How we made a safe playspace for our young k

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Oct 5

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM6-WK1hlI0[/embed]

I work from home with my 3.5-year-old daughter and 10-month-old son -

My son is a daredevil and a troublemaker, if he can find something he’s not allowed to have, he is quick and goes for it with no fear. So we had to make a functional space that also allowed him to have some freedom and not need to be watched every second of the day.

Welcome to our playroom.

We don’t have a separate room for our playspace, really, this is just the entry area of our house. It is a bit chaotic and we do actually put some of this away when we have friends over, but this is pretty much what it looks like on a typical weekday.

First up, is a giant playpen. This is what we got originally to keep the little one safe but his sister likes playing too much and it was hard to organize toys within this, so now we use it as a glorified baby gate. If you want a cheaper alternative to this, just buy a blow-up pool. We used one when our daughter was little and she came into work with me and it worked just as well for 1/10th of the cost.

Next, we have a makeshift gate that the little one is trying to figure out how to climb — so eventually we will need an actual gate, but this works for now. We also have a baby gate on the stairs to keep them from heading up there on their own.

Within the actual room itself, the toy storage is pretty simple. We have a cube storage shelf from Walmart and it is mounted to the wall so that it can’t tip over. And the play kitchen that is also mounted.

We rotate these toys out every few weeks and keep only things here that are appropriate for the little one so there are no choking hazards. Anything that is specifically for our daughter is kept in the living room or in her room so she can play outside of this area.

We also have all the outlets blocked off and covered and the only vent in the room is partially hidden by the shelf so that little fingers can’t get caught. 80% of the time the front door is closed, and we only have it open if one of us is in here with the kids, although the screen door does lock, this helps avoid pitched fingers.

This rug is from Rugs USA and has a thick rug pad under it, so when trips and falls happen, most of the time, they’re landing on a softer surface. When the whole room is set up like this, our daughter and the dogs can come and go as they please, but the little one is safe and can’t get out without help. When I have work to do or a meeting to jump on, I can sit right by them and still have a workspace without the actual toys and chaos being in the background.

For the most part, the kids are great at playing together or on their own for 20–30 minutes before someone gets bored, hurt, or hungry. Actually working around this schedule is a whole different story — but for now, let me show you a couple of other places in our house that are set up with littles in mind.

Every home layout is going to be different and the tools available to you may vary. For everything you see in this video, I have it linked in the description box.