I’m always changing out my son’s toy shelf to make him a new baby play station.
I was inspired by our light and reflection series to use mirrors at my son’s baby play station. Our goal was to create a little space that reflected all of my son’s favorite things: family, trains, music, etc. Our baby play stations have also been helping with clean up time by simplifying the process for my son (and all of us!). The best part is that it’s so easy to set up…
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We use the bottom two shelves of our massive book shelves (that are earthquake proof!) because they are the best place to make our baby play stations.
My four-year-old has the two bottom shelves of our duplicate bookcase and it works amazing for her as well. Toy rotation and play stations have been our way of surviving a small home with two little ones!
How to Make a Baby Play Station
- Gather low baskets (tall ones don’t allow little ones to see inside when they glance down, so I searched for low baskets ~ they have worked wonders for clean up time, too!)
Tip: only use baskets on the lowest shelves so kids can see what’s inside!
- Put toys in the baskets by theme ~ we have trains and large trucks in the biggest basket and balls in the second. To me, this fits the “all about me” concept because they are my son’s favorite toys! 🙂
- Stick mirrors on the back of the shelves with double sided tape (our mirrors are from Ikea).
- Add family photos or frames to the space for baby
- Include their favorite toys on the shelf ~ we put a few trains on the top shelf to invite him to play. He can always get more trains from the basket!
- Add any favorite books (My son loves our recycled vehicle books).
The mirrors were a great addition to our baby play station because my son would see someone’s reflection and find them in one of our family photos. My daughter loved making faces at herself, too!
I love that my son has a place to go to just for him. He can see pictures of his Dad (who he misses so much during the day!) and explore some of his favorite toys.
This is a great way to give kids their “own” space even when you live in a small home!
Don’t forget to check out the other great posts in this series:
Body Tracing Self-Portrait Mirror Drawings from And Next Comes L
Identifying Emotions with Self Portraits from Still Playing School
Photo Puzzles on the Light Table from Where Imagination Grows
Lisette says
Great idea! I love the mirror and the reminder to use low baskets so they can actually see what’s inside the baskets! 🙂