Kenzie's Playroom

I don't know about you but I cannot decorate a room all in one day.  It takes me years.  YEARS!  I love to shop for just the right piece.  I also change my mind pretty frequently so just as soon as I finally find the right piece, I've moved on to something else!  My husband runs very Type A with a German ancestry so I've come to find that I really like to keep it simple to give our home a very peaceful feel.  Less is more.  For over a year I have been sticking Kenzie's sticker charts on to the wall with stickers.  Yikes!  There is a gooey mess right here that needs to be sanded down and painted.  But I just found this adorable bulletin board with chalkboard and hooks combo from Target!  I was thrilled and it had everything we needed for her reward station.  Kenz is so patient.  She will examine each reward knowing that once her sticker chart is full she gets to pick her prize!!  So this works for us because her rewards are now easily accessible so she can stay visually motivated.

Kenzie is 3 so here are some things that she does to receive stickers -

-wake up with a dry pull up
-brush teeth extremely well without being asked
-help with dishes
-help with laundry (matching all of her socks and putting them away)
-an unprovoked act of kindness
-help take care of Bobo
-happily move on to the next item on our agenda after only 10 minutes of YouTube Kids
-being good while out running errands
-positive stories relayed by her pre-school teacher
-taking care of her friends (warmly welcoming a new friend at church or dance class)
-verbalizing appreciation to others without being asked

And the list goes on and on!

I do realize that sticker charts do not work for everyone but they truly elicit good behavior from this little human.  Kenzie also practices her counting with these charts daily.  "MOMMMY, how many stickers do I need!?!  Let's count... oooonnne, twwooo... "  Some of her best friends at school use jars with bouncy balls that way balls can be given as well as taken away.  That is also a very visual reward system.

I love Joanna Gaines from Fixer Upper!  You should definitely follow her on instagram.  Her design feels so natural and welcoming and it's so inspirational.  I think her style is considered farm house / farm-tastic (YEAH!) / country chic but these items I found at Target were categorized as "French Country Decorative Accents" and they did feel like something you could buy from Magnolia Market.  I also feel like Joanna really likes galvanized organizational or decorative items right now too and I've seen galvanized decor at Pottery Barn, West Elm and Target!




Anyways, I feel like I am constantly organizing my toddler's art.  Coloring books are everywhere.  Crayons everywhere.  Markers everywhere!  And I mostly shove these things in drawers so when we want to spend a few minutes doing art we spend half the time pulling it all out and then putting it all back.  So while searching for sticker chart solutions, I ran across all kinds of wall organization systems for home offices.  I almost bought a few things from Pottery Barn but they were back ordered so here is Target for the win again!  This cute little wooden shelf with hooks below could be used for magazines in an office or I really wanted to use it above Kenzie's kitchen to hang her utensils on the hooks.  Still figuring out what to do with those hooks...

Well, now that I installed these two shelves as wall organization for her play room we can easily access her activity books for even just 5 minutes of play while I'm loading the car.  It's also easy to grab just a few things and throw them in a bag when we're headed out to a restaurant.  Thank you, Target!




Oh, and I painted these chairs with Annie Sloan chalk paint in Paloma!  They are Pottery Barn Kids Carolina chairs that retail for $69 each but I bought them secondhand for $5 each.  They were a pea colored green previously.  I'll post a before and after another time.  I did seal them with an Annie Sloan soft clear wax but I didn't do an awesome job.  Whatever, it's done.



And right here you see that funny striped seat?  It's called a bOble worm.  I've always been interested in moving seats for children with extra wiggles.  I hope when Kenz makes it to elementary school that they will implement active learning.  Standing desks, perhaps?  Or ball chairs?  Sorry teachers, I can only imagine how much complexity this adds to your day.  But I do feel that active sitting for small people and balance therapy can help every human, not just our truly ADHD or special needs kiddos.  Once I tried to convince Grant to build a desk over a treadmil... still working on that...

Here is a link to a blogger who talks more about bOble furniture.  It looks like she also sells it.  On her blog she said that bObles were designed by a Danish paediatric physiotherapist who believed that children's furniture shouldn't look like miniature adult furniture.  Interesting!  I bought this bOble on GILT probably 3 years ago.  My husband uses it to crack is back almost every time he's in Kenzie's play room!  So funny.