Playroom

**Happy Feet** · 13-01-2009, 09:23 PM

Hi,

I have newly registered on the site, this is my first post so i'm sorry if i'm duplicating questions!

I have been reading through hundreds of threads over the last few days and have seen the word 'playroom' mentioned a lot.

My question is - do most childminders have a designated playroom for their mindees??

I have a three bedroom house with kitchen, bathroom, living room and dining room. I have a front garden and back garden. We have purchased a 12' x 10' summer house that we are in the process of converting (insulated wall panels, underfloor heating etc....) so that this can be a kind of crafty workshop/ playroom for during the warmer months.

Should I also be looking to have a designated playroom within my house?

Any pointers would be very useful!

Thanks in advance xx

**angeldelight** · 13-01-2009, 10:07 PM

Hello and welcome to the forum

Some of us have a playroom some of us do not

I did not have one for 17 years although I would have loved one

It was only last year that at last we managed to use our spare room
I love it and all the toys are kept out of the way leaving the rest of the house child free and tidy

My point is though that I managed for 17 years with out one

Its not something that you really need its just nice if you have the spare room if you know what I mean

Have fun looking around the forum and dont forget to say hello to everyone in the " Hello " section of the forum

Angel xx

**tulip0803** · 13-01-2009, 10:25 PM

I don't have a play room and never have - would be nice to keep the toys in one place

.

I have a dining room, a living room and a kitchen (and a lovely long, wide hallway) which are all registered for childminding. Messy stuff & cooking in kitchen under supervision. Main room dining room and over spill into living room/quiet room. My dining room has table & chairs, sofa, shelves and cupboards (so is a dining room with extra toys

)

The house I lived in before had a lounge diner so I just had the one room with tiny kitchen . My house is a home where *****mind from and as I don't have a spare space to use I have to use the space I have got IYSWIM.

**deeb66** · 13-01-2009, 10:28 PM

I don't have a playroom......just don't have the room.

I used to have one in my old house so have to say I really do miss it but manage perfectly well without it.

**Happy Feet** · 13-01-2009, 10:32 PM

Thank you so much for your reply.

My eldest daughters (she has just turned 3) bedroom is a great playroom....its like having the early learning centre in our house!!!
This will be an obvious choice when the children are playing upstairs.

When my little one (10 months) is big enough to go in a bed they will go in together...we already have bunk beds for when that day comes! So her room can be used for storing toys etc.

I would like to keep my living room as a quiet room so older ones can chill out /read/watch tv or play on the wii/xbox if they wish.

I will use my dining room for playing and doing crafts etc and the mindees can help out in the kitchen where suitable.

Our summerhouse will be a great playroom when finished but only time will tell if it will be suitable year round (our opinions at the moment are that we will only use it during the warmer months)

I have an 8ft trampoline with enclosure and lots of outside toys etc for them to play with during the summer.

Does this set up all sound ok??

xx

**miss mopple** · 13-01-2009, 10:42 PM

I had an upstairs playroom for a while, which was great but we didnt use it as much as we could have.

I recently convinced DH we didnt need a dining room and we converted it to a playroom. Best thing we have done as the kids love it, I can watch them from the lounge or the kitchen and the door is shut at the end of the working day

LOOPYLISA · 13-01-2009, 10:48 PM

Originally Posted by miss mopple

I had an upstairs playroom for a while, which was great but we didnt use it as much as we could have.

I recently convinced DH we didnt need a dining room and we converted it to a playroom. Best thing we have done as the kids love it, I can watch them from the lounge or the kitchen and the door is shut at the end of the working day

This is exactly wat we have, it could be my house

**Noodles** · 13-01-2009, 10:54 PM

I have a playroom and dont know how i would cope without it. It also stores my spoilt 4yr olds toys. It means that at the end of the day i can close the playroom door and work is forgotton.

**Twinkles** · 13-01-2009, 10:55 PM

I've always had a downstairs playroom even when it was just my children. BUT I've always used the room most people would use as a dining room.

We have a kitchen/breakfast room ( estate agents speak there ) so we eat in the kitchen even when we have friends round for dinner. I don't do and never have done posh dinner parties so it's never mattered that we eat in the kitchen.

The only time we use the room as a dining room is at Christmas when we have mega amounts of people round for meals - so away go the toys for a couple of weeks.

**mandy moo** · 14-01-2009, 10:02 AM

My husband refers to the Dining room as the 'Classroom' now

Bless him he been great, not said a word about all the fact ' we have more plastic than china'

Probley coz he knows I would bash him on the head with something plastic, if he did

**donnahay0** · 14-01-2009, 10:30 AM

I don't have a playroom, however we had a conseratory buildt last summer which was supposed to be for the family. Of course it did get used during the day for my mindees and it is a lovely bright space for them to be in. My DH now calls it the playroom as, like everywhere else in the house, childminding has slowly taken over.

I still find myself wanting a bigger house so I can store more stuff. I will never be satisfied. But I managed before.

I still say that no matter what space you have it is worth considering and spending money on good storage that suits what you need to store, where you will store it and if you want it to be hidden (wicker baskets are always good for the loung).

**sammy** · 14-01-2009, 10:39 AM

my whole house is a playroom!! my front room looks like a nursery, my sons room has a drum kit and piano in (so music room) i have a sensory room, and my other childs room has toys in so another playroom, also my conservatory has arts and crafts in.

I dont think theres one room thats used to play in - oh apart from kitchen.

I love it!!

**sarah707** · 14-01-2009, 10:49 AM

I have a conservatory now but for many years I used my dining room.

Even now I've sort of reclaimed it, my dining room is a teenage room with computers and a big sofa.

I do feel it's better to have somewhere to put things and close the door if you can... but that's for my sanity, nothing to do with Ofsted

**CCJD** · 14-01-2009, 11:18 AM

I didn't used to have a playroom but converted our integral garage into one some 4 years back. Childminding is very doable without a playroom but so much easier with one. I find I can do things with my playroom that I just couldn't and wouldn't have with my lounge. Noticeboards are up, magnetic wipeboards on wall for little ones, mirror tiles, a large play kitchen and shelving for all toy boxes. It's also easier for my other half as he gets to relax in our lounge and watch tv when he gets home from work which he couldn't when I worked in our lounge.
Your set up sounds fine but I wonder how much you will use an upstairs playroom rather than downstairs. Problem being you will need to godownstairs for so much - greeting different mindees at different times, making meals, making snacks, answering the door etc. Depending on the nature and age of your mindees you may not be able to leave up there (even with a stairgate) which means bringing them all up and down each time. It would be interesting how others using an upstairs playroom manage the practicalities?
Could your dining room be rearranged weekdays into more designated playspace?
However you use the space I am sure you will be fine - the outside playroom sounds great. Good luck.

**Chimps Childminding** · 14-01-2009, 06:48 PM

I don't have a playroom, the dining room has become the childminding room full of toys, sofa etc. but we have to eat on our laps now as the table has had to go to make room for everything else!!!!!!!!!

I would love a playroom or conservatory just so I could shut the door at the end of the day or the week-end and not have to look at all the toys, posters etc. Just keep waiting for those lottery numbers to come up!!!!!!!

**Happy Feet** · 14-01-2009, 07:36 PM

Originally Posted by CCJD

I didn't used to have a playroom but converted our integral garage into one some 4 years back. Childminding is very doable without a playroom but so much easier with one. I find I can do things with my playroom that I just couldn't and wouldn't have with my lounge. Noticeboards are up, magnetic wipeboards on wall for little ones, mirror tiles, a large play kitchen and shelving for all toy boxes. It's also easier for my other half as he gets to relax in our lounge and watch tv when he gets home from work which he couldn't when I worked in our lounge.

Your set up sounds fine but I wonder how much you will use an upstairs playroom rather than downstairs. Problem being you will need to godownstairs for so much - greeting different mindees at different times, making meals, making snacks, answering the door etc. Depending on the nature and age of your mindees you may not be able to leave up there (even with a stairgate) which means bringing them all up and down each time. It would be interesting how others using an upstairs playroom manage the practicalities?

I guess i'm thinking about the older ones that are of a similar age to my older daughter....but thats a good point, all I had in my head was 'oh its ok, i'll pull the gate across and run downstairs'! but it'll probably be a lot of up and down the stairs!!

Could your dining room be rearranged weekdays into more designated playspace?

I do use our dining room a lot for entertaining but this is mainly at the weekends so could move the dining table to one end of the room during the week and use it more as a playroom...then like you said it'll be more practical for us all to be downstairs.

However you use the space I am sure you will be fine - the outside playroom sounds great. Good luck.

Thanks very much for raising some good points!

**miss mopple** · 14-01-2009, 08:57 PM

Personally I would be very wary of allowing minded kids in your childrens rooms.

I think our own children have so much to cope with when we are minding that they really need their own space, particularly as they get older.

My kids (9+3) both have their own rooms and mindees are not allowed to play in them under any circumstances. My girls keep all their toys up there and know that if they bring them down they must share them if I am working. Invariably they choose to play in their rooms if they want to play with their own toys.

I occasionally use DD2s room for sleeping mindees, but only those I can put straight into a travel cot and cant mess with her stuff.

**jeanybeany** · 14-01-2009, 09:08 PM

I do not have a play room but would so love one! I use the conservatory for minding, during the week it looks like a nursery but every Friday I pack most of it up so I can forget about it for a day or two.

**mandy moo** · 15-01-2009, 12:28 PM

Originally Posted by miss mopple

Personally I would be very wary of allowing minded kids in your childrens rooms.

I think our own children have so much to cope with when we are minding that they really need their own space, particularly as they get older.

My kids (9+3) both have their own rooms and mindees are not allowed to play in them under any circumstances. My girls keep all their toys up there and know that if they bring them down they must share them if I am working. Invariably they choose to play in their rooms if they want to play with their own toys.
I occasionally use DD2s room for sleeping mindees, but only those I can put straight into a travel cot and cant mess with her stuff.

I feel the same mine being 10 & 7, their toys might not be suitable for little ones, all my mindees are under 5 yrs.

**Happy Feet** · 15-01-2009, 01:21 PM

As my own children are 3 years and 10 months I assumed it would be good to have them all play together but I see what you mean about them having their own space with their own toys if they want to get away from it all.

This is whats great about this forum, so far I have had a clear idea about how i'm going to do things and clearly not giving some things enough thought, thats where all you experienced childminders help out so much!

I think I will use my dining room as a main playroom, have the summerhouse as another option in better weather and have my daughters room as an alternative. Now that I think of it would probably be better to have them all downstairs.

Thanks for your advice....if anyone else wants to share their views that would be helpful!

xx