New house, poss big play area ideas? Dc 4 1/2 and nearly 3

[xpatmama]

So I recently moved house and on the ground floor there's kind of an extra living space of around 35 sq m. So far there's an ikea tent, a piano and a lot of unpacked boxes. And a plastic kitchen thing.

Wondering about a joint Xmas present for the kids which could involve turning some / all of that into a super cool play area.. ?

Ideas??? Indoor fun stuff for that age?

Guess I could go to a few hundred pounds with contributions from family etc.

You could get some kind of soft play equipment, there's loads out there, or maybe a book corner like this

Huge bean bags would get lots of use as play things and for lounging on.

Dressing up/stage area
Puppet theatre
Easel/art corner
Lego Table

is it big enough for some outdoor type play stuff? i.e. could you put a swing or seesaw in it?

I love some of the stuff that step2 do - maybe there might be something suitable:

www.step2uk.com/

Large Ikea expedit unit with colourful canvas boxes (we have ones from argos) for toy storage, (e.g. A box for Lego, box for tea set, box for play dough, etc). Make a rule of only one box out at a time which will make tidying up a lot easier.

A little low table and chairs for arts and crafts in one corner.

One wall decorated with giant wall stickers to decorate and make it look child friendly (they are easy to change as kids get older/ their tastes change). Let the kids choose which design they want.

Don't try and fill the whole room with toys, leave plenty of floor space for actual playing on. Not sure what your flooring is like but maybe a large rug/play mat to make it softer. The amount of toys they'll get at birthdays and Christmas will soon fill it up anyway.

I would get some big squashy beanbags and decent storage, then I would probably get a dolls' house or a rocking horse (no idea how much a rocking horse would be though).

The other thing I would do... Make sure one wall is painted white and buy a projector (doesn't have to be expensive). Connect to laptop and arrange cushions/beanbags and you have a home cinema without a giant television on the wall permanently. You can have snuggly family nights, and when they get older they can connect games consoles and have sleepovers in there.

Hmmm I don't know what happened there! just tried to. Post saying that I loved your ideas. I think the bean bags is definitely a gooer and some corners for different themes like a Lego table, dressing up corner etc.

I don't think I'd want to attach a swing to the ceiling but some soft play stuff could be really cool.