It’s extremely important for your children to have access to toys as a part of their development, but let’s face it– the clutter can get to be a bit overwhelming. With toys covering the floor, in every nook and cranny, and just about everywhere else your child can reach, finding a solution that works for everyone can be challenging. Fortunately, we have some toy storage ideas that might be able to help. Keep reading for a few simple toy organizing tips and tricks!
Devise Categories for Each Toy
First of all, sort all of your children’s toys into categories. It’s almost impossible to keep things organized if you don’t have a predetermined method to do so. These categories can be whatever works best for you and your family, whether that’s dividing toys based on color, size, type, or whatever else you may think of. Once you’ve come up with a few good categories, you can use those as a starting point for the rest of your organizing.
Invest in Storage Containers and Toy Organizers
Now that you’ve figured out the categories you’ll be using to organize your children’s toys, you need somewhere to put them all. We recommend using dedicated toy organizers or compact storage containers. These allow you to keep all of your children’s toys out of the way when not in use, but accessible whenever your little ones want to play with them. To make things even easier, try labeling each of the toy containers to correspond with one of the categories you developed.
Come up With a Simple Cleanup Plan
So, you’ve figured out how you want to organize the toys and have the storage space to do so. What comes next? Naturally, you’ll need a plan on how to put everything into practice. We recommend coming up with a regular schedule for cleanup sessions. This will allow you to keep toy clutter from accumulating, ensuring that your home remains perfectly organized. (Or at least as perfectly organized as it can be with several children living there.) From there, it’s a simple matter of putting all the toys in their corresponding containers, taking very little time and effort for a great result.
Teach Your Children the Cleanup Plan
Of course, it also helps to teach your children how to keep their toys organized. Once you’ve set everything up, sit your children down for a moment to explain the new cleanup routine. Let them know when and how often you want them to clean up their toys, where each category of toy goes, and the like. Once they understand, you can start involving them in the cleanup process.
Involve Your Children in Cleanup
Involving your child in the cleanup process may be met with some resistance at first, but once they realize how much easier it is to organize their toys regularly, they should come around. They may need help for the first few times while they’re still getting the hand of it, so stay in the background and be sure they can ask questions if they don’t know where something goes or are having trouble for one reason or another.
Most importantly, make sure that this is a positive experience for them. By teaching them the benefits of staying organized now, you’ll help them develop those skills and apply them later in life. This becomes especially important once they start school and organizational skills become more and more necessary. Starting early like this gives them a leg up, giving them the tools they need to excel in life.
Reward Your Children for Staying Organized
This raise a question, though– how do you turn cleanup, which most kids don’t want to do, into a positive experience? Like we mentioned earlier, children tend to oppose being asked to clean up initially, but more importantly, they tend to oppose changes in routine. Seeing as we’re looking at a change in routine involving cleaning, it’s going to be a bit of a hard sell. Fortunately, though, offering your children incentives to follow the new routine makes things much easier.
Rather than punish your children for not cleaning up, reward them for taking initiative in cleaning up. For example, if they spontaneously decide to clean up without being asked, reward them with a small treat or piece of candy. When cleanup time rolls around, set a timer for 15 minutes, and reward them with something like screen time or a fun activity if they finish cleaning up within that timeframe. Over time, they may even begin looking forward to cleaning up and being able to reap the rewards. The end result? A cleaner house and happier children.
Looking for more great tips, tricks, and products to keep your home clean and your little ones entertained? Come and visit our site at ToysCentral today!
