Homeschool Room and Indoor Play Environment Update 2014

My twins have an all in one bedroom-playroom-homeschool room. They do very well with it this way. There are no issues with homeschool, with the way it is set up. All of their little friends really enjoy coming to play in their room as well! It is a very comfortable and calming room. Everyone loves being in it, night or day.  We are limited on space, so I do the best with the space we have.  Just in case you're wondering, Rome wasn't built in a day here. This is several years of collecting items to create the room and what is in it.

The room is set up tailored to current interests. It has changed a lot since the last update. We acquired a large mirror for the block play area that a friend of the family was throwing away.

You can see the very last room update post HERE
You can see my last two previous room update posts HERE and HERE.
See more of the evening lighting in the room HERE.
See how we keep the room tidy HERE.

You can find nearly every toy seen in the pics below  HERE

Feel free to email me or inbox me on facebook with any questions.

*Please read the descriptions under each photo!*  ;)

**Temporarily the mirror table has moved to another room.**

to the left is the chalk board. I attached the calendar to it recently. We don't have a lot of wall space for the calendar to be low enough for them to put the date on each day. SO I decided to attach it to the chalk board, The chalk board is painted on. So far, it seems to be working out very well.  To the right is the book and magnet area. IN the center are the overhead projector and behind the projector is the blocks shelving. You will see more angles of the block area in the pics below. I promise it doesn;t feel this cluttery in person. I realize this pic was taken at a slightly unflattering angle. I am basically trying to show how the room is kind of divided off into little sections.

This is a view of the school/play/craft table. Both twins have a yoga ball and regular school chair to sit on. They switch off when they want to from chair to ball and back. They are at the light table area and next to them is the Waldorf Playstand. It was hand built by a friend of the family several years ago. The board on the floor is a Waldorf Rocker Board and it is a well loved item. They each have their own. One of them is sitting over in the block area by the chalk board. Sometimes they use it with block play.  They can be walked on in an arch position or you can stand and rock on it when it is in the position as you see in this pic. They can do a lot of fun tricks on these!! They make for great brain break activities! The green and blue thing with a clear center is a see through easel.  The little colorful drawer system to the left of the light table is full of light table accessories. You will see what is inside the drawers in the pics below. 

another angle of the block-books-magnet board area

excuse the easel in the way for this pic., they had moved it there to use it. The area you see here is to the right of the Waldorf Playstand. It just has the gross motor indoor toys and the gross motor alphabet and shape mats, There is also the DIY light box in front of the window. It gets moved around when it is being used for various light box play. We use that one for any messy light box play such as science experiments,, like vinegar and baking soda reactions. The ball/car ramps I made are usually stored over here too. It is kind of like an open closet over here. 

closer view and another angle of blocks area.. you can see the magnet board as well as part of the book case in this view too. The pillows are for comfy book reading The white tray on the floor is a magnetic play tray that I made by covering an automotive oil drip pan with white duct tape. The magnet board is an oil drip lan too.

This is the opposite side of the room. I will be showing you several angles of this part of the room too. To the left is a little play table that used to be a shelf thingy. Part of the shelf fell apart but it is perfect other than that. So now it is a mirrored play table cubby thing.  Then next to that is the board game shelf. Next to it is a shelf thing that is built into the wall. We are now using it to tie in with the toy kitchen play. It has both their "office play" items and science play items.  That way they can play store or restaurant, with the kitchen right there beside. The science stuff is there because I have no idea where else to put it and it kinda can tie in with the kitchen if they were playing scientist. They have a science lab in their backyard play area too. To the center you see the toy kitchen and on top are some homeschool supplies. Then to the right is their castle shelving. It has a bunch of houses and castles. They are really really really realllllly into playing with any kind of toy house or castle, They use their little people, army men, lego men, playmobil people, animals, pokemon, cartoon figurines, etc in those houses and castles, Some where Christmas gifts and some were handed town from older sisters, friends of the family, or were obtained for less than 3 dollars each from garage sales.  The big house on the floor with a face is the Mrs Goodby House. It was 2 dollars at a garage sale. It talks and is in perfect condition. They love using their little family sets with it. They have Moms, Dads, Grandparents, kids of various ages and babies.  However sometimes they use it for army men or animals. They have a ton of people and animals because of the same reasons as the houses... hand me downs from older siblings, relatives, friends of the family, and garage sales. 

Here is that little mirrored play shelf cubby thing. and the board game shelf. You can see that built in shelf here too and on the floor is their scooby doo play sets, They have been huge scooby fans for several years. You will see various educational classroom posters around the room. They love them!! They come in handy for homeschooling too!

the game shelf and that built in shelf with the science and office play stuff on it..

science and office play stuff The blue box is filled with play money. The adding machine is real and it works. I used to play with one when I was a kid at my Uncle Bob and Aunt Verna's house. My cousin and I played office a lot! The phone is an old phone with the cords removed. The scale is just a simple kitchen scale for kitchen or science play.

another view of the kitchen/science/office area

overview of the blocks, overhead projector, and playstand. The cart that the overhead projector is on was a mini kitchen bakers rack thing with the top removed. The bottom shelf under the overhead projector has block play items.

block area with the evening lights on

another view showing the beds and yes they have different beds,

The castle and house play shelf. They play their people and animals on the shelves or take them down to put on the floor or table. They area always changing up how they play with the houses and castles. They have a farm barn too.

The board games and two IKEA vegetable plush toys.

some school posters and some tree pumpkin seed paintings that we made above the toy kitchen. 

The homeschool items that I keep on top of the toy kitchen. The little drawer things have all small items like cut outs that are for various things like matching, rhyming, categorizing, fine motor, dot and star stickers, etc.

You can see one of the workbox carts, well part of one to the left. Then the next shelf is all homeschool binders and on top is their turn in trays for all papers. They each have their own labeled with their first initial of their name.The next shelf over is mostly craft supplies and then under it are some learning tools. YOu will see a close up pic below.

The items that are below the shelf. Lacing stuff, Melissa and Doug spelling boards, bear counters and clown counters, the bears counting cups are in that box too, and then dominoes to the right.

The writing utensil caddy. This is on top of one of their workbox carts.

The writing utensil caddy turned around.

The craft stuff on the top shelf of the craft shelving, I stacked it so you could see what is inside the little containers. The containers are from the dollar tree. There are foil confetti things wood craft shape pieces, googly eyes, feathers, pom poms, cotton balls, mini craft sticks, buttons, beads, and gems

Here is how it normally looks. The stuff in the plastic vases behind are just homeschool items like chopsticks, toast tongs, tongs, magnet circles, straws, tape-fitti, dice, home made feather wands, and wooden magnet squares.

second shelf view of the craft shelf.  Coloring books, do a dot books, sticker face books, and craft tape dispenser. Below are big containers that had pretzels in them. Inside are foam stickers, chenille craft stems, and these craft things that I have forgotten the name of. You dab water on them and they stick to each other,

better close up of stuff under the craft shelf.

paper!  The trays were from goodwill! Their alphabots and magnetic dress up bears are on here too!

The rainbow window

another view of table and shelving that holds learning toys and light tale items, You can see part of the light table in the pic and under the light table is their bins where all of the little people and animals are.

The grand and fabulous and much adored light table set up. It consists of two constructive playthings light panels(the older model) and they are duct taped down. They sit upon a lifetime brand adjustable height table. The center mirror is a mirror that my Dad gave me when I was a kid. The six smaller mirrors are from discount school supply. We have had this set up for several years now! Underneath is a storage area for their small world play figurines, animals, cartoon character figurines, lego men and playmobil people, action figures, etc.

action figure/animal storage.

a game on the light table

another view of the block area

book and magnet area, the red toy box is filled with their dress up clothes. There are earmuffs hanging there for reading concentration. In case they are feeling distracted.  

closer view of blocks

blocks...

the bottom shelf of the overhead projector houses some block play accessories.

waldorf playstand(hand built by a friend of the family a few years ago) and waldorf rocker board

sorry this one is a tad blurry. This is the paper center, the paper organizers are awesome, one is from goodwill. The other I bought on mega sale. The little open area is all the paint and brushes, crayon caddy, stamps and stamp pads. INside the doors are all puzzles. Some are wood and some are the cardboard kind.

noise cancelling headphones for when they need to concentrate better on school work and the scissors. They are various types and under the scissors is Imaginets.  The silver pole is part of the lamp.  The things on the floor are all the various trays we use for doing school work activities.

close up 1 of the storage cubby shelving behind the big table that you saw a pic of above. 

close up 2 of the storage cubby shelving

close up 3 of the storage cubby shelving

on top of the shelving, sensory lighting/ night lights

little storage cart next to the light table set up.  

close up of little storage jars on top. I stacked them for a sec so you can see what is in them,

bottom drawer, reusable ice cubes for light table.

next one up. all kinds of light table syuff

next one up, zoob sparkle, plastic bracelets, light table cars, giant crystal connectors, and crystal climbers

next one up, 3rd drawer from top. part of the crystal connectors, and interlox

size sorting light table blocks from Lakeshore and little boxes from the container store

light table blocks from Lakeshore

homeschool work boxes, they sit next to the toy kitchen

blocks again, and theres a sensory bin on the floor that is not always there

another blocks close up

close up of their castle play shelf

You can find most every toy HERE and I can tell you where to get everything else. just email me or leave a comment here.