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

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.