Independent Play Time

[SadAsHell]

We currently have an area in our living space for play and toy storage but are considering converting a spare bedroom into a playroom. Obviously this will mean more independent play, and some unsupervised play. I'm a little unsure about it.

So my question is..... At what age would you be comfortable moving a child's play area into a playroom and allowing them some independent less supervised play?

I think if you know the stuff in there is safe (no small pieces etc) then it can be really good for little ones to have independent play. It’s good for them to get absorbed in their own world without an adult constantly commenting/ interrupting. You could always hover outside until you feel more comfortable.

I’d put a stair gate across the door to stop them
going into less childproof spaces though.

I mean it depends on the baby. I would feel comfortable leaving my 2 year old in a baby-proofed room (and a baby gate on the door) for a short stint. I'm sure there are plenty of 2 yos who couldn't be left for fear of damaging themselves even with age appropriate toys.

@SadAsHell We converted a garage into a playroom and it is at the front of the house and the doorway is not visible from anywhere else unless you are standing in front of it. We banked one wall with Ikea Pax wardrobes for storage so that everything could be put away. However, when the children were young they would still bring a lot of toys into the lounge to play with but every night we move it all back to the playroom meaning we had a tidy lounge. But later it became a place they could leave out train track or lego creations and we could just close the door on it all.

So to begin with you could do that, it is a playroom but mainly used for storage to begin with which frees up your lounge. As they get a bit older you could easily instal a camera so you can see them playing up there. The tidying nightly factor really helps, they could just pile everything into a plastic tub and it gets taken back to the playroom and they help put it away. My children are now older teens/twenties and their rooms are spotless because they are used to tidying daily.

My daughter has played on her own with me in a different room since 1. For example me in the kitchen and she was in the dining room next door pulling off the books from the bottle shelf of the book case. She was checked on every few minutes but I could hear exactly what was going on as it was a tiny house and she was about 3 ft away from me.

We moved house and she has had a play room downstairs since 2-2.5 and she has free reign of the downstairs whilst we are downstairs since we moved in a 2. We probably would have done it a bit earlier if we were in the house.

I always sit back and see what they do with me there but not interacting with them and their play to assess how she is playing in that environment before then removing my self.

My daughter is very independent though. My mum always comments on how with my niece they had to actively be involved with her play and she wouldn't play independently at all

OK this makes me feel a lot better. The room is the closest bedroom to the living areas so will hear and every other room can be shut off so there's no access to other non child friendly rooms! Thanks guys, this is great feedback and exactly what I wanted to hear.

"As they get a bit older you could easily instal a camera so you can see them playing up there."

Please never do this, it's such an invasion of their privacy, unless they are old enough to provide informed consent.

We have our playroom on the lower ground floor, with our kitchen. So that has worked really well, my DC has played there before she was 1 and I could get on with things in the kitchen and still keep an eye on her. We had a gated room divider closing it off, but she is 18m old now we stopped using it a while ago and, and she pretty much roams the house on her own, so she wanders off upstairs on her own although all the toys are in the playroom so she usually ends up back there. Trying to keep her in the same room as me all the time just had her grumbling constantly so we don't close off any rooms now.

But I wouldn't be happy with her being in an upstairs room for long periods, if I was mostly downstairs on my own. I just think she'd get lonely and it would be a faff to keep popping upstairs to check on her (and I wouldn't use a video camera inside my home).

Thank you! We live in a bungalow so won't have the stairs issue. We were thinking of converting our attic so good to hear your feed back! Thanks