My Top 3 Tips to Setting Up My Home for Independent Play

Are you ready to set your home up to encourage independent play?

Here are my top tips on how I got my house set up to encourage independent play with my one year old.

I want to preface by saying, our house isn't huge. It's your standard 3 bedroom cookie cutter house. While I don't always love this fact, it does help to encourage independent play because our living room at kitchen are connected and I can keep an eye on my daughter from either room. 

1. I expect a mess. 

I allow my daughter to explore what she can in each room of our house. In the kitchen we have all of the cabinets locked, but she can open the low drawers. Because of this we keep things that can't break in them. 

We implement this in other rooms, too, such as my bathroom. The cabinets are locked, but she can get in the bottom drawer so I keep my scrunchies and other hair accessories that aren't choking hazards. 

The beauty of this is that even when I'm in a room cooking, cleaning or getting dressed, she can follow me and play with the things in those drawers without having to have me entertain her. 

2. I keep toys limited.

In our house we have a play area that has a kitchen, reading area, and a shelf for a small amount of open ended toys. This set up works for us because the toys are limited to one room and there aren't a lot of them. 

With this set up, I am able to watch her play with the toys that keep her interested while also sitting out of the way. I use this time to do schoolwork, write for this blog, or play future activities.

We also have a sensory table set up in our living room. I only open this up while I am getting things together for lunch. It is a great distraction from what I am doing and also buys me enough time to cook and cut up food.

3. Books. Books. Books.

I keep board books in every room my daughter has free access to throughout the day. This is a win win for me because she is getting exposure to books while also keeping busy. In the living room/kitchen I have a small square basket that I keep around 5 books in. 

Her bedroom has two spice racks from IKEA that I put three books on each. These are low at her reach and surrounded by pillows, blankets, and stuffed animals for a cozy reading area.

The set up in her playroom is very similar except there is a chair and a fake plant for a more formal yet cozy reading area. 

I hope this was a helpful breakdown of easy ways to set up your house to encourage independent play throughout the day so that you can feel productive and accomplished while also being near and loving your babies.

Be sure to follow me on instagram @savingsahm to get some behind the scenes ideas on encouraging independent play

I'm so glad you're here!

xo Samantha