Parents often ask my advice as a teacher saying “my kids are bored at home, what should I do?”.
This post is not about an activity or two that you can do once off with your child.
This post is about play areas at home that parents can set up.
Also, tools and strategies are provided for toy rotation!
In this way you can encourage kids’ creativity, concentration, learning and play.
You will use things that you possibly already have at home, natural materials or affordable toys. If you also follow the bonus tips, I highly doubt that your kid will be bored any time soon.
These are tested and approved ideas and tips that are shared by a mother and a Kindergarten teacher. I have been experimenting with these on a daily basis for more than a decade now.
Let’s make it clear right away that nothing is wrong if kids are bored sometimes. While boredom causes uncomfortable feelings, it can stimulate creativity and imagination.
However, when does kids’ boredom become an issue? When you have tons of toys at your house and you hardly see your young child playing with them.
The big secret in avoiding kids’ boredom is to create a few play areas at home and change them regularly. Keep reading and don’t forget the bonus tips! They are very important to make these areas work.
You do not need to buy anything expensive to set up these areas. You can use things that you already have at home, collect natural materials at the park or buy affordable toys.
A. Firstly, you need to store the majority of the toys and donate the ones you do not need.
When your child is asleep or away, put toys in boxes, containers, bags and hide them away in storage spaces at home. We do not want children to look at all their toys at the same time, as this eventually minimises their concentration on each toy.
These stackable storage boxes are similar to the ones I’ve got and they are available on Amazon. They have wheels and handles to move them easily around the house. I love them because you can store books, soft toys, puzzles and other games and you can use them as tables. And if you don’t have available space indoors, you can also store things outdoors!
B. Then, you need to decide the areas that are available for you to set up play areas at home.
These areas can be in different rooms. I would highly recommend to avoid setting up play areas in young children’s bedroom as it could affect their sleep. Of course, this is only a recommendation if the available space around your house allows that. However, considering that the majority of the toys will be packed away, a small area in the living room or dining area should be OK. Also, consider that you want to supervise your young children, while they are playing and you are busy doing other things at home.
Now let’s talk about open-ended play areas that you can easily set up at home:
1. A writing and art area is always a great idea for every child regardless the age.
This is an area that we can easily make changes on a regular basis. We can also adjust it to our child’s interests, needs and development. What I mean by that is that for a baby we can use a small art easel, a writing board or just a flat box on the floor. Accordingly, for a toddler or a young child we can set up an art easel with a blackboard and/or a marker board. A small table would also work fine for this area!
Make sure you change the stationery a few times during the week or once every day or even twice within a day if necessary. For example, you can offer coloured pencils one day, crayons the other day and brushes and water paint the third day. Also, provide different pieces of paper, which means different textures, colours, shapes. It could be wrapping paper, advertising leaflets, pieces of flat boxes, scrap paper and more. When you don’t have new materials to offer, you start again with the ones that have not be used for a while.
The Hape all-in-one wooden art easel is the one I would buy right away, if I didn’t have one already. It has convenient storage, a paper roll and the whiteboard can also be used for play with magnets!
2. A cosy corner with books or a little library offers great opportunities for play and learning.
If you’ve got many books, you should make sure again that you put some of the books away, so you will be able to change them regularly. Even if you place 5 or 10 books at this area, I reassure you that young children will be happy to go through them as long as you often sit and read with them and rotate them. You can, also, add some cushions for extra comfort and cosiness. This area is perfect for parents and children’s bonding, siblings’ bonding and solo quiet time.
I believe this UTEX kids sling bookshelf is a great buy. I would definitely not recommend buying furniture with storage at a low level and bookshelves at a high level. This would mean that the children could not pick a book independently and browse it on their own. Also, remember that it is preferable, especially for the young children, to be able to see the front cover of the book. The book covers can get children’s attention more often.
I saw recently this rotating bookshelf and I loved it! I believe it works well for small spaces. The bookshelf is made of pure natural pine wood. It can be used directly without paint or you can also paint it yourself according to personal preference.
3. A dramatic area can be a fun play area at home for babies, toddlers and young kids.
Children enjoy role playing and learn from it. Some ideas for this area are baby bath area, doctors’ office play, cooking and puppets. Toddlers and older children love dress ups including Halloween costumes or your old clothes, shoes and other accessories. This area really depends on your child’s interest. You can get a tool set, a vet play set or a firefighter costume and accessories that I got for my little one. This costume is washable and the set includes a real water shooting extinguisher!
A cooking play area is always very popular. It could be a cool kitchen that someone bought for your child or one that you can make. You can use old utensils, bowls, trays and other things from your own kitchen and rotate them regularly. This is an area that you can easily change from time to time. In the photos above, you can see our more recent kitchen that we made using plastic crates and artificial grass on top.
Kids have great imagination and they do not really need plastic toys that look like food. Rocks, leaves and corks can be the ingredients of the next yummy lunch your child will cook for you. Also, bottles with water, food colouring and other materials in them such as rice and oats will be greatly appreciated by your little chef. For safety reasons I have been using masking tape or glue on the bottle caps, so we only pretend to pour things out.
However, if you don’t have time to create your own kitchen, you can buy a wooden play kitchen that your little ones will love and they will not get bored of cooking.
Either you make your own kitchen or you buy one, I would recommend this food play set, which is great for role play. The children can practise their fine motor skills cutting fruits, vegetables and more using toy knives. Also, you can use it to set up a shop in the future!
4. A sensory play area is always popular to kids.
Kids usually find slime, kinetic sand, water and sand play fascinating. Homemade play dough is also a great idea for a sensory play area for children of all ages. You can set up this messy play using big bowls and plastic containers. Also, you can put shredded paper, small toys and tongs in a suitcase. Find here the easiest playdough recipe with ingredients that you already have in your kitchen.
I know you are already thinking of the mess. Yes, I would not let children play with all these materials on their own for too long. However, as they experiment with these regularly, they improve their skills and they might make less mess. Also, putting a towel on the floor will make your life so much easier. And your kid definitely won’t complain for being bored.
You are not in the mood of making a mess at all? Sticking materials with different textures or sensory bags on the floor, on the wall or on a window is an amazing idea not only for babies. At a sensory play area, you can also create a dark area using a box, toys with lights, transparent toys, mirrors and torches, if it is age appropriate.
I personally have an older table, but I find this playdough table super practical and useful. I use it as a sensory play table, a table to place puzzles and other toys on it and I store dough accessories in it.
This is a fine motor tool set that I often use for various sensory activities indoors, outdoors and even during bath time! It includes a gator grabber, a twisty dropper, a handy scooper and a squeezy tweezer. It builds children’s hand muscles and improves their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination through play and exploration. This fine motor tool set includes 24-piece tools (6 of each tool). I also recommend the Sand & Water Fine Motor Set and the four sensory scoops!
5. Last, but not least, an open area is important for constructions and big creations.
In this area your child can access toys that you store, for example, in shelves. This will give independence and confidence to your children as they can choose the activity they want to do. Your child can make constructions using magnetic tiles, blocks, train trucks, lego and other toys. Also, you can store puzzles, musical instruments and other games in this area. Adding a mat could make the area more welcoming and comfortable for the children and you to play on the floor for hours.
I find these display cabinets cube shelves convenient and stable. I am sure we will keep using these for more years ahead and in different rooms.
One of our favourite buys is Skip Hop Vibrant Village Reversible Waterproof Foam Baby Play Mat that we have in the open play area. It is reversible, non-toxic, waterproof and so easy to clean! You can buy this since you have a baby as it is perfect for tummy time and nappy change. I can’t recommend it highly enough. I also like Skip Hop Little Travelers Reversible Waterproof Foam Baby Play Mat as one side of the mat has patterns and the other side has an educational print of the world map for the older kids.
*Bonus tips*
-> The above ideas need to be adjusted to your little leader’s interests and your family’s needs. You know better your house and your child’s interests.
-> Keep in mind that you are trying to set up a nice display window and you want to attract the most difficult customers. In other words, if the play areas are clean and tidy, colour coordinated and nicely presented, they will attract your kids right away. Also, children will keep playing for much longer, start to value their toys and look after their play areas.
-> During the day, encourage your child to tidy up the areas. When they get too messy, it is harder for them to concentrate on certain activities and toys.
-> Remember that babies and young toddlers don’t know what to do with certain toys. Also, they don’t know the ‘rules’ they need to follow at the play areas. First, you need to go to these areas, demonstrate how your child can play there and you can tidy up the areas together.
-> I would highly recommend to play along your kid at the sensory play area, when you set up messy activities. In this way, you will avoid frustration due to mess. When they are more familiar to materials or older, you could let them play on their own for longer.
-> If your children lose their interest at some point, join their play for some minutes. When they are settled and deeply engaged, you can leave quietly and continue whatever you were doing before that.
-> Never underestimate the play opportunities that a yard or a small balcony can offer.
Are you wondering why we are discussing the top play areas at home as parents of a leader?
We want to encourage our children’s creativity and engagement in activities as long as possible. Engaging in activities means learning and development for our little leaders. If you are still interested in learning more about the positive and the negative side of kids feeling bored, read this very interesting article. Mandie Shean provides parents with 6 solutions to boredom. In this post we discuss how we can prepare the environment in order to teach kids independent play and support them in getting started.
This post was all about play areas at home and easy tools and strategies for toy rotation.
I’m quite sure that your kids won’t bother you again complaining they are bored if you put these ideas in action. They might request regular toy rotation with their own way though.
Engaging children in a variety of fun activities daily will eventually help you have a good time together. Also, you will get things done around the house, while your kids are happy playing and learning on their own.
