Setting up the PlayRoom
- Views 17104
- Likes
If you do decide to try Son-Rise or a play therapy there is usually a big urgency around setting up a room.
Our initial advice would be please don’t worry about the room!
When we first began with Henry we used his bedroom. We moved all the toys off the floor and from around the shelves where Henry could reach and we played in there for 6 months before we set up a playroom downstairs, however we could have carried on upstairs so if you don’t have room downstairs please don’t feel that using a bedroom is not practical.
So initially just make a room as distraction free as possible!
If or when you are ready to kit the room out here’s a few tips that might help:
- We would really recommend a spongy floor. You’re on the floor and your knees a lot!! We used two layers of giant jigsaw foam pieces and covered them with a plain lino/vinyl.
- You will need shelves and put them as high up as possible so you can reach!
- The shelves should not have anything battery operated on them. The toys should be generic type toys that can be used in a variety of ways eg skittles, blocks, balls etc. Don’t put too much on the shelves so that you can easily see what is up there and you can easily get things off the shelf to connect with your child!
- Big floor items are really useful like a mini slide, mini trampoline and table.
- Mirrors are essential! As mirrors can be smashed if the wall is not completely straight you can use acrylic mirrors. They do not give a little bit of a warped reflection but you do get used to it!
- A camera in the playroom is a really good idea to record your own sessions and also for when you have volunteers.
- We used a wifi security camera and fed it back to a television in the kitchen. Two are ideal because they can cover the whole room but we only ever had one.
- The observation window does not have to be really expensive. We used one way mirror film that you can put over the glass.