Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in Philadelphia, PA

Even though my daughter is only two years old, it's hard to keep her stuff from overrunning our house. Admittedly, we live in a typical Philadelphia area house; not a row home, but a twin (a duplex to you non-locals), that may have three bedrooms but is only about 1300 square feet big. Because my husband and I both work from home the rooms are divided thusly: my office is in the "finished" basement (right next to the litter pans), my husband's office is the smallest bedroom upstairs, my daughter's bedroom is between the office and our bedroom (which is the largest room, but still tiny). So my daughter's "play" area is our living room and dining room (we still fence off the kitchen, the basement stairs, and the stairs going to the second floor).

As a result, we've been really cautious about "big" toys. Right now all of her toys can be stored in either the storage ottoman we have as a coffee table, or the lowboy where we keep her books. The only large toy is a bouncey zebra; this we try to tuck away in the dining room after she goes to bed.

But she's at the age where pretend play is important, so we're considering other options, such as large building blocks or maybe a play house/doll house sort of toy. I confess that I haven't really thought much about things like doll houses because I hate the idea of a large boxy item that contains many small parts taking over my living room; plus I'm not that excited about the gender-role implications that may go along with a doll house.

So what to do? I want to encourage pretend play and give my daughter space to enjoy herself, so I'm thinking about taking the suggestion found at the main Savvy Source blog and finding another place for her books (one, perhaps, out of reach so they don't end up all over the living room) and converting the low boy's shelves into a doll house. This would give her the space to play, but not take up any more room. Plus you just close the doors and viola! All cleaned up.

What do you do to combat issues of space and toy crowding? We really like to go to bed in a house that looks like more adults live there than children, but it takes a lot of work. How do you handel it?