Boy am I glad I decided to keep that office in our house plans when we built this house. Because if I hadn't I don't know where all of our grandkids would be playing! Seriously, if you only have one or two grandkids, you can get away without them having their own space for toys, books and games. However, I'm about to have Number 8 and Number 9 and that is just a little too much chaos even for this YaYa. That's why, recently I decided to do a complete makeover of my office into a playroom. And while doing so, I came to the realization that I'm still really a second grade teacher at heart. Here's a peek into where my little ones spend most of their time while visiting me...
Behind this door cousins play and pretend and become best friends for life.
Here you see our teepee (
Land of Nod), book collection and art wall. I wanted this space to be a positive, fun place so I looked on
Etsy to find all of the stick-on lettering and poster you see. On the art wall is a quote from Picasso: "Every child is an artist". And as you can see, it is where I put all of the art either my children or grandchildren created. In the foreground is a table with lots of markers, crayons and coloring books.
This little train table is popular with both the boys and girls and when not in use, I have the perfect spot to get it out of the middle of the room.
I purchased bins for books and toys to keep things organized. The toy bins are on the wall you see there.
The
Dr. Seuss quote you see on the wall was one I chose to celebrate everyone's uniqueness. Some of the Fisher Price Little People toys (which by the way, I love...) can be found at arm's reach for the toddlers. Some of the other toys for the older kids are in the bins.
I also searched until I found the perfect poster that has the "
Playroom Rules" to also display on this wall.
It was bright and fun, but also said all of the things I wanted to teach the children. Parker Ann was curious about what all it said and later told Uncle Ryan that this was the room where you GIVE BIG HUGS!
This particular corner of the room is quite popular with everyone. On the floor you see a play mat (
Doug and Melissa) where they can play with cars and trucks. Also sitting on the mat are the
Little Critters. This is where I have seen the kids enter a world of creative imagination. If your little ones haven't found these yet, you must check them out! Small woodland creatures who live in cottages and tree houses, drive campers and row tiny boats. By far, this is one of the best toys I have discovered and my kiddos can play for hours with them.
And finally, here is my children's farm table. I realize this photo isn't very good, but hopefully you can see it well enough. Hubby and Caitlin designed and created this table for me for Mother's Day this past year and I just LOVE it! It will seat 10 (maybe more...) comfortably. I'm hoping that the benches will be ready for Christmas so I can seat all of the little ones there for Christmas dinner. But this is where they spend a lot of time too because they love to color and create.
Yes, I'm so happy that I decided to keep my office on the house plans because I believe children need their own space. And believe me, they know that it's their room. Whenever they arrive at my house, they slip around the corner and into the playroom to make memories I hope they will cherish forever.
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