Ultimate Kid's Bug Room

As my son Ethan turned five, we wanted to give him a room that signified his transition to being a big kid, starting Kindergarten, dropping his nap, and having his own passions. When I asked him what he wanted his room's theme to be, I suggested some of his many passions. Sharks, helicopters, sports... Nope, trash all of those Pinterest boards, Mom.

BUGS. With complete certainty, he wants BUGS. Just try to find bug theme rooms on Pinterest! Well, here's my how-I-did-it in case your kiddo says he or she wants bugs too, or if you just want to customize your IKEA Kura bed to have a bug free hideout!

So he had HIS requirements, bugs of course.

But Mommy had hers too! I wanted the bones of the room to be able to grow with him. Neutral walls, furniture, and curtains. Just in case one day he wants to have a bit more mature of a look. I also wanted a reading nook, desk for homework, and a low level bunk for the inevitable jumping. Almost EVERYTHING you see here is from IKEA, Oriental Trading Company, and Target, in that order.

Speaking of jumping, let's jump right in!

I started by patching all of the walls from the old playroom set up. I painted the walls Behr Wheat Bread.

Here's halfway through the job, Wheat Bread on the left wall and the before white on the right.

And the after.

Then I assembled and painted the IKEA Kura bed I got off of Craigslist ($40 instead of $200 new!). Note, the new beds at IKEA area already have white boards instead of blue now, so that cuts out a lot of painting.

IKEA bed before:

And after, with painted 2 coats of 1-2-3 Primer and two coats of semi gloss Behr off white. I think I should have sanded the Pine first. When the boards get nicked, they peel a little too easily.

Next it was time to build the reading nook, or "hide out" as we branded it.

A four square IKEA Expedit bookcase fit easily underneath. It can even store a baby brother!

I used a screw in shower curtain rod to secure the hide out curtains. I didn't want to use a tension rod as my boys are rough with things and I didn't want it landing on their heads! I hemmed two black out curtains from Target to fit the height of the loft.

To make the reading nook, I used two IKEA picture frame ledges. They screwed easily and securely into the bed frame.

Underneath is a blue extra large bean bag chair from Target, large enough to fit two small boys for story time. It sits on some "grass", two IKEA green shag carpet squares.

The grass has bugs crawling inside off course, courtesy of Oriental Trading.

Along the back of the hideout are three IKEA plastic grass planters, with more bugs glued on with a hot glue gun.

On the ceiling of the hideout (the slats under the mattress) are battery operated LED dragonfly lights. I wanted LED to make sure they were cool to little finger's touch.

I hung some free printables I found online. The one on the right is for making shadow puppets. The black bug stickers are cling on and easy to remove.

Here are some spiders dangling from their web (of fishing line). This was Ethan's one request, he's giddy at the idea that his friends will think they are real and will be spooked!

Completing the set up, I moved the Expedit shelf unit behind the ladder so he could reach his toys and books from the other side of the bed too.

Hideout complete, now it was time for more personalization!

I bought the medium cardboard letters at Joann's, spray painted and distressed them to look more rugged. They fit the Kura bed panel almost exactly!

His room door has a similar letter, from Michael's, spray painted with bugs hot glued on.

But that's not enough bugs, no!

I LOVE these foam models from Oriental Trading Co.

They were simple to assemble and light enough to hang easily. I pierced a hole in the top and strung them with fishing line. They hung them from clear command hooks on the ceiling.

The only thing I disliked was the white core foam. So I took a black marker to them and the bugs look so much better now!

Next was the green Kura tent, which we call his "cocoon". It's awesome at limiting the platform to leap off the bed from ;).

The comforter is from Target and I used another IKEA picture ledge for his books.

Surrounding him are little IKEA frames of friends and family that love him.

Honestly, it sounds cute but they pull off all the time.

Next up, his desk!

Another IKEA advertisement (not compensated for this endorsement ;)

Starting from the bottom up are two IKEA children chairs I wrote "Ethan" and "Friend" in silver paint pen. The desk is IKEA's Stuva Storage Bench. The cups of writing instruments are IKEA's Bygel system. The shelving storage unit is IKEA's Trofast system. The "art gallery" as Ethan calls it is IKEA's curtain rod system. And the light is you guessed it, IKEA. They sell the light box, but not that glass anymore.

I installed this battery operated tap light over his desk.

I hacked the IKEA art paper roll to screw it under the shelving unit and save table space.

I stuck little lady bug stickers on the light to write the word "fly".

My favorite find for the room is this silver beetle I picked up at the gardening section in Homegoods. I placed it so you can see it from the door because I love the look so! I put green IKEA knobs on the black IKEA Hemnes dresser (Craiglist again!) to pull the room together.

Orange curtains on the left and the white shelving unit on the right are at IKEA.

My son is as thrilled as I am with how the room turned out. And now I'm ready to turn in! I did all of this each night after the kids were in bed, whew!

Do you see anything that would work in your kid's room? And does anyone else so obviously love IKEA as much as I do!?

 

 

View videos, photos, and more on our family blog:www.livingingear.blogspot.com

 

Preschool Play at Home: Colored Rice Sensory Play

 

Inspired by another Pinterest pin, Ethan and I decided to make a new sensory bin material- colored rice!

Here's how:

You need Ziploc bags, rubbing alcohol, rice, and food coloring.

Step 1: Pour a splash of rubbing alcohol and a couple of drops of food coloring in a bag of rice.

Step 2: Shake the bag to evenly color the rice.

Tip: don't cheap out on the baggies as a happy to help two year old is certain to bust the cheap bag during vigorous mixing. Vacuuming is a lesson too right?

Step 3: Spread the rice put to dry. It dries pretty quickly!

You're finished! Spread in your sensory bin for some great color mixing fun.

Here's what Ethan did with the final product...

Huge thanks to Building Blocks Co-Op Preschool mommas for teaching Ethan to keep materials "in the bin"! Six months ago I never would have predicted I'd allow this play in my own home fearing rice flung in every crevice. Thank you!!

Farewell Inner Kate Gosselin!

Sensory days at our Building Blocks Coop Preschool used to be my most dreaded. Apparently I was channeling an inner Kate Gosselin, unable to see past the mess, or mess potential, to reach the learning opportunities sensory play provides. Before becoming a mom myself, I used to shudder watching her stress about the mess her sextuplets made while fingerprinting or pumpkin carving, and thought, "Relax lady! Let them be kids!". Well that was before I had a boy whose favorite activity at the sensory table was throwing or dumping cups of rice all over the room.

Thankfully my fellow teachers were more courageous and patient, and taught both Ethan and me the joys and benefits of sensory play. By months of repeating, "Keep it in the bin Ethan. Okay, let's play with something else then and you can try and do it right later (and then letting him!)," Ethan neatly plays with the sensory materials inside the container (most of the time!) and even attempts to sweep or pick up the times he doesn't.

Honestly, I didn't think we'd ever come that far and would have banned the sensory table from the class if it were up to me.

"Look at the goooo!" exclaimed Ethan at school.

And my fellow teachers not only taught me the ways of coaching him how to play appropriately, but how to coach further learning. By saying descriptive statements, like "that cup looks full of beans now!" instead of the vague and overly praise heavy "good job!" I'm helping learn new language. You'll still catch, me saying good job sometimes (why is that so ingrained?!), but now I know what to try and do instead.

So now that I have seen success with sensory play for both of us in the classroom, I was inspired to bring it home. But not enough to pay full price for a professionally made one! So here is how I constructed my own sensory table with interchangeable bins- no tools required!

First I started with a clearance $7 Ikea Lack end table.

(My little apprentice)

I bought two plastic storage bins with lids. My plan is to be able to prepare the next activity to replace an old one he tires from ahead of time. And this way I dont have to wait until a bin is cleaned and dried to shift activities.

Velcro was chosen so I could wash the bins in the sink or with a hose without the cumbersome table. My boy needs the bin stuck to the table so dumping the entire contents in one push doesn't become the activity.

I stuck adhesive Velcro to the base of the plastic bin. Put together both pieces so when you peel off the other backing, it sticks to the table lined up to the bin perfectly.

Place sticky adhesive tape on your table and you have your own sensory table!

This morning Ethan has played with his "Play Bin" a total of an hour and a half! That is an eternity in toddler minutes!

I stockpiled a bunch of options for exploration, inspired by my Pinterest Sensory Bin board (much more creative options I hope to someday tackle can be found there). For now I have two items I plan to enhance with food coloring; rice and different uncooked pasta. I also grabbed a bunch of clearance Easter basket grass to hide objects in, mand some plastic bugs to start with.