Step 1: Play Table + Chairs
We included some of our favorite play table options in our December Educational Holiday Gift Guide, but it’s important the table space is approachable for children, large enough to host a number of different activities like pretend play and coloring, and also fits the space in your home.
Step 2: Accessible Toys
Storing toys in an accessible and organized way is the key to helping children be confident and free in their own play space. Your variety of storage options for crafts, toys, balls and blankets should all be accessible by the children who plan to use those things on a daily basis. This avoids the need for them to have to ask you to get a toy out of their reach. Whether in the bathtub or the playroom, it’s important to keep toys within your child’s reach so they can easily approach and access toys they want to play with.
Step 3: Pretend Play Equipment
Whether it be a cool rug with car tracks or a one-dimensional village drawing, kids are often on the floor playing and a creative rug can offer an outlet for pretend play. Other great pretend play toys can be a pretend gas pump, pretend kitchen set, pretend mail bag with envelopes, pretend doctor’s kit or pretend outdoor grille. Pretend play encourages children to experiment with social-emotional roles of real life and can enhance a child’s capacity for creativity!
Step 4: An Alone Space
You may not yet know if your child is introverted or extroverted, but all children need a designated space to call their own which they can escape to for alone time or just reading time. This might be a reading corner or a playhouse, but it should be an area for the child alone that they can feel safe and confident spending time in without an adult necessarily. This can be as simple as a bean bag near a bookshelf in the corner of their playroom, or a more creative space with a canopy and pillows to lay down, get comfortable and imagine the possibilities of life!
* All images found, linked and attributed to Pinterest pins.
