New Bed Room and Play Room

Before we started homeschooling this year, we decided to switch things up a bit and put Meo and Link in the same room. Both of them like to be read to and hear stories before bed, and both of them end up in our bed at some point in the night.

Shared Bedroom:

We wanted their bedroom to be a restful space for sleeping, reading and story telling. So we took out all the toys except for a basket of puppets and the costume box in the closet. We got two big bean bag chairs so we have a place to all sit together to read books comfortably.

About half of their books are upstairs in their room, the rest are downstairs.

We got a couple of plants that are good for improving air quality. Since Link has cold-induced asthma, anything that help keep the air clean will help. Plus plants help to make the room feel more peaceful and happy. We got a money tree and a spider plant...both of these are safe for children and pets.

As Meo was ready for a big boy bed, and Link is still fine sleeping on the floor, we found a kura loft bed for them. Meo sleeps on the top, and while its low enough that Link can climb up and down without me having a heart-attack, he surprisingly doesn't really bother going up there anymore.

There's the spider plant hanging out in the window.

The puppets and some art work down below.

One thing that has worked out really well is I put the CD player down at a level they can reach, reorganized their CD case and showed them how to put music on themselves. Link LOVES this. Many times a day he goes upstairs, turns on a CD and sits in the bean bag chair flipping through books.

I like that Meo can reach over and grab books off the shelf form his bed too.

Play Room:

Before school started, it was important to me that we culled our toy collection down to our favorites. They didn't play with a lot of them, and I know of people are successful with rotating toys but I never am good about bringing the toys back up. For me I just wanted overall less. So I made a very organized toy room with less toys. But I don't think they even notice and they still have all the toys they love. Originally I wanted to have this be a combined play room and homeschool room, but I decided it would be better just as a play space since a lot of their school work is art work and that is better done in the kitchen anyways.

Notice I got a LEGO storage bin there under the map so that Meo finally has access to his big boy LEGOs instead of me keeping them in their original boxes in the closet.

The train table can be cleared off to use for their ball track, puzzles, LEGOs, or playing castle, barn or Wild Kratts. So far though Link has claimed this space for trains and is irritated if anyone tries to take down his tracks. So that's okay I guess.

So far, they've done a good job of putting stuff away when they are done for the most part. They need reminders of course, but they'll do it. It's easier now because everything has a clear spot.

They've also been playing kitchen more now which is awesome.

I made this little counter space with a cash register so that they can play store and house if they want too.

So while the upstairs is quite different now, it was a very organic transition that has made everyone happier and bedtimes simpler.