Are you ready to tame kids toys? If you’ve downsized (even a little!) then chances are good that it’s time. Just keep in mind that these are suggestions, and won’t necessarily work for every circumstance… but there are benefits to this approach, too (outlined below)!
Prior to downsizing and deciding to tame kids toys, we used a bin method. All of the smaller toys went into bins, with blocks and kitchen items (play foods, pots and pans, and the like) having their own personal bin while other small toys were just tossed into any bin where they fit. Then, these bins were nicely placed into a cubby hole unit… where the kids would promptly grab a bin (or three) and dump them all over the just-picked up floor. It didn’t seem to matter if they helped pick up the mess or not. They loved dumping the bins.
Time to Tame Kids Toys
If you haven’t downsized your kids toys yet, then I’d recommend starting with this article: The Best Tip for Downsizing Kids Toys to get you going. Then, come back and read this one. I’ll wait. The tip about downsizing in the article linked above is the only one that really helped me actually make progress on getting toys out of the house (and not just rearranged).
Are you back? Great. Let’s talk organizing.
If you read the paragraph under the image above, then you have a basic understanding of our prior method… which we still use, in part, for keeping toys organized and off the floor – but let’s talk details.
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Since we already had colorful hard plastic bins for toys (purchased at Sam’s Club, but the same Storex bins are also available at Amazon) I didn’t want to go out and buy an all new organization system.Time to make the current system work for us.
Making Our System Work for Us
Instead of buying into a new system, we had to pinpoint the problem. Our boys enjoyed dumping the bins and leaving the toys strewn all over the floor. A new system might very well have had the same issue!
Our solution: we decided to keep most small toys out of reach of our kids, and provide one bin at a time upon request – a different bin could be requested after the kids picked up the first bin, and it was put away.
In the end, we are still using the same bin system, but in a different location, out of the kids areas that they can easily access. We also are creating “stations” for the bigger toys that we kept after downsizing:
- music (toniebox and tonie characters, toddler guitar, drums, etc.)
- education (their board book library and learning toys)
- kitchen
- plush (we are using this toy hammock – it’s a bit chintzy, but very affordable and does the job. Avoid rough use if you purchase the same one)
- costume closet (we just purchased this one used, and I love how much storage for costumes and accessories it provides while being fairly sturdy)
- cars
- “Lego” table with blocks
Although some of these are still smaller objects, they are easy to put away when there’s only a few small toys available instead of literal bins-full. You could also require these toys be put in their “station” before bringing out any other bins of toys at all (what I would recommend).
The Benefit of this System
With the toys being out of the kids area of access until brought out by an adult, the kids have to ask for the toys (learning to ask for what they want/need) as well as they must learn to pick up after themselves to get other toys out (responsibility).
Of course, this only works if the adults involved enforce (i.e. refuse to bring out other toy bins until the first bin is picked up and put away).
Do you have a system to tame kids toys? Let me know in the comments below!
Christian, wife, “hybrid” mama, I run the site All Behind A Smile to help others like me.
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