10 Easy Ways to Organize Toys

1. Move the Play Area Out of Your Living Room – Do you have the room for a separate playroom or play area, even just a corner of a room?  If you live in a home with multiple levels, can you move the play area to a different level from your living room? If you have the space for a playroom, keep the playroom on a different level from your living room. For lucky folks with the space, this is the most effective way to stop toys from overtaking your house. It’s amazing how clean your main room will be if your playroom is in your basement or an upstairs room, especially if you do arts and crafts with your kids.
2. Make a Rule for Giving – explain to your child that for each new toy she brings home, she must pick one toy to give to someone else. You can choose to give the toy to the child’s sibling, relative, or friend (if you think you’ll want to keep it) or an outside program or charity. The Giving Rule teaches your child how to share and is a great way to introduce charity and giving to people in need.

1. Make Clean Up Fun – pick a song for cleaning up and make it into a game. Use the same song: it can be a recorded one like the "Clean Up song" or one you make up with silly words and motions. Turn cleaning into a game while your child is still young!
2. Set a Timer and Move ALL Toys to the Play Area. This may seem obvious but if you give it a try, you’ll be amazed at how many little bits and pieces of toys and games are scattered around your house. Timers work really well to get toddlers and distracted adults to focus on the task at hand…
3. Store Toys Inside Furniture – chairs, coffee tables, benches (like the one in the photo), and beds with storage are wonderful ways to hide books and toys! If you need to buy a new piece furniture, consider something with a double-purpose for storage.

Now on to the Storage Goodies…

5 Storage Tools to Help You Organize Toys

1. Collapsible Fabric Bins – great for use over long periods of time as your child’s interests change. You can easily store these for future use.
2. Book Shelves –sturdy bookshelves and floating/wall shelves look great and work well to store and showcase small toys and books.
3. Clear Plastic Containers – use containers to keep small parts together – ex. puzzles, arts & crafts (beads, etc.), playmobile pieces, lego.
4. Labels – use labels on your bins and containers! Even on the clear containers, it’s helpful to have a label so that you know what’s inside without having to move the box and sort through it.
5. Hooks – Hang stuff up and encourage your kids to do so. Install lowered hooks for kids’ clothes inside closets.

Want more ways to organize and decorate your home? You can instantly get the free PDF on “5 Tools for Organizing Tools” (Click here to get it sent to your inbox).