We have two playrooms in our house! One is up in the room/den above our garage, and the other one is in my daughter's bedroom/playroom. It can be very hard to keep all of the toys organized and put in the correct bins. I find that having a place for almost every toy and book is key!
Here are my Ten Best Strategies for De-Cluttering and Organizing Toys in Your Child's Playroom:
1) Never leave the playroom without picking up some or all of the toys.
2) Make it a fun game to pick up the toys! See who can pick up and put away the most toys the fastest! My two children, ages two and four love this game!
3) Have a place for the books, cars, blocks, dolls and stuffed animals, etc. Every toy should have a place to go when it's put away.
4) Go through the toys in your children's playroom once a month, and put away any toys that they aren't playing with. Wait for a few months, and bring those toys out again for your children to enjoy. If they aren't playing with them at all, then it's time to donate them, take them to a Consignment Sale, give them away to a younger child, or have a yard sale!
5) Put away or get rid of baby toys. I had two dozen baby toys in the toy box that our children weren't playing with, so I put them away for a future child to use, or to give away to a friend in a few months who just had a newborn baby!
6) Teach your children to keep Mr. Potato Head pieces together, Duplos inside of a certain box or bin, books together, etc. I find this difficult, as my children are still young. They don't realize that everything should be kept together.
7) Sort though the toy box and match up any toys that should go together. Put the Little People with the Little people house, animals with the farm house, cars with the race track pieces, trains with the train tracks, etc. I am constantly doing this. When my children do help me pick things up, every little piece, including puzzle pieces, end up in the toy box.
8) Clean up any toys that you trip over or that are in your way. Ask your children to keep certain paths, like to doors and windows, clear of toys, etc. This will help you and your children to get to the doors or windows quickly in case of an emergency too! My children might be little, but they do understand not to block the path to our bookcase, not to put toys near our dog's kennels, or to block the gate that leads downstairs with toys. They are really good about this. We have been teaching them to keep the paths clear since they could crawl.
9) Take some toys to the babysitters house, or to grandmas! This way, when your children are over there visiting, they will have some toys to play with that belong to them!
10) Ask Grandparents to buy small toys, books, or clothes for your children, and to put the rest of the money that they might have spent on toys, into your child's college fund! We have been doing this since our children were born. We have so many toys, and our children really don't need any more. So when we receive cash or checks for our children for their birthdays or holidays, we put the money into their bank accounts! They can then have this money after they graduate to use for college, a new car, or to move out!
Disclosure: I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Hot Wheels® blogging program, for a gift card worth $40. For more information on how you can participate, click here.
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