Designing Children's Play Spaces - A Q&A with an Interior Designer
INTERVIEWED BY HAMI LAWTON - VISUALISATIONS BY ALYSSA BILLINGTON
We sat down with our resident interior designer, Alyssa, to talk about her design process for designing a multi-functional playroom for three young children, and her tips for creating play spaces for children.
Q: How do you begin the design process when designing spaces for children?
A: We like to begin the design process by getting parents to fill out a questionnaire that helps us to understand each child’s personality, sensory needs, and environmental sensitivities. Each child is so different, so this is a really important step in ensuring that the design solution we come to will be flexible enough to support the varying sensory needs of each child.
A comfortable soft play area is surrounded by closed storage for visual quiet.
Q: For this particular project, were there any spatial sensitivities or sensory needs that needed to be considered?
A: Yes, we identified three key spatial sensitivities that needed to be considered in the playroom. The first was the avoidance of bold, bright colours. Children, like adults, are often sensitive to overly bright colours as they can cause us to feel overstimulated and overwhelmed. The second was a sensitivity to uncomfortable textures, such as those that feel scratchy on the skin. Lastly, the children are all very active and so are sensitive to spaces that feel cramped and limit movement.
Q: How did these sensory needs influence the design?
A: In response to colour sensitivities, we opted for a palette of muted, natural colours, that are calming and low sensory. We also considered every material finish, making sure any material the children interact with is soft and comfortable to the touch. The spatial layout of the playroom was kept very balanced, clear, and defined to optimise the amount of free circulation space. Implementing a lot of closed storage around the perimeter of the room helped a lot in giving the children lots of free floor space to move around.
"For optimal sleep the room should feel like a cave-like environment by night – dark, cool and quiet."
A custom play kitchen has been integrated into an IKEA cabinet so it can be closed away when not in use.
"Sensory needs not only differ from child to child, but each child’s sensory needs also change throughout the day as their emotions and ebb and flow."
Q: What different modes of play does this play space support and why are these important for children?
A: In this particular project we had three children aged 1, 3 and 6 who all had very different needs and interests. One half of the playroom is designed to shift between pretend play and quiet play. When activated for pretend play, the sofa area can be used for making forts. The area behind the sofa is dedicated to the youngest girl who really enjoys using her play kitchen. When the children are not using the space for pretend play it returns to a quiet space. We integrated the play kitchen into the storage unit so that once it is not being used it is concealed by the cabinet doors, and the room returns to being a calm and visually quiet space where the children can read and have downtime.
The other half of the room is designed for more expressive or creative play, such as doing arts and crafts. As the eldest was beginning to be given homework, this space can return to an organised state for more concentrative tasks.
I think all types of play are important to children’s development so it’s important for one room to be able to adapt to several types of play. As children grow their interests and needs also change so, again, it’s important that the space can change and evolve with the children.
Q: We know that the family home can often be a negotiated landscape of spaces where parents and children — of different ages and stages in life — dwell in spaces where different (and sometimes contrary), sensory sensitivities need to be met. How do you design a space that meets the needs of multiple children at different ages with varying sensory needs?
A: As mentioned before, I think it’s important to consider the adaptability of your space. Sensory needs not only differ from child to child, but each child’s sensory needs also change throughout the day as their emotions and ebb and flow. When energy levels are high, they may want to create a more active and lively play environment. When energy levels are low and children have spent all day taking in different sensory input, they need spaces that are quiet and grounded. The playroom, for example, can easily change from being a bright and lively play environment, to being a quiet, dark, and low sensory space by drawing the curtains, changing the lighting, and returning all the toys into closed storage.
1. The sight line from the dining room into the playroom is visually quiet. 2. Closed storage reduces clutter.
Q: How do you design a space that meets the sensory needs of parents, as well as the sensory needs of children? (For example, we know that parents often have needs for ordered and uncluttered spaces and can be more easily dysregulated by mess, and, in opposition, we know that children often like to create spaces that are creative and playful and engage with multiple toys and varied sensory input, which can often create an environment that looks disordered and chaotic)?
A: In the preliminary questionnaire we give to parents, we also ask parents what spatial qualities they value in the home. I think it’s important to consider what kinds of spaces relieve stress and anxiety for parents, as well as the children, as the calmer parents are the more capable they are of supporting their children.
The parents most heightened spatial sensitivity in this project was clutter and visual noise. In response to this, the playroom was designed with ample closed storage so that everything had a place, and the room could return to a calm, highly organised space when not being used by the children. In this way, it means that the playroom can shift to meet the sensory needs of both parents and children. This was particularly important for this project as the the playroom can be viewed from the kitchen and living and dining area.
1. Open play space behind the couch. 2. The playroom in plan.
What are your top 3 interior design recommendations to help other people when creating play spaces for children?
1. My number one recommendation is to think about how a space can exist in an activated and de-activated state. It’s inevitable that children are going to pull out every toy and create lots of mess and chaos. Its best to accept that this activated state is going to happen, and to think about how the space can easily de-activate back to a highly organised, uncluttered, and visually quiet space.
2. Consider how your child’s emotions and energy levels change throughout the day, and what it is they will need from the environment at these different stages of the day.
3. Try to create separate and distinct areas within one space to cater to several different modes of play. This is particularly helpful when designing one space that will be occupied by more than one child at a time.