How to Organize a Baby’s Play Area

It’s no secret that our most recent baby came as a surprise. Seriously though. I went to the doctor because I was having strange symptoms that the Internet told me was cancer leading to death. I believe my actual words to the doctor were “ I’m having this strange fullness in my lower belly.” But if you know me at all you know that I totally love surprises! But this one was a little shocking  for a few reasons, one of them being that I had literally gotten rid of all my baby stuff down to the last baby rattle. Gone. I had a garage sale and all. So when we had baby Syl, we literally had nothing. A few months went by and we starting getting some much appreciated donations with the majority of them being toys. In fact we started getting so many toys for the baby our living room slowly started turning into what looked like a daycare toddler room before cleanup time. Not Feng shui at all. So being the minimalist-loving preschool teacher that I am, I did a major purge, and simplified Sylvie’s little play area into a simple, purposeful, practical area that offers activities that help master Sylvie’s latest developmental skills. Sylvie is 11 months old, almost one. So the skills she’s working on mastering right now are things like: opening & closing, spacial exploration, fine motor strength, core strength, cause and effect, etc.
Here is the book I used as my guide.

As Sylvie grows I will swap out the activities accordingly! Here is Sylvie’s new and improved play area. It's on an old changing table that my oldest daughter bought from a garage sale for her American Girl Dolls:

FOUR baskets of toys instead of a heaping pile, all easily accessible and cleanly organized. 

Blocks to help understanding of objects and how they relate to space and time. 

Some objects to practice threading to help with hand/eye coordination all as welll as finger strength. 

Everyday household objects to practice opening and closing. 

More blocks that are easier for stacking.

Easy puzzles that Sylvie can actually do.

And there you have it! Now if only I could get my big kids' areas to resemble something purposeful and practical!