It's a common dilemma; enhancing a toddler nursery with the appropriate child furniture. Your child has advanced beyond teddy bears and pastel decorations, and is all set for a theme that looks more ?mature" but still maintains that feeling of innocence. You also want child furniture that's as practical as it is pretty. After all, your child's grown more active and curious. He loves to play, read, and occasionally subject his toys to the loud banging and kicking.

Design ? The first step is to decide on a theme. Look at your child's character and individual favorites. Does he adore cars or animals, cowboys or aliens? Is she fascinated with fairy tales or stories of jungle safaris? If you're not sure, then narrow the choices to two and let your child pick ? the room becomes more special if he helped put it together.

Functionality ? When purchasing child furniture, check functionality and design. The stools are supposed to be well-built, and make use of non-leaded paint. Look for surfaces that are easy to wipe clean and have rounded corners. Desks should have an adequate amount of room to accommodate paper and crayons, tea sets or books. After all, this is your child's ?work space". Particular incentives are ledges or storage space where you can store small boxes for art materials, puzzle pieces and other knick knacks.

Safety ? The benefit of purchasing specialty children's furniture is that you're just about reassured that they have coped with safety rules and are constructed for a child's dimensions (at least he won't topple over as he attempts to clamber up a chair!). And naturally, the nice-looking design encourages the child to sit and play. This is his table, his chair, and for toddlers, that awareness of ownership is an immense factor in establishing self-esteem. He is developing to be more self-sufficient, and the function of parents is to allow for just enough freedom in secure surroundings ? like an area where everything is child-friendly. Here he can be left for hours, discovering how to play independently and investigate on his own, without mum perpetually worried that he'll break something (or his neck). That alone makes investing in specialty child's furniture advisable.

Tables and chairs will definitely encourage your child to spend countless hours engaging in pretend play, or reading, drawing, and writing. This set will serve as the stage for your child's imagination. With no table or chair, your child will be forced to do these activities on the floor, while hunched over, or lying on his stomach. This is exhausting and eventually bad for his posture.

Book cases will promote a child's love for learning, so books must be kept available. He should be able to grab a book whenever he wants to, and then return the book himself (unless you want to acquire the habit of cleaning up after him each time!)

Toy storage is important if you want to avoid toys becoming misplaced or damaged if they are left haphazardly on the floor. The best toy storage should have different compartments to separate the assorted items in his ever-growing collection. Teaching your child to organize toys (stuffed animals on one shelf, blocks on another) also helps him develop abstract thinking.