Secondhand Play Area

Although I don’t have kids, I take my auntie duties seriously! For me, this looks like creating a fun and safe space for them to play and create when they spend time at my apartment. I set out to create a fun play place for the kiddos with the goal of thrifting as many items as possible. What better place to do that than Goodwill? Here are a few items I have found over time (and across all the Goodwill stores in town) to create the perfect play area.

I live in a loft apartment, therefore I have limited space to work with. Rather than have all the toys and items scattered around the apartment, I set out to find a storage solution on the cheap. I found a 6-cube bookshelf that I thought would work perfectly for organizing everything I wanted to use for the play space, and it was a steal at $14.99! It was a perfect fit under my entry bar next to a play kitchen I got from a friend.

Speaking of the play kitchen, we were also given a bunch of play cups and dishes, etc. previously they just got shoved anywhere they would fit in and on the kitchen. To solve that problem, I thrifted a basket-style serving tray that fit all the assorted dishes, food, etc. for only $1.99 and is a simple way to keep things organized.

Each cube within the shelf is dedicated to a different thing and most of the items you see save for a couple of the board games, crayons, and the toy car were thrifted. The first cube is all about games and puzzles, so I found some card games for $.99 a piece and a cute, heart-shaped tin for $2.99 to store some fun neon puzzle pieces in.

The next cube is all about tactile play and learning play, so I stocked it with letter blocks ($1.99 for the set), a $.99 fidget spinner, a pin art toy ($4.99), a play phone learning toy for $1.99, and a $1.99 popper toy with letters on it for learning the alphabet (among a couple of other toys).

The third cube is the arts and crafts cube because my sister’s kids like fun little projects. I found some new, still in the box, paint projects from Target’s Mondo Llama line for $.99 each, foam SpongeBob stickers for $3.99, and some foil heart stickers for $.99 to add to the crayons and pencils I already had stocked.

The fourth cube is my favorite as an avid reader as it houses all the books, I’ve thrifted for the kiddos over the last 6 months ranging from $.99-$1.99. I’ve got books for each of their different reading levels and even found a set of 12 small board books for my youngest niece for $6.99!

The last two cubes are a work in progress, I’ve got some toys in the fifth cube that were given to me and some Chuck-E-Cheese fun packs that I thrifted for $.99 each. The last cube I’m imagining is an area for accessories for costume play which I’ve started with some costume jewelry from my collection. I hope to get a cute little bin to put actual costumes in case the kids want to play dress up!

One last item I found that wouldn’t fit inside the cubes is this awesome mini-foosball table for $3.99! The kids loved playing with that at our sleepover – haha!

What items would you stock your play place with, and have you checked out Goodwill yet for those things?! Happy Hunting!