Tips For Organizing Children's Toys
Have you ever entered a giant toy store soon after it opened in the morning?
Notice how organized and neat it looks? Try going back just before closing, after a busy shopping day. Hah! Kind of resembles my house after celebrating Christmas
One thing the toy store has that I don’t is someone who gets paid for organizing kids’ toys.
The Best Advise For Kids Toys
The best advice I can give to busy parents of careless kids is this – organize, organize, organize.
Designate a Playroom
If your home is large enough, designate a playroom for small children where they will have space to keep the toys confined and not spread through the whole house. If they don’t have a playroom, then the bedroom will have to do. While they are little, it’s easier to share a bedroom with a sibling but older kids like their own elbow room.
Use Shelves
At any rate, keeping kids’ toys organized is a must! Washable shelving is a wonderful asset in organizing toys. Six or eight shelves painted white and mounted on a wall adds a lot of valuable storage space and keeps the toys off the floor.
Use Storage Bins
Plastic storage bins are great for organizing toys, too. Most home improvement stores and departments carry a wide selection. Some even come in flashy primary colors that appeal to kids. The best ones are the bins that are either clear or translucent because you can see the contents.
Clear Zip Lock freezer bags are good for storing small pieces, beads, etc.
Shoe bags are good to keep toys in – you know the kind. They are fabric or clear vinyl, hang from a closet door and have stitched sections to place the shoes in. They are great for organizing beanbag toys, dolls and small stuffed animals.
Shoeboxes, oatmeal boxes, Tupperware and Rubbermaid containers, washed cottage cheese containers, all make good storage containers for crayons, small action toys, tiny plastic animals, marbles, etc. Use an indelible marker to identify the toys to be kept inside. You can also buy pressure sensitive tables that you can write on and stick on the container. After filling and labeling, place them inside one of the larger storage units.
Organize The Toys By Category
There may be dolls, action figures, musical toys, toy tools, building blocks, electronic toys and games, books, etc.
Board games and games that come with their own box needed for playing may be stored under a bed or on the floor in the closet.
Use Common Sense When Organizing
Use common sense when determining what kind of toy storage units are age appropriate for the child. Obviously, if you don’t want your child climbing the walls, attach the lowest shelf too high for him to access. Use caution though, and make sure the shelves are sturdy and attached securely so that one doesn’t come off the wall and hit him on the noggin if he jumps up and grabs it.
Make organizing his toys part of your child’s training. You’ll have to nag a lot and remind the kids to pick up their toys and keep them off stairs and high traffic areas of your home. The familiar cartoon of the daddy flying off his feet into mid air after stepping on a roller skate is not funny if it really happens. And it’s not funny to step on one of those hard plastic dinosaurs in your bare feet!
Review your child’s toys periodically – every three months is reasonable – to see which toys are actually being played with, which they have outgrown, and which are no longer functional. Throw away un-repairable broken toys immediately. Unless there are some considered keepsakes, take obsolete toys to a thrift store or to a shelter where other kids will enjoy them.
Teach kids to respect their toys and to care for them properly. It begins with organizing and keeping toys in their proper place when they are not being played with.
Um, I wish you much better luck with organizing your kids toys than I have! - The kids still need to keep it organized.
