would a playroom upstairs work ?

[mozarella]

Am thinking of using our spare room as a playroom but am worried it won't work out as then we will be stuck in that room or have to take stuff downstairs when I cook etc .

[PixiePetal]

There are some minders here with upstairs playrooms. Not me, I don't have one :(

Sure they could answer your queries :thumbsup:

[sarah707]

Not sure tbh...

You'd struggle to have free access to the outdoors. It would be a problem if you were answering the door or cooking. Where would you eat? Would you come back down? You'd have to show that the children were safe on the stairs. Hmmmm...

I wonder if anyone actually does it and makes it work?

[Blackhorse]

Not sure tbh...

You'd struggle to have free access to the outdoors. It would be a problem if you were answering the door or cooking. Where would you eat? Would you come back down? You'd have to show that the children were safe on the stairs. Hmmmm...

I wonder if anyone actually does it and makes it work?

can I ask you what you mean with free access to the outdoors?
I have a garden which is completely fenced in. there is a path between my back door and then a few steps up into the garden. So when I will have mindees (or even with my own dd) we are either in the house or in the garden. There will be no running in and out of the house whenever they feel like. My CCO was fine with that, but now reading your post I am wondering??

[Pauline]

We have an upstairs playroom, but we work together which makes life easier.

I think it would be hard work on your own but not impossible. You would need to really give some serious thought to the risks and what you would do if you had to go downstairs, like Sarah say to answer the door or something.

When preparing meals downstairs you would need to take the children with you but that could be overcome with a box of toys downstairs in another room.

We eat downstairs and to be honest I don't think it would be fair to eat in the playroom, children need a change of scene just like we do and wouldn't want to be in the same room all day.

You would need to have your downstairs suitable for minding too but we use downstairs as the 'quiet area' e.g. storytime, TV time, meals and access to outside. Playroom is for noisy and messy play, it is their room and within reason they do as they like (although climbing/jumping in furniture is out etc!).:)

Hope that helps :)

[Chatterbox Childcare]

My house is split level and we use 3 of the floors. The children play all over but my toy room is on floor 3 with the lounge and front door on floor 2 and the kitchen on floor 1. The children can get up and down and I can hear them so I am covering the EYFS requirements and they can access the garden off of the kitchen.

Ofsted inspector was happy with this as I don't have stairgates and the children have the run of the stairs. I have 7 stairs to each level and teach them all to go up and down independently very quickly.

As long as the door isn't shut I don't see a problem

[Buzz Lightyear]

I have a playroom upstairs which has been registered and if I am honest, we use it sometimes. Tends to become a dumping ground for toys which aren't played with although I am trying to keep it tidier. The kids tend to play in there when I am getting DD sorted in a morning as they all like to follow me round the house but obviously aren't interested in pooey nappies, lol! We do spent majority of our time downstairs though playing in the lounge but it's nice to know we have another room for the bigger toys. The kids tend to find it a treat as there's a big ballpit in there which they forget about until we go upstairs :clapping: Then the problem is getting them to come back down :thumbsup:

[Pauline]

can I ask you what you mean with free access to the outdoors?
I have a garden which is completely fenced in. there is a path between my back door and then a few steps up into the garden. So when I will have mindees (or even with my own dd) we are either in the house or in the garden. There will be no running in and out of the house whenever they feel like. My CCO was fine with that, but now reading your post I am wondering??


We don't allow the children out unsupervised either Blackhorse, it just wouldn't work in our setting. It is impossible to be inside with children and outside with others so it's either all out or none out if we are working alone. Luckily as we work together most of the time, we can be inside and out.

Some people don't even have gardens and have to use local parks, but provided you give outdoor access each day in some form then you should be ok. :)

[michellethegooner]

good advice given, our playroom is downstairs and tbh I would struggle with one upstairs as lo's like to follow me everywhere I go so if someone knocked on door they would all have to come as there would be a lot of tears if I left them peering out through stairgate lol

i think once you can show you have risk assesed it and it works from a practical point then it should be ok.

[Pauline]

i think once you can show you have risk assesed it and it works from a practical point then it should be ok.

Yes that is the best advice Michelle, assess, assess, assess and show you know what you are talking about!! :thumbsup:

[sarah707]

can I ask you what you mean with free access to the outdoors?
I have a garden which is completely fenced in. there is a path between my back door and then a few steps up into the garden. So when I will have mindees (or even with my own dd) we are either in the house or in the garden. There will be no running in and out of the house whenever they feel like. My CCO was fine with that, but now reading your post I am wondering??

I was thinking more England and the Eyfs tbh... sorry!

There's a big push for us to allow children to go outside whenever they want and in any weather.

There are pros and cons depending on the ages and stages of children and how cold you want your house getting in the winter but it's a popular aim for some Ofsted inspectors... :D

[Blackhorse]

I was thinking more England and the Eyfs tbh... sorry!

There's a big push for us to allow children to go outside whenever they want and in any weather.

There are pros and cons depending on the ages and stages of children and how cold you want your house getting in the winter but it's a popular aim for some Ofsted inspectors... :D

ah I see
I am a bit surprised to hear that tbh.
I am all for being outside even if the weather is not the best, but tolet them go out whenever they want seems a bit odd to me. Wonder what the reason for that would be...

[mozarella]

Thank you for your replies . I have a 9 month old and stair gates are a must. I may just use as storage and brings toys down for the day

[Pauline]

ah I see
I am a bit surprised to hear that tbh.
I am all for being outside even if the weather is not the best, but tolet them go out whenever they want seems a bit odd to me. Wonder what the reason for that would be...

Well you know how it is, there has to be an 'in' thing all the time! :rolleyes:

My problem is is that I can see the headlines now: "childminder sits it warm home while child left in garden during rainstorm"

or am I just too cynical ;)

[Blackhorse]

My problem is is that I can see the headlines now: "childminder sits it warm home while child left in garden during rainstorm"




:ROFL1: :ROFL1:

[miss mopple]

I had an upsatirs playroom and I loved it. I spent a small fortune kitting it out and it was beautiful. As our loo is upstairs too it meant we could be contained on one floor.

It didnt really work though, more because of me than the kids. I hated being restricted to upstairs if we were playing indoors. In the end we moved DD2 into it as she was outgrowing the box room, turned her old room into an office to store all the paperwork in :rolleyes: , and I convinced DH that turning the dining room into a playroom would work better. Its a much better solution for us and it does mean that the kids can come and go into the garden as they choose :thumbsup:

[mozarella]

I had an upsatirs playroom and I loved it. I spent a small fortune kitting it out and it was beautiful. As our loo is upstairs too it meant we could be contained on one floor.

It didnt really work though, more because of me than the kids. I hated being restricted to upstairs if we were playing indoors. In the end we moved DD2 into it as she was outgrowing the box room, turned her old room into an office to store all the paperwork in :rolleyes: , and I convinced DH that turning the dining room into a playroom would work better. Its a much better solution for us and it does mean that the kids can come and go into the garden as they choose :thumbsup:

This is what I am thinking, more me being stuck in the room and not the freedom to do other bits.

Thanks for all the replies, I think I will just use the room as a storage room and we will have to make do with the mess downstairs

[FizzysFriends]

I don't think it would work for me as I spend so much time in the kitchen, lol. Also the older ones spend a lot of there time in the garden.

[Mollymop]

I don;t know if it would work or not as I haven't got a spare room to use. but I would like to have that choice. At least you will have somewhere to keep all the toys even if it means bringing the toys, etc downstairs, at least you can put the toys away, out of the way at the end of the day.

[merry]

There's a big push for us to allow children to go outside whenever they want and in any weather.

There are pros and cons depending on the ages and stages of children and how cold you want your house getting in the winter but it's a popular aim for some Ofsted inspectors... :D

Well I certainly won't be allowing this, we are either all out or all in, and as I look after an asthmatic very wheezy baby, when it's very cold and raining we stay in. It's not always as simple as saying there's no such thing as unsuitable weather, only unsuitable clothes. The children can ask and when possible I do let them, but the final decision is mine. What about parents wishes? Ofsted seem very good at making these sweeping statements without being able to tell us exactly how we're supposed to make them work in the real world.

:)

[estrelas]

It works at mine to keep the outside available at all times, we use my front garden not the back, its more like a long wide drive, no grass, The road is fairly quite and i keep alock on the gate, its easy to leave the front door open, which I do most of the time, except rain. I can see the garden all the time as my hall is on an angle sothe front room kinda runs onto it. I like having the door open as the kids can play in and out and it doesn't cause a problem with supervision

As for the upstairs room,i'm looking in to this as well, but not sure as it would restrict access to outside

[Squiby]

I have an upstairs play room and it works fine for me. OFTSED have inspected me since I converted my spare room for its use and it was fine with her (and she isn't the most friendly of inspectors in my area by all accounts). I have a TV and SKY into that room as well as the Vsmile and the play station so its probably aimed more at my schoolies than pre schoolers but they all use it. All my pre schoolers are fully mobile and fine on teh stairs so can come and go as they like. I do say if ones in the garden then we all are so its not really a case of trying to watch both inside and out. TBH we are out at groups and the like so much between school hours its never been an issue for me. I don't want minded children playing or jumping about in my sitting room and neither does my H. Thats an adult room and even our LO dosent go in it much and she is 4.

I have a monitor set up in there so if I need to go downstairs I can keep an eye on them that way and again OFTSED was fine with this.