Spruce up your child's study area to make reading enjoyable

It is back to school and with it comes numerous activities. Whether homeschooling or sending your children to school, you will soon find that you have accumulated more books, stationery and test papers than you had planned for or imagined.

Place to help you find things easily and reduce the time spent looking for books, stationery, musical instruments or socks.

Study area

Desk space becomes a basic essential once homework and school projects start occupying your child’s evenings and weekends.

“This needs to be at a comfortable working height with enough knee room space and should take into consideration wrist support, foot rest and close to the screen task lighting to avoid eye strain,” says children’s room design expert Libby Norman.

It should also have storage space to keep papers and books. If your child is already using a computer for his or her assignments, then find a desk with space-saving features such as a pullout key board and buy a height adjustable office chair that can be adapted as your child grows.

The chair should provide adequate back support and a padded seat. Factor in the ergonomic aspect. This may come at an additional cost but could save you medical bills if your child suffers from poor posture and aching muscles due to prolonged sitting.

Make it fun

Your child may already be going through tremendous stress from school workload. So, it helps to bring in some fun décor into the study space to cheer up the student and inspire them to get started on school work.

Wall colours should be vibrant and peaceful. You can try tropical green and add an interesting print on the curtain to energise the space without it becoming overbearing.

Introduce well-coordinated colourful stationery holders, files and containers for holding art and craft items. Include a colourful notice board to pin school trip reminders and events so you also do not miss out on that long awaited sports day.

You could also include a merit chart for positive reinforcement that visually displays and rewards your child with stars or smileys when they behave well.

If space allows, provide extra seating space for your child’s friends to facilitate hosting and encourage group discussions, even colourful floor cushions; beanbags or plastic blow-up bags can be appropriate choices.

A bookshelf or side table provides a great storage place for leisure reading. Personalise the space with fun family photographs and inspiring quotes and you may start experiencing less incidents of winding stories of how the dog ate their homework.