Our Reggio Inspired Playroom & Learning Space

Hey, everyone! I'm Kristin from Rainey Day Play, where I share our ideas for sensory play, light table play, light play, messy play and so much more! I will occasionally be guest posting here at Epic Childhood, as Kristen has been kind enough to let me share some of our fun ideas with all of you. 

This room has been a work in progress for the past several months, with things being added and changed quite often. Our goal was to create a space that invites exploration and learning. One of our biggest sources of inspiration was Kristen, here at Epic Childhood. Kristen has set up a fabulous play and learning space for her boys! You can view her Reggio Inspired Playroom/Bedroom/Homeschool Room here.

This is just one of our play and learning spaces, but it is our largest and definitely our favorite. 

This side of the room houses our homemade light table, homemade mirror table, block play area and most of the toys, including our light table toys.

This is our homemade light table. After considering the idea of converting a train table, we found that it would be a much more affordable option to build our own. It was totally worth the work, too, as our kids LOVE it! Both our light table and mirrored table have steps in front of them for Rainey to be able to stand on for better reaching. 

There are two black lights hanging on the wall above the light table. With the windows covered, we can use glow in the dark or neon items on the light table. It is also an easy option for us to put them inside of the light table in order to change up our activities. 

The black drawers beside the light table are filled with various light table toys including Zoob Sparkle, color paddles, table scatter, reusable ice cubes, etc.

Although this might not be the best option for everyone, this homemade mirror table is made with a real mirror. We considered acrylic mirrors, but hey, we're cheap, and replacing them when they become scratched from frequent play just isn't in our budget. We have discussed with our kids the importance of not throwing things in the playroom, as we have many mirrors. We also don't allow block play on the table, but they have many other areas to play, so it isn't an issue. Under the mirrored table is a drawer full of animals, people and vehicles for play, as well as a small tote of PlayMobil characters.

This tower holds various light table toys such a shot glasses, shooters, neon straws, neon sand, our light cube accessories and remote. On top are our math cubes. The other drawers hold lights and fabrics for play. We love to have different types of lights available for exploration. 

These shelves hold a few large puzzles, foam blocks, several different kinds of wooden blocks, translucent Ello pieces, electronic Leap Frog toys, number and letter construction sets, translucent blocks, stones, Trio and translucent baskets. 

These shelves hold translucent colored baskets, felt boards and accessories, a wooden pattern puzzle, a mosaic puzzle, various wooden blocks, colored craft sticks, clothes pin peg dolls, wooden lacing beads, hand puppets, wooden Tinkertoys, big buttons, translucent Lego bricks, Citiblocs and tree branch slices.

The top of theses shelves holds pompoms, chenille stems, plastic straws, various lights, small canisters of light table toys, canisters of manipulatives such as dice and letter tiles, math clock and calculator and our Montessori alphabet drawers.

The board here is actually an alternate top for the light table. Most of the time the kids use it on the floor for building with blocks in front of these small mirrors. This shelving unit holds My Little Ponies, a Connect & Create set, more wooden blocks, a magnet kit, electronic learning pads, flashcards, Q Ba Maze, chalkboard eggs, translucent plastic eggs and carrots, Lincoln Logs and cardboard bricks. 

The top of the unit holds bubbles and a bubble machine, lots of light table toys such as gems, letters, beads, etc., some pill containers and a few lights. The wall shelves above are home to our 3D anatomy puzzles, ZomeTool and ZomeTool Bubble kit, a microphone and small amp, lava lamps, a bucket scale, an electronic calculator with rolls of paper, a snap circuit kit and our Roylco X-Ray kits. To the side are our Bilibos, which usually contain our silk scarves.

On the wall here are cds for reflecting light, a few educational posters and artwork made by the kids.

We have several large totes of dress up stored elsewhere, but we hang a few favorites here to make them easily accessible to the little ones. Above them are some round acrylic mirrors. My husband and I made this chalkboard. Ok, ok, I painted a piece of wood and he made the beautiful frame. Lol. Below is a mirror for playing with Magna-Tiles, one of our kids' favorite toys ever. We currently have this duct tape covered metal tray for building on, but plan to change it for a custom made metal topped platform in the near future. 

This side of the room is home to many (and by far not ALL) of our books. It is also where we store games, special books that we don't want shelved with others, including our read alouds. This is also home to our gerbils, stereo, troll collection, baby/toddler/preschool toys, our reading corner, a small fold out couch for Piper and Rainey and work table with mirror.

This is our reading corner. It is in use by one child or another throughout much of the day. In fact, one was here just before I took this photo. Behind the pillows are two metal baskets holding the little girls' toys and dolls. 

Five of the six center shelves in this area have mirrors at the back. They are just cheap mirrors duct taped in place. We haven't had any issues with them coming off or suffering damage. The shelves here hold counting bears and their trays along with activity books, counting ponies, plastic pattern blocks with several different pattern books/kits, lacing cards, geoboards, wooden massagers, pop beads and a few of Rainey's miscellaneous toys.  

 This shelf is for Rainey's board books, her Brown Bear, Brown Bear stuffies and Jonah's collection of Curious George books. 

Here are our shape sorting cupcakes, a pinpression toy, a sorting pie with fruit and tongs, stacking cups, homemade sensory bottles and a few more of Rainey's assorted toys. 

This shelf holds Rainey's lacing animals, a ribbon pulling basket and a small tote of instruments such as bells, rhythm sticks, shaker eggs and kazoos.

This is just a general work table for the younger kids. The mirror is outlined with color changing blue to green flower lights. Under the table is their light cube. We store the sensory trays in the kitchen. Beside the table is our tote of instruments. We have lap harps, Boom Whackers, toy violins, preschool guitars and keyboard, etc.

 

We have a small slide, trampoline and various larger balls in the center of the room. The orange and green balls are for hopping and really help the kids burn off some energy!