I know we are blessed to have a playroom in our house (we traded location for space with our last move) but even when we lived in a smaller home I always tried to find a space (albeit on a much smaller scale) for home corner play as it is such an important part of the imaginative play of young children.
Dress up area featuring the DIY Kids: Dress Up Wardrobe made from a cardboard box and a cheval mirror.
A little lounge area with someone to rest your feet, books to read, a family photo, vase of flowers (the vase is a plastic juice bottle wrapped with coloured tape), paper plate clock and calendar. Often it is the little details which make a space feel more home like but they do not have to be expensive.
The dining area butts up against an Expedit bookcase which I use for storage on both sides – you can see on the top of the bookcase and to the right of the table baskets and containers labelled with picture labels to show the food items which belong inside each. There is also a basket of coloured silk scarves to the far right which are used in all sorts of playful ways – a tablecloth, wrap for a baby, etc.
Our compact kitchen, the one big ticket item in this area, is from EcoToys and was a Christmas present for Immy from us and my parents.
The pre-loved wooden dolls bed was kindly given to us by a good friend. Dolls clothes are kept in a clear plastic tub fits which perfectly under the bed.
Do you have a home corner play space in your home?
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To peek inside another gorgeous child sized play space, check out this post at Little Eco Footprints.
Read more of Christie's adventures at http://childhood101.com.
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
What a gorgeous play space… I bet your little girl has a lovely time here! Well done!
Another gorgeous play space in your home Christie. I especially love the little kitchen. We have always had a little home corner area too with table, kitchen, box of teaset/ cooking things and food, an ironing board and little washing machine. The girls have spent many hours playing there.
What a lovely playspace. I particularly like how your dress-ups really encourage imaginative play as opposed to cartoon character costumes. I’ve been thinking a lot about dramatic play areas for J (23 months) but it is really difficult to find relatively inexpensive playthings which aren’t overtly girly. There are heaps of beautiful wooden pieces but we just can’t afford them and everything else is PINK! sigh…..
Try looking on ebay and Gumtree for secondhand wooden pieces, Kate. The great thing with wood is that even if it is pink you can always paint it easily.
That’s a really good idea. Why didn’t I think to just paint it? I’m going to check out Ebay now! and Gumtree, don’t know that one, so yay, something new to explore.
Thanks
WOW!
My daughter is only 19 months old and so we’re just now starting to re-consider our home layout and what sort of play experiences we would like for her to have here. We’ve been focusing largely on some of the outdoor options we can provide (i.e. stacks of hay squares for climbing, a play house with veggie plots, bean and sunflower teepees, etc.) and we’ve only just opened the discussion for the home. I love LOVE love what you’ve done with your space. I wish I could just snap my fingers and make it happen in my home!
It has taken time to collect all of these pieces, Sarah, given that Immy is now three
Bit by bit is my tip.
a very lovely play space, well thought out, and designed. I bet your child loves it!
Our children’s rooms are large and a play free-for-all. We are also considering moving the girls in together and making the other bedroom a playroom. I think we will definitely do that! x
I really appreciate our playroom but also know how fortunate we are to have the space.
No, I don’t have one but am really inspired seeing yours! I really want to get a kitchen/grocery play area going. We have a shopping cart, plates, food, etc and this may be a good place to start. I like the dress up idea for my son and may try to find things like pirate, construction and fireman clothes to start.
Your dress up ideas sound fabulous Tracey.
Love it Christie. Can’t half tell you were an early childhood teacher!
i am a tiny bit in love with that red child lounger. xx.
I thought I was proud of the tee-pee my sister made for my daughter’s play space, but yours is nothing short of inspiring. I have a generous amount of space in my home but, after seeing this post, I think I need to make better use of it I think. This is truly amazing- and OH SO TIDY!.
It is not always this tidy, Jackie, but making sure that there is a place for everything which is labelled certainly makes pack up time quick and easy. Good luck with your space, I am glad to hear that you feel inspired
We have a play room, but it doesn’t have a very good system for playing dress up — this is very inspiring!
I luuurve the mini deco sofa chair!
How lovely. We don’t have a separate playroom, so our play space is limited. We do have a play area in the eat-in kitchen, which is mostly taken by Anna’s play kitchen. In fact, I am considering to do some restructuring and move things around, since I don’t remember when she really played in her kitchen.
We have one, but it isn’t as well organized. I’ve been inspired by your dress up storage. Our kitchen and doll bed are together but the dress up clothes are upstairs.
Oh, Lacey would love this room. Living in Bondi (as I’m sure you can understand) we’re short on space. Lacey’s room is very girly and has lots of room for play… but I think it’d be nice to set it up like this.
Thanks for the inspiration. xx
Wow.. I LOVE this play space! So well thought out and educational. I am totally inspired to makeover the bungalow now…i love the dress up corner in particular and that reading corner is just gorgeous. Immy is a lucky girl
Wow, this is absolutely fantastic, I think I am going to (borrow) this picture to put on my desktop to remind me of what I want for my daughters room and why I need to stop wasting money so I can have the 4 bedroom house I want.
Well done on a fabulous room, love the mirror as well. Where did you find one like that?, Im absolutely dumbfounded its so wonderful. I wish I was a little girl again and had a room just like that.
I am actually on my way out this afternoon to pick up a double hanging clothes rack thing to use as a dress up spot, im now rethinking that by looking at the way you have done it and wondering if I could come up with something similar with what I have here already.
Keep up the great work, thanks for being an inspiration for all us parents.
Thank you for your kind words, Leanne. The mirror was from here – http://www.gr8toys.com.au/