and not pictured is a dollhouse bookshelf that was custom made for our eldest many years ago by one of my husband's co-workers. We keep our most prized books out of reach on the shelf up on the wall or in the closet (not seen) since my boys still rip pages. The closet also houses their puppets and puppet theater, which hangs in the door frame. We removed both the french doors leading into the room and the closet door to really open the space up. I lazured the walls with green and blue paints over a light tan base.