Our playroom became a couch and a big screen TV where they can watch movies and hang out with their friends.

College.

We just transitioned it to a more hangout space with our youngest being 9. He was done with all the big toys, but baths kids still do Lego sets, so there’s still a bunch of that as well as a large cabinet that contains board and card games. But now instead of open floor space, there are couches and bean bags, a flat screen, and the Switch.

Our playroom has morphed into the tweens hangout space. The play tables and big toys are gone and there are bean bag chairs, a big easy chair, and it's one of the spaces where they hang out to game when their friends come over. One also has his desk in there (the other has his desk in the family room).

Never

We got rid of our small playroom the summer after 3rd grade. It had just become a toy storage room -- our kid never went in there to play with things. We moved some toys to the kids' bedroom, put games in the family room, and culled things that hadn't been touched in years. The room was too small to transition into a hangout space for older kids. At some point we'll probably finish our basement so that it can serve that purpose.

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t you slowly adapt the room?
We have a spare bedroom that was the playroom. during Covid ( 2nd thru 3rd) it transitioned into a homeschool space/art space. The shelving is the same and the table chairs have stayed the same.
Now DD is in MS there is a large screen TB on the wall and her switch is hooked up in there. She still has art stuff, legos etc on the shelves though.

Oh that is part of the plan (keeping legos and most toys) but I need to buy bookshelves and a big table to accommodate what I’m picturing. We have a lot of books without a central home. But the playroom is small and to add furniture I have to remove the old.

I’m just wondering if I will regret getting rid of the toy shelves and the bigger open play space.

We have a room set aside for the kids that has evolved over time... was a playroom, then a lego/building room, now a hang space with bean bag chairs, lots of books, and a table that can be used for crafts, puzzles, or homework.

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t you slowly adapt the room?
We have a spare bedroom that was the playroom. during Covid ( 2nd thru 3rd) it transitioned into a homeschool space/art space. The shelving is the same and the table chairs have stayed the same.
Now DD is in MS there is a large screen TB on the wall and her switch is hooked up in there. She still has art stuff, legos etc on the shelves though.

This is the right approach. We don't have a separate room but more of a play area, and we just slowly over time purged some of the younger kid toys, replaced a preschool-height play table/chairs with a desk, added more older-kid art stuff, etc. It took surprisingly long for kids to let go of certain items, like the play kitchen and certain board games I associate with younger kids, so we let them hang on until they really seemed ready.

I am someone who hates mess and love organization/tidying, so this is an area in which I had to manage my own instincts, which were to purge everything all at once and transition to a different kind of space. But playing is really good for kids and they don't get to do it enough at school, so I forced myself to deal with the fact that for a time, the play area was kind of overstuffed with a broad range of toys, including some that were not getting a ton of action but were still wanted. That time only lasts a year or two and then eventually your kids are more interested in other things. Younger elementary age kids don't have any or much homework, so you really don't need a study space until upper elementary (we used the kitchen table for homework basically until middle school anyway -- it's better for homework that you need to supervise, which is most elementary age homework).

Why can’t you slowly adapt the room?
We have a spare bedroom that was the playroom. during Covid ( 2nd thru 3rd) it transitioned into a homeschool space/art space. The shelving is the same and the table chairs have stayed the same.
Now DD is in MS there is a large screen TB on the wall and her switch is hooked up in there. She still has art stuff, legos etc on the shelves though.

Now that DS is in elementary he seems to not need as much play space. I’d rather set up a study area where we can also play board games or read. Will I regret getting rid of the playroom?