This summer we’re all feeling the heat — even at home, with our summer holidays abroad and the children’s summer camps off the roster. If the kids need a creative, engaging space where they can play, revamp their craft corners and play areas to invigorate a new lease of life and adventure into staying home. Read on for inspiring and easy-to-apply ideas to create cool new kids zones at home. 

Painted Wall Features

A painted wall can effortlessly zone an area for the kids to play in; this is especially effective if you don’t have a dedicated playroom and you want to separate an area in the living room, home office or your child’s bedroom. Add an engaging backdrop in tones that also complement the rest of the shared space. A jaunty mountain range or simple house outline in tones of grey and light blue have become much copied designs, popular for their easy-to-apply silhouettes, playful look, and mature tones (a bonus for parents). Asymmetrical shapes of triangles or overlapping circles are also easy patterns to apply, or get creative with painterly-style wall decals that offer more ambitious scenes, such as outer space, farm and jungle animals, oceans or world maps. 

Climb The Ladder

Ladder-style shelves have become a chic, Scandinavian-influenced design addition to the home décor scene, and such furnishings are also perfect for children’s play rooms and crafty zones. A ladder-style homework station allows for plenty of styling to spark their imaginations while they colour and craft over summer — add strings of lights or bunting and cuddly toys to the rungs, use ladder shelves for books and stationary, and complete with a themed wallpaper backdrop — go for leafy jungle, swashbuckling stripes or pretty flamingo patterns to make a creative haven they’ll love to hang out in. We love the leaning ladder-style shelf designs from Pottery Barn Kids. 

Lego Love

There’s no escaping Lego in a family home! With (literally) hundreds of small pieces just waiting to get lost or sucked up the vacuum, add some stylish storage solutions to keep these much-loved building blocks safe and ready for play. Baskets have become a home fashion staple in recent years and are easy for kids to move around and stow away on shelves or simply tuck away in a corner. You can buy plain, natural seagrass baskets and spray paint the bottom half to complement the scheme of the room and to add playful colour. If you have an old chest of drawers, get your glue gun out and have a go at your very own IKEA hack by replacing the standard-issue knobs with spare pieces of Lego to create a funkier storage solution that the kids will love. 

Tented Den

Tipi, wigwam, Wendy house — whatever you want to call them, these readymade dens will effortlessly heighten the sense of fun and adventure while your kids stay cooped up at home this summer. Children can literally camp out in any room with a lightweight tipi tent that’s easy to move and play all kinds of adventures that will keep them amused for hours. Tipi tents are available in the UAE market in many eye-catching designs, from starry nights to cowboy cool. And when the weather cools they can take them outside and add a festival vibe to the garden. Try online retailers like Sprii, Mumzworld, FirstCry, BabyShop, Home Centre, or Amazon. 

We hope you find these simple home décor tips inspiring for your own kids’ play areas and bedrooms. Check out more DIY and home décor ideas, and if you have a funky children’s play room at home share your photos on Instagram and tag @HomeClubME; we’d love to see them!