Toy Organization
By JB Organizing
Remember the 5 Principles of Organizing
- Small Steps — Don’t try to organize the entire playroom or all the toys at once. Small Steps. One type of toy at a time, or corner to corner, top to bottom, shelf by shelf.
- Declutter — Get your 5 bins out: Throw Away, Give Away, Put Away, File Away, Hide Away.
- Condense — Put all like items together. (All blocks together, Doll clothes together, plastic cars, match box cars etc.)
- Contain — Put all like items in the same bin or basket. Decide to have only ONE bin of plastic cars, only ONE bin of puppets.
- Label — Label clearly and specifically. If your kids are younger, use pictures and words.
Some Top Toy Organizing Tips
- No toy boxes!! — They are graveyards for toys.
- Organize for your space — if the toys are hidden away, then bins are great. If they are out in the open, baskets are more attractive.
- Use the hidden spaces — over the door shoe holder for Barbie clothes and dolls or cars.
- Sort Legos by color and put the instruction books in a binder.
- Store games vertically on a shelf (like books) instead of laying them horizontally.
- Put all game pieces in ziploc bags within the game box.
- Put puzzle pieces in a ziploc bag with a number and name on it, and store the corresponding board vertically with a number on it.
- Make each child an “Art Set”, in a separate shoe box sized plastic bin with age appropriate items. Store it in the kitchen or in a supervised area.
- Under the bed storage boxes are great for toy storage in kid’s rooms. You can put smaller bins in the larger bin to keep items contained.
- Bins with lids are good, because they can be stacked.
- It is better to have fewer things in a smaller bin, than many different types of toys in a larger bin. Be specific.
- Think “centers” when you organize your toys. What types of toys go together? (For example, food and cash register to facilitate playing store; Blocks near the cars to facilitate building and using what they built.)