Does an upstairs playroom work? Experiences please

[PoinsettiaBouquets]

Mental rumination that is.`

For us, yes but we don't really have a choice. Their playroom is a 'thoroughfare' room so can't be used as a bedroom and we don't have much space downstairs.

I think it's great, pack the kids off upstairs, peace downstairs. They're 5 and 2 atm, we will turn it into a 2nd sitting room with tv etc for them and their friends when they're older.

I do a fair bit of running up and downstairs though.

We have one, next to dd's bedroom. It works for us, but she is 5 so old enough to be left unsupervised. It normally looks like a bomb has hit it. Actually for the most part it serves as storage - she'll bring one thing at a time downstairs to play with.

I think it depends on the children.
In our first 'with children' house, we kept all their toys downstairs in the large through-lounge. That meant bedrooms were just for sleeping in, not for playing in.
At the end of each day we just tidied away all the toys.

When we moved here (boys were 3 and 5) we had instead a 'presentable' lounge and a playroom upstairs (and a no toys shared bedroom). As they were older and able to play without adult help, this worked very well. Sometimes they would/do bring a game downstairs to play, but then it goes back upstairs.

Oh, we also have a 'breakfast room', which is used for any art/craft/sciency/potentially messy activities! As I don't want these going on in an uncarpeted room with no supervision.

The boys are 10 and 12 now, so don't have so many toys, and don't 'play' so much now either. Books, PC and computer games are pretty much the order of the day.

DD's playroom is the spare bedroom next to her room, upstairs. She is now 7y and was 3y6m when we moved. Has been no problem at all. Noise and mess is all out of the way.

The childrens bedrooms are private for their own toys and books etc - plus usual bedroom stuff
they also have a shared playroom in the basement with toys,computer, wii, tv and DVD, biiiiig table, colouring stuff etc etc etc.

when DD was smaller she still tended to bring her stuff to the kitchen or to play in the tv room upstairs , or in the kitchen with me. Now she is bigger she and the other two wander off and wander back but most of the mess is in their rooms and the play room. All the living spaces upstairs stay tidyish

It is brilliant.

IS that what you mean?

Our boys have always had a downstairs playroom with computers and small toys and homework. Now they are 9 and 7 years old they also have an upstairs playroom with Pool table, table football, table tennis, indoor cricket.

It works well. We can watch what they are doing on their computers downstairs but they have a 'hanging out place' upstairs as well.

Thanks all, what I wanted to hear.

How old are your DC(s) Poinsettia? I've been reading this with interest as we have the same deliberation at the mo. No separate playroom downstairs but a really big nice spare bedroom upstairs that is barely used. I'd kind of got used to all the brightly coloured plastic in our living room but we cleared it all away for a party a couple of weeks ago and it reminded me how lovely the room looked stripped bare of the tat toys.

My DC's are 4 and 2 (one boy, one girl which seems to make for the double the toys - farms/toy garages etc plus DD's girly stuff). I'm not sure how keen they'd be to play upstairs but I suppose even if the bedroom serves as storage (as Panto says) then it solves a problem.

Mine are 6, 4 and 16m but they're all really good at entertaining themselves anyway (and the big two will shriek if the baby's up to no good.) They tend to play upstairs quite a bit, esp as I have a tv in my room. I don't think I'll ever manage to properly sort through and chuck out their toys unless I have the impetus of this switcheroo. I have this fantasy of properly organised toy storage, always getting put back etc - won't happen like that but at least the downstairs will be tidy!