Bedroom Tips for 4 and 5-year-olds

Bedroom Tips for 4 and 5-year-olds

Having a beautiful ‘Instagram-worthy’ kids' room is fantastic for photo shoots and impressing visitors, but the reality is that your child needs a safe, fun place they can spend time in (and mess up a bit). You want your little one's room to be the most fun place in the house (for them that is) without having to check every two minutes that they haven’t broken a lamp or a leg.

Safety First

First and foremost safety is crucial, once your children start exploring their surroundings, they never really stop, always finding new things to jump on or off, so some preparation is required to minimise the chance of injury in the process. You must assume that if it is climbable, they will attempt to climb it. Dressers, drawers, and bedside tables must all be completely secure, the best way to make sure they will not tip onto your child is to use furniture safety straps. Another risk is choking hazards, most toys designed for young children will state if there are small parts included, but just be aware of any loose buttons or coins as children continue to put random items in their mouths a lot longer than you think. Of course, never have loose blind cords or long power cords of any sort in a child's room at any age. A good way to check for potential issues is to get down to their height and see what they will see. There is usually some cheeky wayward item under the bed you don’t even recall owning.

Get your Child Involved

One of the most endearing qualities of children under five is they know what they like (and what they don’t). They know which is their favourite plate, and what their favourite YouTube program is, and they definitely know their favourite colour. On the downside, young children can be extraordinarily fickle, letting them choose the colour scheme is a great way to get them involved but keeping it temporary is the clever option. Peel and Stick wallpaper is incredibly easy to apply, it is inexpensive, and you can change it once your child decides they now hate purple elephants and now only want rainbows. There is an extensive range at Spoon Flower and closer to home Moonface Studio have some great options too. Sadly your child is unlikely to choose the glamourous muted blush tones, but hey, you can paint it your favourite shade once they move out…. In about 30 years. 

Accessibility

Ensure all of their toys are easy to get to for your child and make sure that the stuff they play with most is stored at their level (you do not want to give children a reason to start scaling shelves). Toyboxes are great but do confirm that heavy lids are not going to slam onto little fingers, also check that grabbing their favourite book is not going to send a pile of jigsaws tumbling or create a duplo avalanche.

Monitoring

The best way to keep your child safe and happy is to keep an eye on them as they play. Of course, it is not always a practical option. If you feel more comfortable a great idea is to set up your baby monitor (if you have one) or consider one of the many home cameras that you can connect to your smartphone, allowing you to see and hear your little one playing while you are not in the room.

Another tip for checking all of the above is covered in a new or changed environment is to spend time in the room watching them play as soon as you change something. Anything risky will no doubt be uncovered as your child puts a new setting through its paces.