Our Preschooler Playspace

"Mummy what did you put out for me?"

Well, Miss M, today while you were at child care I rearranged your play area!!




This is what it used to look like (about a year and a half ago). Click the link and you'll see some things are the same, and some have changed and evolved. It's such a beautiful little corner of our main living area. We don't have a separate play room - so this is it!

To the left by the window is an art/activity table (just from IKEA). Gotta love IKEA for fun kids stuff! There's often play dough out on this table. On the floor is our double sided Ecoviva Bumpa Mat - and we change it around from time to time. In the corner is our Duplo tub, because we have too much to fit in one of the regular sized tubs. And incase you're wondering, around 3 is the age when the novelty of tipping out the ENTIRE tub has worn off ;)


The shelves are from IKEA, and green tubs are from Howards Storage World.
From L-R, Top - Bottom here is what we've got!

On the Top
  • Basket of marbles & gems
  • Wooden Play fruit
  • Grimms stacking cups
  • Musical instrument basket
  • Grimms wooden rainbow
  • Basket of treasures
  • Babushka doll

Top Shelf
  • Puzzles
  • Books, and more books
  • Basket of pebbles

Bottom Shelf
  • Miscelaneous (because everyone needs one of those where you just chuck all the random stuff)
  • Transport (including train set, trains, cars, people, trees etc)
  • Wooden blocks (plain, coloured and transperant)
  • Soft toys & teddies (mostly Peppa Pig characters LOL)


I love love love cane baskets for toy storage and play activities. They look great together with the Grimms wooden stacking cups and wooden rainbow (the most beautiful toy EVER!).

Childrens play areas are always evolving as they grow and their interests change.

When the Little Man is on the move we plan to set up a play pen for him in this area somehow, and integrate his baby toys into the shelves.

When considering play materials for 3 year olds here are some things to think about

  • Gender neutral, provide lots of opportunities for both boys and girls.
  • Neat, tidy, organised, well presented. Pack up is easier if everything has its place.
  • Loose parts, tinker toys, sorting baskets are lots of fun for this age.
  • Puzzles are great for mathematical learning.
  • You can never have too many books for literacy development.
  • Various other toys to encourage imaginative play.

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Finally today, I'm sharing a special little collection of Miss M's toys. These are toys that will never be donated or thrown away, but treasured forever. My mother was only in my daughter's life for 18 months, and these are the toys she gave her in that time.


And here are a few photos of her opening these presents. Look how little she way! Oh my heart!


I'd love to see your little one's play areas - just use the hashtag #teachertypes over on Instagram and I'll be sure to check them out.

Lauren xx

7 comments

  1. What a lovely and neat toy area! My twins also have some special toys we will never throw out for similar sentimental reasons.

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  2. I love this Lauren. We have a really similar set up but its spread out a bit in our lounge room. We have a corner {where our dining table used to be} that has her play kitchen, stuffed toys, blocks, blackboard and playmat and then we also have an art table and a set of IKEA shelves like yours along another wall. I've just been going through and sorting all her toys and shelves recently too and giving each of the storage baskets themes. She seems to be pulling out her toys more often and finding new interest in her older toys since I've done this. We have a misc basket too for all the random crap that doesnt fit the other basket themes lol.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Toni! It's great when you can go through everything and give it a bit of a tizzy up! It certainly makes old toys seem new again. Sometimes I wish we had a separate play room, but I figure kids want to be where the action is (Miss M rarely plays in her room on her own for this reason).

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  3. Such a lovely inviting space. And we love Grimms toys too - amazing watching all the ways the kids play with them!

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  4. Such a lovely inviting space Lauren :) When we moved house, we finally had a spare room which we was going to be our kids playroom but they still prefer to play in the lounge room. Grimms make the best toys - we love our giant rainbow and just bought the new rainbow semi circles to play with too.

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  5. You have always to try to give your kids all what your parents couldnt give you

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