You may not know that I am the mom of 3 little ones. And for about one more week they are 3 under the age of 4. Yes, our life is a lot like barely controlled chaos. All of you moms out there know how frustrating kids toys can be. Our house is no exception to that. With just one child the toys were manageable. When number two came along the collection exploded. And my kids don't even have that many toys compared to some of their peers. We don't have a playroom in our house and since the bedrooms are upstairs I like having the kids play right in the family room where I can see them. But this means that our family room is in a constant state of toy upheaval.
A few years ago I got the idea to replace the little bench I had under our large window with a large storage shelf. I was lucky enough to have a dad that was willing to build me a custom shelf. He did all he building, I did the painting and the kids do the playing. This is what we came up with:
The shelving is open making it easy for the kids to get things out and put them away. And it fits right up under the molding on the window ledge. I get lots of questions from neighbors about where to buy it. I think if you reasonably good at building it's a simple design. But you could likely find similar, pre-made options to fit the same purpose.
To keep it fun for the kids I painted the inside of each cubby a different color - red, orange, yellow, green, blue & purple from the Disney collection at The Home Depot. In fact, we got all of our supplies there. And since we don't own a table saw and my dad was visiting from out of state The Home Depot actually cut all the wood for us. If you take in your measurements they will make the cuts for you (on wood you purchase there) for free!
How do we use the shelves to store their toys:
On the right we have two shelves dedicated to books. Well, really one plus an overflow shelf. You can see that we cut out an opening for our heat register and I bought a deflector to make sure our heating and cooling efforts were not thwarted.
The middle section is the most frequently used. The bottom row has baskets ($2.50 each from the Target Dollar Spot) that hold a tea set, cars and trains. The top shelf has three baskets (also from Target DS) that hold stuffed animals and other small toys that don't fit as part of a collection. Also on top is the big box of blocks. I love that those Trio blocks have their own storage case and the lid is a play space - makes keeping them together much easier for my 2 year old.
On the left side we keep a few bigger/awkward sized toys - the "laptops" and drawing pads. And another basket for dolls. Those pails on the end are actually EMPTY! They get used occasionally and I keep them here for those times when we need them.
Things you might notice about this setup.
1. I do not have labels on my baskets. This is on purpose. My kids are still young enough that their interests change quickly. So a basket may hold trains today but in 6 months it may be bouncy balls. And I don't really have time to be making new labels all the time. It also makes cleanup fast. If everything is out on the floor (yes, that does happen!) then we can just grab any basket for trains and any other for cars, etc. Finally, the kids can't read yet. Any labels would be just for me at this point.
2. I have lots of small baskets instead of fewer larger ones. Yep... my kids (especially the 2 year old) like to grab a basket and dump. Less stuff in each basket means less stuff dumped at a time. Trust me, I tried it with larger containers and it just meant larger mess.
3. Some things are missing (crayons, play-doh, etc). We actually have a different home for these (I'll show you on a different day.) The kids actually have several places they can play throughout the house. This makes it easier for me to get things done and still have them near me, it keeps any one room from becoming too crazy with toys, and it gives them options for changing up the scenery a bit.
4. There aren't TONS of toys. We actually have a fair amount of toys in the basement. I try to rotate them every few months and take away things that aren't getting much love and bring back old favorites and new things.
5. My baskets don't match. So? The kids like it that way and I kind of like the color myself!
How do you store your kids toys? What are the challenges you face?
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Toy organization is important so that it could avoid accidents in the room. Also because of this, it's easy to find the toys they want to play.
ReplyDeleteSo true! My kids play with their toys so much more when they can easily find what they want.
ReplyDeleteThanks you so much for sharing blog on how to organised kid toy that is very overwhelming task for me before .
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