Our Play Space: The Stuff With Thing Playroom

ByChristie Burnett

A peek inside a reader’s play space…

Having two girls with special needs can be demanding and one high priority when we were looking for a new place to live was that they have a dedicated play space. Preferrably a large space, so sensory seeking Heidi (who is 6 years old) could still be her high impact bouncy active self during weather that kept us indoors. Ideally it would be an easy to clean space so my messy play loving Annie (8 years old) could play without fear of damaging carpet and I wouldn’t have to spend hours scrubbing afterwards.

I never really thought we’d find a place that fit those needs, yet here we are, living in a home with the most brilliant playroom ever. Spacious, light and flexible in how we can use the room, it is just what we needed.

Sometimes it even snows in our playroom 🙂

Shared by Marita of Stuff With Thing.

July is ‘House or Home’ month at Childhood 101. Do you have a family or kids play space in your home that you love (indoors or outdoors)? Submit your play space here and you too could be featured on Childhood 101.

Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.

7 Comments

  1. Hi,
    I have a sensory seeking Anna (5) also! We have a chin bar (for swinging) bean bags (for crashing) a mini trampoline (obvious) It all takes up a lot of space! OT tells me it will get better. Here’s hoping!

    1. Hi Ira 🙂

      We’ve got a fantastic hammock for swinging. At our old house we didn’t have a loungroom – instead the space that would have been a loungeroom had the hammock, trampoline, yogaball and other sensory gym type stuff.

      It sure does take up a lot of space but thankfully we’ve now reached the stage where all the equipment it does not need to be out 24/7 so I can put it away when not in use.

      Cheers
      Marita

      1. Oooh – there’s a stage where it gets better????? Something to look forward to!

        1. I was really surprised too, the OT said the children get better at self regulating which they do, and we found things like stopping at playground for half an hour after school really helped.

          I dunno if it is less sensory seeking, maybe just more experience so we all know the signs of when to do small amounts of sensory stuff before the high impact sensory seeking becomes an issue. It really makes an incredble difference when my youngest started being able to work out and express her own needs – I need to wiggle now, I need squishes now…. huge help.

  2. love parents that are not afraid of a bit of mess (snow)

    I’m lovin’ the clothes stand for costumes. I want to do that, rather than have everything jammed in a tub under the bed. Just got a work out where I can put it.

    1. The snow mess was fun, and much easier to clean up than our usual muddy mess 😀

      Our clothes stand was inspired by a very similar one at the girls PreSchool which I admired during my parent helper sessions.

  3. Love the snow! It looks like many hours of fun happen in your play space Marita!

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