Desk space

Marcelo has a new desk space in his room. I decided to make him a little desk in his closet. I didn't want to spend very much because he will probably outgrow it in a couple of years. This bottom side of the closet was used for toy storage as well as a laundry basket full of odds and ends including an unused crib bumper. I guess it's time I clean that stuff out and figure out what to do with it. I opted for this closet desk because Marcelo's room has such a serene vibe, I didn't want to clutter it all up. Having it in the closet means he can have what ever he's working on in there and then we can shut the doors on it and still have a clean room. Another reason for the closet desk was to give Marcelo more options during Quiet Time. Lately, he's been wanting to color, draw, and build things, and the expensive(to me), wool zebra rug is not a great place to do that.

We only had to buy the desk platform, and got everything else from the house so this project only cost about $10.00! Now he has a workspace, a basket of plain paper for drawing, bins with scissors (those might have to go at the first sign of mischief), coloring pencils, flashlight, story cubes, magnifying glass, Woody, etc. He also has a magnet board where he can display and admire his own art. Right now, it's holding up a treasure map and pirate eye patch. He also has geometric magnet shapes to play with on there. Below, we can still store the less attractive toys in a green bin and the "little pieces" toys in clear stackable bins with lids for easy access and storage.



Before.  Not really because this is after I took out all the toys and miscellaneous itmes off the floor including the stuff in front of the closet door.



Before closer.



Rails, brackets, and desk surface in place.  Easy Peasy.

Above the desk is an array of winter coats and hideous hand-me down jackets and things that were way too big for him anyway. More useless things being stored. I was about to give them to charity or something but then decided that he could use them for dress up. This whole top side of the closet could be the dress-up section. So I put Sofia's old cowboy boots in there too and his newly found batman mask.
I opted to support the desk platform on rails with brackets because he's not going to be at this height forever and eventually, it will need to be moved up or re-purposed as shelves for toys again or clothes. So this was an economical way to do it and it didn't require screwing a ledger board onto the wall. We slapped a little push/sensor light on the bottom of the top shelf which turns off when you close the closet door.  I also managed to find a little surprised when I pulled down the two orange memorabilia boxes, the last little monsters wall decal.  I didn't put this one up because the firey red devlish monster didn't fit in for me in his baby nursery.  Now, after he ripped off all the other monsters with the exception of the one over the closet doors, this one fits in great.  Hopefully it will still be there tomorrow.

He loves his new little space. Of course the first thing he and Sofia decided to do with it was put his Lalaloopsy doll to sleep on the desk.

PreK Writing

When the job of sounding out letters, blending letters, and reading seems a bit too daunting, Marcelo takes a break from Rusty & Rosie to come in the study for some hands-on PreK activities.  Today he decided, the previously daunting task of forming letters was pretty appealing.  He had me write his name and ALL of the letters.  He actually did quite well compared to the last time I saw him form his letters.  Apparently he thought so too because he went ahead and checked each one off after completing his work.