Ideas for older childrens' playroom

[fruitcorner]

I have 3 children, oldest is 9 , youngest 5- we have small room which currently houses computer and our bookshelves. I would like to change into room for the kids - what sort of things would you put in for this age group? Also would you live computer in or move to kitchen so more scope to supervise?
Thanks

[Pawan]

For me, definitely not an online computer - too much risk if you are not there to supervise, or don't have a strict parental control over it.

We have our computer in the lounge/diner (which I can clearly see from the kitchen if I am not actually in the lounge with them) so I can check what the dc's are upto. They were recently looking up on google "do chicks have teeth"? as they had chicks at school the other week - you can imagine the kind of sites that came up (hot chicks etc) - so I was glad that I was there to oversee which link they clicked on!

We've had to move most of our own books to the attic / boxes, and our bookshelves are now taken up with a mix of their stuff: puzzles / games / toys (trains, cars garages, mechano type stuff, lego etc) / books / activities / etc. The ones they use most are within easy reach, and perhaps for us the most important thing is they can see it all - so it gives them ideas of what they can play with. They don't have any storage in their bedroom (they share a tiny single room, as our house is very small) so basically all their toys are stored downstairs on the shelves, where they can see them and reach them.