The more stimulating a child's environment, the easier it becomes for a child to transition from a helpless toddler to a child who can entertain themselves by exploring the world around them. A stimulating environment helps a child grow physically and mentally. When you decorate and furnish your child's own special space, usually their bedroom, you have a unique opportunity to create the kind of stimulating environment that will nurture your child's growth. I have found some great kid's furniture that does both this, and saves space at the same time.

Bedroom furniture should be a combination of fantasy and reality. For very young children, the difference between the two is a fine line which you can make the most of. A combination of small, kid sized furniture and regular sized furniture is manageable to a young mind. Children love a place that is sized for them and they where they are not always reminded of being little. Sofas and Chairs that a small and made of foam are available. These come in colorful, imaginative prints and are not overly expensive. An added benefit is some of these open out into an off-the-floor cozy bed for your child's "sleep-over" friends. Your child can move and rearrange these all by themselves because they are so light weight. Our family found sleepovers a less stressful, more fun filled event when we were prepared beforehand with the appropriate bedding. There are many types of fold-out form furniture - foam loungers, foam sofa-sleepers, and futons that already on a moments notice.

Every one loves a rocking chair, especially mom and dad. More comfortable and suitable for children are beanbag loungers and chairs because they are sized for children. Beanbags will conform to a child's body shape as they sit in it, giving support to the lower back, shoulders, and arms. You can purchase beanbag chairs and couches in many styles, as well as stimulating colors, numerous textures, and zillions of prints. There are stars and moon patterns, or wild animal designs. Wet-look vinyl is a popular style, or perhaps furry, while others come in pastel or bright colors. Some beanbags are even shaped like a horse or elephant. My children and grandchildren love these animal character beanbags.

Because they are so lightweight, beanbags and foam furniture can easily move them around any way they they wish. Such independence!! Which ever you choose, beanbags or foam furniture, be sure to purchase the type with hidden, cloth-covered zippers that make it easy to remove the cover for washing. Many of the zippers available are safety zippers that stay shut and keep the beans inside.

The more open floor space in a child's room the better. This is where they will make their pretend world, spreading out their toys, dumping Legos, having tea parties with their stuffy animals and friends. They will arrange and rearrange this world everyday. But making this floor space open and useful can be difficult when the youngest child gets the smallest bedroom. Multipurpose furniture that can change shapes for different needs will be a wise investment for smart parents.

I found a great solution to this space problem with my own children - futons. A futon is a comfortable and lightweight couch for sitting during the day - a place you child and their will sit and chatter, or place you and your child to sit and cuddle while reading a book together. At night, they magically become a comfortable bed, off the floor, for your child's overnight guests. Kid futons are relatively inexpensive because there is no need to purchase a separate mattress.

Sitting with your child and reading to them has been shown to be one of the best things you can do with your child. This is a quite time, a time for focusing, relaxing, and relating to each other and to the characters you are reading about in the book. What a great time to draw out the important lessons of life. Reading out loud to your son or daughter stimulates their imagination, expands their vocabulary, and starts them on a life long journey of reading on their own. Getting kids to bed is much easier if they have just been reading than if they have been watching TV or engaged in other high energy or emotion activity. Tip: leave the TV and computer in family areas where you can monitor what they watch and play, not in the child's bedroom.

When you have finished reading a book or two and its time for say good night, a futon couch easily folds out into comfortable and cozy full or double bed. It is much easier for a child to relax and go to sleep after just having had a loving time reading with mom or dad than one who just watched a fast paced TV program. The next morning, the child's futon bed easily folds back into being a futon couch and again freeing up all the valuable floor space, allowing your child to once again create their imaginary world all day long.

With each stage in your child's life you will find different furniture to be useful. Bunk beds or futon bunk beds are great space savers of that precious floor space. Kids can climb on bunk beds, practicing these skills in a safe environment. In pre-teen years, when kids learn to bond with friends outside the family, the sleep-over stage reach it peak, as often as once a weekend. Bunk beds are once again a space saving piece of furniture. And this is the age when kids no longer really want to sleep on the floor. Futon bunk beds combine a single sized bed on the top and couch on the bottom that folds into a double bed when needed. Rising above the world of disarray and clutter (if you have a son), the futon bunk bed is the ultimate space-save for a child's bedroom. A Bunk bed and especially a futon bunk bed will be a useful and satisfying investment in your children.