The Best Ways to add Kid Play Spaces to a Home
Your home is a place to hang out, eat, sleep, and share memories. However many homes are not set up to give kids specific places to be creative, exercise, relax and explore. Even small areas can be converted to kid specific stations that encourage activities and creativity.
In our home we changed part of a previously poorly planned basement space to a indoor tree house, playroom, ninja climbing area and dance studio. We made some configuring changes and were also able to add storage and a guest bedroom. Prior to the renovation the area was dark and spooky with not much usable space. Now the kids love to play down there.
We also opened up an area under the stairs in our main living are to make a hidden hide-out. This was previously a blocked off area that had no use.
We have a small library nook that we added bean bag chairs and a small desk. We also use our dining room as an art room instead of the traditional dining room that we never used. Our front room (usually formal living room area) is our music room.
We have found that these simple adjustments in flow have turned our home from several rarely used rooms in to spaces that we all use. Our current home is larger but the same concepts can be used with smaller home. Creative thinking can make a space much more family friendly.
How to Make Creative Kid and Family Spaces in your Home
Add a Dedicated Play Room or Play Space
Dedicated play rooms can be big previously unused spaces, an extra room or can be a much smaller area of a larger room. The trick to a good play area is to keep things organized. I like play spaces that encourage a lot of imagination. Rooms with a theme (like a kitchen) can keep kids playing for hours.
A good play area must also be pretty indestructible, nothing fancy or easy to break regardless of how cute it is. Try to use spaces creatively. It is possible to put a nice place space in the corner of a larger room but it does take more creativity when it comes to keeping it clean or being able to hide the clutter from the main areas.
Indoor Playgrounds
Building an indoor playground can sound like an intimidating process but really they don’t take up as much space as you would think. With some creativity it can be done with a moderate amount of space. Generally an indoor playground is not going to be hidden behind in the corner of a main living area but indoor playgrounds can be a great solution for a basement or even a bedroom conversion. We have been able to add a swing to our indoor playground. My pre-teen can swing for hours. We discussed a slide as well but started running short on space.
Climbing Spaces and Climbing Walls
My kids (like most kids I’m sure) love to climb. Adding a climbing area does not take up much space and can be a lot of fun for kids. We added a small climbing wall. When thinking of climbing areas, consider the hardness of the flooring surface. I like to make sure there is a soft surface to land on and our climbing walls are not very tall so that kids don’t get hurt when they fall. I’ve seen others that have very tall climbing areas as well. Climbing structures must be well anchored to appropriate supports.
Ninja Gyms and Monkey Bars
Not only do my kids like to climb, they also like to swing … a lot. In our playspace we added well anchored hooks in the ceiling so that the kids can change out climbing items as they wish. We have monkey bars, ladders, ropes, hoops and several other interchangable items. Adding a area for Ninja activities does always take up a lot of space. Several companies have options for kits you can build in small spaces or you could use our hanging method to build smaller areas. Again, it’s really important to make sure that the floor is soft and that there are no hard edges around.
Indoor Hanging Hammock
One of my favorite things to due is to sit in a hammock and read. The kids love it too. Hammocks can be placed in several areas and make fabulous cozy spaces that are fun for kids. In our house the hammocks attach to the same anchors as the ninja gym. In the corner or a bedroom or in a subtle area in the main living space can also be a wonderful idea.
Hidden Rooms
Hidden rooms are so much fun for kids (and honestly adults too). Hidden rooms can be made from previously blocked off areas, small extra bedrooms or closets, or awkard spaces or oddly angled rooms. For our kid’s hideout, we opened a hole in to the space under the stairs. Origionally we hid it with a picture but later upgraded to a ship lap barn door that I just think is stunning.
How to Hide a Hidden Room – Door Options
Make a hidden or secrete room or space for kids is a lot of fun and really gets the creative juices going. Several options for doors include:
Picture frames
Barn Doors
Bookcase
Mini-door
Creative Bunk Bed Design
When space is a concern (isn’t it always), using bunk beds to add layers is a good idea to help use more of the space. Kids like things they can climb, places to hide and creative areas. Bunk beds are perfect for that.
When adding bunk beds to a bedroom to give more space you’ll have more areas to use the room differently. Beds are the largest part of a bedroom but kids usually use thier rooms for more than sleeping. Raising the bed can make a bedroom much more functional and can add creativity to a design.
I also like adding bunk beds to play spaces. Bunk beds can make a space much more usable. In our play area we made out indoor treehouse from 3 twin beds. We finished the project just before a sleep-over and its been a big success since.
Reading Nooks
Reading nooks can be done with pretty small spaces including under a bunk bed or in a corner of a room. You just need a place to store books, a comfortable place to sit and may be some good lighting. We’re lucky that we have a mini-library area on our landing but we’ve also made reading nooks in all of the kids bedrooms as well.
Art / Craft Room
We don’t use our dining room much at all so now it’s mostly an art room. I do recommend keeping an art room much more organized than ours – our poor dining room table is so cluttered most of the times and the layers of pain …. One day our kids will grow up and I’ll clean it then.
The most important part of an art room in my opinion is organization. Everything should have it’s place and you should be able to easily but things back when you do want to use the space for something else. Larger working areas are really helpful too. Our art area is used for painting, building and all kinds or messy projects. It was very overused during virtual schooling. Currently it’s an absolute mess with about 7 projects all scattered around in different states of being finished.
Dance Room
Our dance area came about during COVID. Our youngest started taking ballet from home and we just happened to have apatch or laminent flooring in the basement that worked as the perfect dance spot. The reason the floor there is different is because the previous owner had some hiddious tile and a non-funcional bar (that was awful to remove). It was easier to patch it with laminent and turn it in to a dance floor then try to make it match. All we did after that was make a ballet bar out of PVC pipe and add a mirror (that was left at our house) and viola – dance studio.
Dance areas can also be made in the same space as a work out area if you are able to move equipment out of the way. A guest bedroom can also double as both if you have a purphy bed and you’re able to pack things away. The only thing you need is a floor, a bar, and music (mirrors are nice too).
Theater Space
A small theater space is another project that does not take up a lot of room and can be hours of fun for kids (and really good for the imagination). Just a curtain (and maybe a half wall at times for puppets) and you have a theater. Set chairs in front to watch the show. Everything can easily be moved in between performances.
Game Rooms
Game rooms are also areas that don’t have to take up a lot of physical space. When I generally think of game rooms I usually think of billiards tables but a more reasonable option may be options that can be put up in between use. We have a folding ping-pong table, a small fooseball table and a basketball area. We rotate through the games depending on the kids moods. Arcades devices or pin-ball would also be great choices.
Our kids are really in to Tinker crates and the past few months have all been arcade type games. We not have home-made pinball machines, balloon . …
Music Rooms
Music rooms and spaces can also be made in a small area. We just happened to have a piano that our renters did not want to move so we kept it. We have a guitar from my dad and my oldest has been trying viola. Having a space to put up instraments when done with lessons is very important.
Game and Puzzle Tables
If you have an area where you can set up a small table then having a puzzle table or game table may be a great way to go. Puzzles are fun but so much drama if one gets put up too soon. As a family we love game night but at times we’d love to leave a game out to finish later. Having a well-organized area for puzzles and games can be a lot of fun.
Lego and Building Rooms
One of our friends has lego room. Our kids actually hang out there and play even more than they play in our indoor treehouse. A lego table and storage areas are all it takes. You can add different building materials as well.
