Creative Tips for Transforming Your Basement into a Playground

November 14, 2015 Guest Post

When rainy weather or cold, wintery days force your children to play indoors, wouldn’t it be nice for them to have their own playground space rather than having them tear up your living room? If your house has a basement, you can easily use play equipment to transform it into a children’s playground where they can work off their excess energy in a safe environment.

 

Choose A Good Spot

Take a look at the layout of your basement and determine a specific area that you can turn into an area featuring play equipment for toddlers that is flexible enough to change as your youngsters get older. It’s a good idea to position the playroom within watching distance of the basement TV room or game room so the adults in the household can keep an eye on the kids while you are both enjoying doing your thing in the basement. You can use a folding screen to create a partial division between the adult and children’s spaces.

Economical Decorating

Yard sales and rummage sales are great resources for finding furnishings for your basement playground, along with good bargains on play equipment for toddlers which another family has outgrown. Make up a list of play equipment that would fit into the space you have designated as the children’s basement playground. It’s a good idea to invite your kids to participate in this process since they will be the ones who will be living with the final result.

 

Playground Wish List

This list might include an assortment of toys, books, interactive games, playhouses, soft toys like foam balls, doll houses, stuffed animals, as well as child-sized seating, including tables, couches, picnic tables and chairs, along with baskets or bookcases for storing toys and other materials used in this space. Just make certain that whatever materials you choose for seating and tables that it can be easily surface cleaned. Kompan.com.au has an amazing array of slides, playgrounds, and other equipment for kids displayed on their site.

 

Soft Surfaces

If your flooring is currently concrete or hardwood, consider covering it with easy to install carpet squares to provide a cushioned surface for kids to sit on the floor and to create a soft landing spot during play. Area rugs also work well for this purpose and will be easy to keep clean with regular vacuuming. You can also position oversized pillows for use as floor seating if you don’t have a lot of room to position a couch or a table with chairs. Consider covering one wall with chalkboard to inspire your children’s artistic creations.

 

Wall Decor

Rather than invest in wall hangings or other artwork to decorate your children’s basement playground, invite the kids to use some crayons and paper to create some unique drawings that can help to make their downstairs playground uniquely their own. Designate one corner of the playground space as a video viewing area so kids can enjoy watching educational videos or their favorite movies downstairs.

 

Brighten Up

Use plenty of color to brighten up a basement playground or add additional tract ceiling lighting if necessary to make this playground space as warm and inviting as possible. It’s amazing how well a coat of brightly colored paint on walls, tables and chairs can automatically brighten up this space.