Playroom Additions

I blogged here about our transition from office to office/playroom to playroom/office. Since my re-prioritization and renewed emphasis on child-led play, our playroom has seen some new additions. The "renovation" is by no means complete, but I couldn't resist showing off two of our newest play areas:


We'll start on the right with Ethan's new magnet board. We bought a piece of sheet metal from Home Depot as well as a piece of unfinished trim.

Thanks to Daddy's woodworking skills, the trim was cut up to form a frame with a groove to insert the sheet metal and painted white, and the whole thing is screwed into the wall. The storage for his magnetic letters (and future magnetic toys) is the bottom row from the shoe organizer on his closet door. It provides the perfect storage and makes use of an underutilized row in the original organizer since anything put in that row was immediately taken out by Ethan =) So far we just have his magnetic letters so much of the play involves spelling out words, but future toys will allow for more experimentation.

The other addition is a homemade light table. After Ethan rediscovered the record player, as seen here, he became obsessed with listening to records and playing with the record player, which is not good when you're dealing with an excited toddler and old, fragile media. So we moved the record player to one of the bookshelves and the records to the printer cabinet, freeing up the old table they had been stored on and under. As we contemplated what to do with the table, I realized it would be the perfect size for a light table! So my live-in carpenter got to work cutting out the center while I took to the internet to find 12" T5 fluorescent bulbs and white plexiglass. One Amazon order, one trip to a sketchy but incredibly friendly plastic store, and a lot of cursing because the brittle wood of the table kept splitting apart later, we had ourselves a light table!

The shelves above the table were a point of much contention. I thought that space was just perfect for shelves to store all of Ethan's sensory materials, allowing them to be in the open and in his view without being in the way. However, I was overruled because to put shelves there, even 4" ones, would block an inch or two of the trim of the window, which is apparently a very big deal to some people... We went to my in-laws for their opinion when they visited this weekend, and my mother-in-law agreed that his sensory materials would look quite nice there, so, victorious, the shelves were purchased and put up last night. Ethan already loves being able to see and reach up for whatever he wants, and it's so much more convenient!

Our current sensory materials (from top to bottom, left to right): Baskets containing empty containers for sorting, plastic scoop, immersible LED lights, and extra water beads; dry sensory bin // wooden beads; seashells; rubber sea creature figures // colored rice; Mardi Gras beads; pinto beans // translucent plastic jewels; pony beads; glass gems.

Ethan was so excited about his new light table! The first time we plugged it in, still unfinished, in the garage, he ran up to it, slammed his hands down on it, and shouted "YAY!" As it was brought in and carried upstairs the next morning after a final sanding, Ethan began clapping and chanting "Yay! Yay! Yay!"

I'm planning a post for tomorrow with a pictorial glimpse into play in our new playroom, but I'll conclude with one of my favorite new photos from that first morning with the light table: