Making Space For Your Kids in Your Garage

Matt Huculak • December 10, 2013

With the weather less-than-ideal in many areas of the country , parents are starting to look ahead to the long winter with their kids cooped up inside. If you have a small home and not a lot of space for your children to move around indoors, you might be wondering what on earth you’re going to do with them when they’re home on snow days or during the winter break. If you have a garage, however, then you have a ready-made space for your young ones to run around. While you could, in theory, just send them out there with no preparation, it’s better to create a welcoming place in your garage for them so that they don’t feel as though they’re being exiled. Here are some ideas for making space for your kids in your garage:

Put down some flooring

Concrete is not only not terribly attractive and welcoming, but it’s also not safe for kids to fall on. You have several options to think about here. If you are planning on having your garage redone anyway, you might consider putting down polyaspartic flooring; is softer than concrete, and they’re also slip-resistant and stain-resistant. For a less expensive and temporary fix, you could put down foam mats or pads to help cushion little bones if they happen to slip and fall.

Make it colorful

Let’s face it; your kids aren’t going to want to play in a gray, drab place, and that’s what most garages are like. Spruce up at least one corner for your kids. Colorful flooring helps, as does some wall art. Maybe you could paint a mural or sponge paint. Another option is to have them design their own masterpieces; hang up their drawings and paintings in colorful frames. Think about ways to add some color to the area so that they’ll want to play in the garage.

Get it organized

You don’t want to just throw an armful of toys into the garage and tell them to have at it. Come up with some type of organization system. Low shelves work; you could buy them unfinished or sand them, then paint them whatever color you like. Line up their toys on the shelves instead of putting them in a toybox. If your kids will be doing art in the garage, find a place for their supplies so that they can help themselves without making a big mess.

Make it comfortable

The garage can be a damp or chilly place in the wintertime. Look into some options for keeping it comfortably warm so that the kids can play with just sweaters on, instead of wearing full outdoor attire. If you are temporarily or permanently finishing off the garage, you will want to figure out how to insulate the area, but if your children will just be using one section of an otherwise utilized garage, then you will need to improvise. Privacy screens can give them their own space and keep them out of mischief in other areas of the garage.

The garage is a great place for children to play on rainy days, during the winter or in the heat of the summer when it’s too hot to play outdoors. Taking a few steps to make the space inviting will go a long way in inspiring them to be creative and have fun.

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