Stepping on Lego pieces HURTS! Kneeling on them is even worse! I love Lego but it’s hard to organise. Since I’m away on a road trip, I’ve been fortunate to have some wonderful people guest post for Be A Fun Mum. This post is from Tim, who writes online articles all about organisation in the home. I asked him to give me 10 top tips for organising children’s toys and here they are.
10 Tips for Organising Children’s Toys
Guest Post by Tim Riley
Toys present an organisational nightmare for parents. All around the house, toys create clutter and trip hazards. Life without an accessible and easy to use toy storage solution makes teaching children to put their toys away almost impossible. The following 10 tips for organising your children’s toys can help you find a organisation system that both easy to maintain and simple to use.
1. Define A Play Area
Toys strewn all over the house present an organisational nightmare. It can be useful to have toys in defined areas in the house. Those with large homes can set aside one room as a play area. Those with smaller residences might consider restricting play to bedrooms, and a corner of the living area. When parents contain the proliferation of toys, they take a giant leap toward organisation and provide for easier cleanup.
2. Limit The Number Of Toys In The Home
Children only need a limited number of toys. Further more, too many toys can easily overwhelm even the largest playroom. To reduce the number of toys in the home, begin by eliminating duplicate toys, broken toys and toys that children do not use.
3. Be Realistic About Size
Children like big riding toys, tents, tunnels and play houses, but storage of these toys can become difficult of your home lacks adequate space for them. When you buy a large toy, choose a model that easily disassembles to save space.
4. Sort ‘n Store
Categorise toys by type (Cars, dolls, puzzles, etc.) These sorts of specific and related toys can be stored together rather than dumped into a huge toy box. Doing this reduces clutter while giving children more options when they decide what to play with.
5. Cycle And Schedule Toys
When dealing with a toy surplus, rotate some of them into the shed or garage. This eases storage issues in your living space, while helps create new experiences when the stored toys re-enter the player areas.
6. Use Toy Shelves
Shelves help children see what toys they have. When storage boxes are used, try labeling them with large words or pictures to help children identify their contents. Shelving gets toys and boxes off the floor and usually is an affordable solution.
7. Fast, Easy Cleanup
With busy schedules, sometimes children don’t have time to get all their toys put back at once. For these occasions, try using a laundry basket or blanket as a way to quickly collect toys for later storage.
8. Keep Some Toys Out Of Reach
Puzzles, models, play bricks and other toys with lots of pieces can create a disaster when children take them out at random intervals. Parents can decide if their children have enough time to get out these complicated objects and help prevent getting the pieces mixed up.
9. Establish Rules
Teach children how many toys they can have out at once. This limits clean up and encourages children to finish one activity before starting a new one.
10. Put Safety First
Toys and storage boxes stacked on top of each other can easily tip over and fall. Find ways to keep toys low and use shelves and cabinets where necessary to keep children safe.
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Throughout history, toys have presented organisational challenges in the home. The 10 tips for organizing your children’s toys can help make playtime manageable and fun.
The Author
Tim Riley has been dealing with vacuum cleaner bags for most of his career and writes reviews on products like Bosch hoover bags for a living.
Need More Inspiration?
Here are some pictures and links that may help.
Emma’s Toys
Read my interview with Emma here: City to Country.
Rachel’s Toys
Read the interview I did with Rachel here: A Room for Everyone.
Pilgrim’s Toys
Read the interview I did with Pilgrim here: Home — Bold and Bright.
Sharron’s Toys
Read my interview with Sharron here.
Nicole’s Toys
Read more about how Nicole (Planning With Kids) organises her children’s toys here: Organising Toys.
Pinterest Organising Toys Board
If you need some inspiration I have a wonderful collection of pictures on my Pinterest Organising Toys Board. Just click here: Organising Toys.
How do you organise toys in your home?
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the great tips! We do a lot of these things at home. Our girls (2 & 3) share a room and we only have a few stuffed toys and a toy cot in their room, plus a LOT of books. Friends always comment on how tidy their room is and that’s because there’s hardly any toys in there! (it’s upstairs and they don’t like to play up there away from me so it works out well that way).
Our downstairs area is open plan, but we have defined areas in the loungeroom so their play space is around the corner from the ‘adult space’. We have two expedit units – one in their play area and one in a big cupboard under the stairs. There is enough space under the stairs so we can put bigger toys (doll strollers and highchairs!) under there if we want them away. Each ‘cube’ of the expedit units has a basket with toys sorted into categories (barbies, baby dolls, dressups, musical instruments etc) and the things that get played with most often are in the loungeroom while things with little pieces (like puzzles and little playsets) are under the stairs so there can’t be too much mess at once. Bikes and balls are outside, craft supplies in shelves on the garage (not quite willing to leave paint easily accessible to my just-turned-two-year-old just yet…) and in the dining area the girls have a toy kitchen with all the other bits and pieces as well as little table where they can do craft and eat sometimes.
I strive to be as organised as I can, and I have to say, toy organisation is probably the most fun thing to organise at home
Only thing is, I’m a hoarder and can’t bear to part with things, even if they don’t get played with a lot…..working on it!
Ikea has such great products like the expedit system. Love it! Sounds like you have a great system Erin.
I’ve just discovered 2.9kg cans of crushed tomatoes (we love to make big batches of bolognaise) and when empty they are perfect for storage. So far we have tools (hammers etc) in one and farm animals in another, and when I get to it they’ll be covered in an appropriately coloured fabric so they’ll look pretty too.
I love finding storage solutions that cost me nothing!
Brilliant! Love it!
I would love some ideas on storing big dump trucks and cars please. We have lots of storage boxes but they don’t fit these jumbo sized toys in. Was considering hanging them but unsure how
Hi Shellie. I asked this question on my facebook page and there are some great ideas! You can read them all here: https://www.facebook.com/Be.A.Fun.Mum#!/Be.A.Fun.Mum/posts/10150484996478911
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