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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Calm Down Spot
mamamanda 08:29 AM 03-25-2018
I'm struggling with how to create a nice calm down spot in my living room. I used to use my son's bedroom as a play room & I built an awesome calm area into one of the closets. It was complete with a padded bench, sensory toys like light up balls, water bead games, different textured toys, etc, books & comfy pillows.

For a variety of reasons I chose to move our play area into my living room. It's a bit larger & works well for the most part. There's not as many toys, but I rotate them more frequently. But I cannot for the life of me figure out how to create a cool space for the kids to calm down in. If I send them to the couch they are still in the center area of the room & they cry for attention. I'm probably just going to have to scale down my idea of what the space should be. Maybe just a beanbag chair with a few calm toys in one corner of the room?

What do you use if you're limited on space? I have mostly toddlers & they alternate crying fits all day so I feel like this is needed.
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storybookending 10:20 AM 03-25-2018
Originally Posted by mamamanda:
I'm struggling with how to create a nice calm down spot in my living room. I used to use my son's bedroom as a play room & I built an awesome calm area into one of the closets. It was complete with a padded bench, sensory toys like light up balls, water bead games, different textured toys, etc, books & comfy pillows.

For a variety of reasons I chose to move our play area into my living room. It's a bit larger & works well for the most part. There's not as many toys, but I rotate them more frequently. But I cannot for the life of me figure out how to create a cool space for the kids to calm down in. If I send them to the couch they are still in the center area of the room & they cry for attention. I'm probably just going to have to scale down my idea of what the space should be. Maybe just a beanbag chair with a few calm toys in one corner of the room?

What do you use if you're limited on space? I have mostly toddlers & they alternate crying fits all day so I feel like this is needed.
If my kids need a time to calm down from a needless fit they do not get books or toys to help them. They need to learn to self soothe. I use a simple mat that is in front of an exit that we do not use. They stay on the mat until they can calm themselves down and they are free to get up when they do so.
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Jdy2222 03:57 PM 03-25-2018
I have a corner near the bathroom, there's kind of a mini hallway with the bathroom on one side and a gated room on the other. I put down two big floor pillows and that's that.

It's seldom used as a calm down corner, but is used as another space the kiddos hang out in.
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flying_babyb 04:13 PM 03-25-2018
I work in a center. Ours is right next to the changing table. It used to be in a corner created with a shelf and the side of the changing table. When it was there we had a small rubbermaid tote with some I-spy bags, a few random squish balls, a few books and bean bags. Our kids were thowers so we made a target on the wall so they had something they could throw (bean bags) and a outlet (rather than other children). Our room has a lot of special needs kids, and sensory seekers. right now our worst is a screamer who likes to hit teachers and wont listen
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Ariana 10:12 AM 03-28-2018
Mine is my book corner. Two chairs and a small shelf that seperates it from the rest of the room.
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Pestle 10:39 AM 03-28-2018
I took the door off the closet in my playroom. It has some shelves up high where I keep the books that cycle through the book display. Other than that, it's a dedicated "Quiet Corner" available for anybody who needs to pitch a fit or just get away from it all for a few minutes.

It was a creepy dingy space with water damage (water issues have been solved). I painted it dark gray and stencilled sunbursts all over the walls. There's a super-squishy textured bathmat on the floor, a pair of outdoor seat cushions tied together to make a seat with a back, and a small rack with sensory toys.
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Tags:calm down spot, calming hysterical children, self sooth
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