When you have children in the house, keeping toys tidy and organised can often seem impossible. They become trip hazards and clutter rather than fun items to enjoy. Mrs Pinch is here with some top tips to help organise toys in your home.
Toy Cull
Let’s start things off by putting a limit on the amount of toys in the home. This isn’t to stop the children having fun, but there is no point in having broken toys taking space up. Nor is there much use in duplicate toys or ones your children no longer play with. Whether you bin, recycle, donate or sell some of the toys, the first job is to create a pile of items that are staying.
Define A Space
Scattered toys all over the house isn’t good for anyone. The children have no fixed area where they can play and keeping things organised becomes nigh-on-impossible. If you define a certain play space, maybe a play room in a larger house or a corner of the living room in a smaller one, you can keep things in order that little bit easier and it makes tidying things up easier.
Sort Toy Storage
If you organise and categorise your toys by type, they’re easier to keep track of. No one wants a huge toy box where everything just gets chucked in. How will you find that certain specific play thing your little one wants at that immediate moment if you have to trawl through everything else? Box up the cars with the cars, the dolls with the dolls and so on.
Labels & Shelves
A great toy storage idea is to label the boxes you keep the toys in, so that everyone can figure out what’s inside. Simply labels on the side of the containers can help. If your little ones can’t yet read, consider putting appropriate stickers on instead. Using shelves and shelving units means you can keep things organise and up off the floor, allowing a space to actually play. Shelving lets children see things properly, what they can actually play with. Front facing book shelves which show off the front cover are ideal for attracting and encouraging reading. It’s also a great idea to have a display shelf for those creations and fragile items which might be destroyed by younger siblings.
Rotate In & Out
You may not have enough space for all the toys you want to keep. Having too many can be overwhelming for children so consider cycling your surplus toys. Keep a few boxes out of the way in the top of a wardrobe and every few weeks swap a box out. This way the children will be able to play without too many distractions whilst also getting excited about ‘new’ toys when you rotate them in and out.
Outside Storage & Loft Spaces
If you have a shed or a garage, keep larger items and outdoor toys in them. One of those outdoor storage units can help keep bikes, ride ons and footballs out the rain and organised. If you have more than one child and there are toys which aren’t currently being used, use your loft space to store them. If they’re going to come in and be used again by another child, there’s no use in flogging them or sending them to the charity shop, use the loft space you have. Just make sure it’s organised and labelled properly!
Lay Down The Law
Teaching your children to look after their toys is paramount as they grow up. It’s their responsibility to help tidy away and keep things organised. No one wants to see Daddy jumping up and down swearing after he’s failed walking across the Lego block obstacle course. Is there any worse pain!? Get the children to tidy up, teach them to put away one thing before getting out the next and educate them to respect their toys and the environment they’re playing in.
Keeping a family home in order is difficult enough without mountains of toys and chaos of clutter. These top tips will help you to organise toys in your own home. When Action Man, Hatchimals and copious amounts of slime are played with and stored properly, life is good.
