Small Spaces

I've posted a lot about our playroom in past posts since that's where we spend a great deal of our time. Today I'm going to explain what happens when kids create their own spaces. We keep most (the goal is all) of the toys in the playroom and our living room is more adult centered. We are lucky to have enough room in the house to be able to do this. When our kids are in the living room, they have their favorite places.

Both kids love going into the corner between the two couches. Here you can see that my sweet daughter has brought in a red box to make it even smaller. She is not in time out. She brought the box over and sat like that for almost a full minute - an eternity for a one year old! She was perfectly happy and was proud of her own little space.

Another day both kids worked together to position their giant caterpillar so they could both sit in this corner. They love making small areas that are theirs. We have used tents and tunnels, but they prefer to make their own spaces. It may seem strange that they are creating a place when they have the run of the entire house. Imagine you are a small person living in a world of giant furniture. You would want to have someplace your size also. The ability to create the place offers opportunities for creativity, problem solving, and is self motivating.

We encourage our kids to use toys for multiple purposes. While you might have just seen a red box, my daughter saw the perfect place to sit. She even managed to talk her brother into pushing her around. This had gone on for awhile before I grabbed the camera, but it's still cute.

Another favorite place for my kids that is their size, would be the wagon. They aren't big fans of the stroller because they can't look around as much as they can in the wagon. This particular wagon also offers cup holders and even more importantly seat belts.

I ask, "What does the pig say?"

They answer, "Wee, wee, wee, All the way home."

Um... yeah, time to review animal sounds again. haha