I’ve shared a couple different versions of my girls’ bedrooms in the first plane of development (0-6 years), but I haven’t yet shared how it’s changed now that Lila is in the second plane of development (6-12 years). First, here’s a look back in time:
My girls shared a bedroom for several years — at their request. But as Lila grew older and began to enter the second plane of development, she asked for her own space. Luckily, we had a spare bedroom that we could use. We didn’t change the paint color or anything drastic like that, but Lila is fully responsible for the decorations and furniture placement in her new bedroom.
The girls were sleeping in bunkbeds in their shared room — so we just took them apart and put one in Lila’s new room. She found those planet posters in the bargain bins at Target and insisted on putting them up in order above her bed. The other decorations are things she created herself, with some floating shelves to hold some treasures. She has a clock right next to her bed, and if you squint you can see that there is a sign beside the clock with the time that she is allowed to get out of bed in the morning.
While we didn’t have many toys or things to do in our first plane bedrooms (because they would cause too much distraction from sleeping for a toddler), most of Lila’s toys stay here now. Because the second plane child is no longer in the sensitive period for order, these separated shelves help to keep her possessions a bit tidier. She has a calendar on the wall that she uses to mark down important dates. When school is in session, she also writes down when library books are due and when she has gym class so she can be sure to pick out appropriate clothing.
Lila is an avid reader, so most of her “toys” are books and activity books. She keeps fiction books on the left side and non-fiction on the right. In the second plane, children are now deeply interested in discovering amazing facts and learning about the lives of their real-life heroes, so we have many biographies and research guides.
Lila also keeps her portable writing desk in her room, which is filled with supplies for writing letters and cards to send to her friends and family. As a second plane child, she is deeply interested in figuring out social relationships, so we set this up to help her do that. She often seals and sends her correspondence without me even getting a chance to see what she wrote inside!
As I mentioned before, second plane children can be quite messy and unorganized, so we set up some systems to help Lila keep her things tidy. She labeled this set of drawers to contain some papers and small objects she wants to keep forever — Earrings, Nature Treasures, Tiny Prizes, Kindergarten papers, Treasures, Cards and Maps, Rules, Art, and things she’s still working on. Each of those categories provide a great snapshot of the second plane child’s inner workings! She is deeply interested in justice, especially within our home order, so she often writes lists of rules for particular situations or games she makes up, then stores them here. When Lila’s drawers begin to overflow, we go through them together to decide what is special enough to keep.
Lila’s most important tiny treasures are on display in her “Museum.”
Second plane children are motivated by project-based activities. Lila loves to create things using fabric, so we set up this sewing station in her room. She has pieces of scrap fabric, long swatches of fabric, and a sewing kit to create to her heart’s content. All of her stuffed animals are now the proud owners of capes and/or vests!
Lila loves finding a cozy spot to read, so we added a bean bag chair and reading lamp to this corner by her cape- and vest-ified stuffed animals! The mirror and grooming shelf help her to get ready in the morning.
All of Lila’s clothes are stored in her closet. It already had this low shelf and rod, so we took advantage of that. Her underwear, socks, and pajamas are in bins on the floor.
And that’s her bedroom!
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