For those of you with dedicated playrooms

[AliceK]

Hi

At the moment I use my lounge / diner for minding so the toys get spread out everywhere and also if any of the children are feeling a bit tired they can have a lay down on the sofas. (Young toddlers and babies have their sleeps upstairs). I have 2 mindees who will be starting school in Sept and they tend to have moments when they just want to flake out on the sofas and watch a bit of TV. Now when I move house soon I will have a dedicated playroom and there will be no toys allowed in the lounge. I'm not sure I will be able to fit a decent sized sofa in the playroom along with everything else so just wondering what do you do if you have mindees who just want to lay down and rest for a bit? I can't see them being able to do this in the playroom as it will be too noisy for them with a baby and a 1yr old and a 3yr old playing. Do you think it ok for them to have a lay down on the sofas in the lounge and watch a bit of TV after school? What do you all do?

xxxxxx

[onceinabluemoon]

I have 'foam' play mats that I bought from ELC but you can get foldaway 'cots' too. They aren't cots as in baby beds but cots as in army cots. I've seen them in TTS but other places probably sell them too. My mindee is sound asleep on the may now so they must be comfy, lol!

[helenlc]

I cant help as I dont have school aged children.

But would you be able to see the children on the sofas from the playroom? Or hear them? What ages are they?

I think the question is if you are staying with the younger ones in the play room, are you able to supervise the older ones in a different room?

If they are old enough to behave (not sure what age that hapens!! ), then I personally would allow them to have quiet time in there. But if they started to muck about, then they would have to come into the playroom with the other children. It would be a privilege for them to be trusted and should they mess it up, then they lose it, iyswim.

[angel9199]

I have a playroom which used to be a dining room so there is double doors into the living room.
I got a sofa for the playroom which is never used (not very big) when we read books, or the children want to lie down with a film we always go into the living room. I don't mind this cause it means when i get to sit down with them all we are all nice and comfy!

[PixiePetal]

My playroom door is straight across the hall from sitting room so with both doors open I can see through to the sofa. I wasn't going to use the sitting room when we moved here but playroom is too small for sofa - even a comfy chair will be a bit big so looking for one without arms

for stories we sit on the sitting room sofa together

[little chickee]

How about some beanbags in the playroom? If the lounge and playroom are not too far from each other i would let them lie on sofas and watch tv whilst younger ones are in the platroom - in fact this is what i do!

[blue bear]

my playroom comes off my lounge so we tend to go in their for quiet time, but in the playroom one of the children lined a bread basket with a cot quilt and we added a pillow, you'd be amazed how comfy it is, the children often snuggle up in it and read stories or even sleep.

[Dragonfly]

My playroom has a small two seater sofa in for tv, or reading.babies sleep in travel cots in my lounge and 2+ sleep on big sofas in lounge checked on very often.

I am looking for a small bean bag if you know of anywhere selling low priced ones

[AliceK]

Thank you for all your ideas. The playroom and living room are next door to each other so I'm comfortable for the older ones to be in there and behave so I think after school if they need to chill out and relax they can go in there.
However, beanbags for the playroom!!! Great idea . Why didn't I think of that. Will do perfectly for any of the mindees to flake out on and relax, read etc etc. Must add a few to my shopping list. OH's going to love me

xxxxx