Anyone who has cared for children of between the ages of one and five years knows all too well just what are the important things to remember when planning a playroom.
For a mother to remain relaxed about her child spending time in this room, supervised or unsupervised, she needs to know that the child cannot damage himself/herself or the room and that he/she will be entertained for a reasonable length of time. It is also important that, after playtime, the process of cleaning up can be carried out with the minimum of effort, mother and child both having better things to occupy them. At this age of maximum mobility and minimum attention span these are tough demands.
Hanging Corner Shelf
A gate as well as a door at the entrance will help ensure that the child is contained within the room and within earshot when mother's back is turned. To lessen noise from the playroom, install plenty of soft finishes within the room.
The creation of zones for different activities will help punctuate the child's day as he/she moves from one activity to another, and will help with the organization of storage associated with each occupation. For example, in one corner a table and chairs might be positioned on plastic sheeting to protect the flooring and craft materials stored nearby. Other areas might be dedicated to eating, quiet story-telling, play-acting, resting and so on.
To enable you to keep the room in reasonable order, plenty of storage facilities will be needed. In general these are best housed in fitted units - apart from them being more stable and less likely to trap tiny fingers, such units will give the room a neater finish. A blackboard might be attached to the front of one, a pinboard to another, and perhaps a third might carry a plastic mirror.
Any free-standing units, so long as they are well weighted, could be used to divide areas within the room. Additional storage could be provided in chests, in boxes on castors, in baskets or even in a hammock (especially if this were to fit in with the theme of your room - for instance, 'Treasure Island').
If the child is also to use the room for sleeping, a bed and some kind of wardrobe will, of course, be needed. Although initially a child might not need hanging space, it is wise to allow for this as he/she will soon be into clothing that will require more than just shelves.
A really useful tip for a playroom is to fix a pegboard with hooks, as found in Shaker homes, at dado-rail height (90cm/3ft). This could be used for hanging clothing, small chairs or drawstring bags, or for displaying decorative items.
As children mature they need the company of others to develop their social skills fully, and so it is important to make provision for visiting friends. A small table with several chairs where they can gather is a good idea - useful for both play and meal times. And as children seem to simply love to stay over, you might consider bunk beds or some other novel sleeping solution.
The decoration of a playroom can be great fun - you'll be amazed at what can be achieved with a staple gun, a few meters of fabric, some pots of paint, several sheets of fiber board and a fertile imagination. Create your own circus tent, underwater world or Indian camp!
An alternative approach would be not to have a specific theme in mind but to use strong bright colors as a background for constantly changing visual shows. These temporary decorations could be attached to walls by means of removable adhesive, mobiles could be hung from the ceiling and prints suspended from a picture rail. To help develop your child's taste ask him/her to make selections from a range of ideas you deem suitable.