How I Organize My Toddlers Toys
Do you struggle when it comes to children’s toys? Are your kids always “bored” with their toys? Are you overwhelmed by the amount of toddler clutter in your house? If you are looking for a way to organize your toddler toys, then look no further because I have the perfect solution for you!
Declutter or Accumulate?
I easily get overwhelmed by clutter, moving a lot as a military family makes it easy for you to either accumulate or minimize this. Luckily for me we declutter and minimize a lot when we move! One area that I don’t do so well decluttering is toys. I knew we were going to have another child so I didn’t want to get rid of toys that we would use again. With this I developed a system for Moose and his toys. One that has changed and evolved!
Toddler Toys- Organization
Our current house is the smallest and most awkward layout we have had. Because of this, we don’t have a playroom and our tiny living room has become half living room, half playroom. Moose has 2 nuggets and they take up a lot of space. So, I developed a toy rotation system for his other toys. This allows for us to 1. Have less clutter 2. Constantly have “new” toys and 3. Not be overwhelmed.
All you need for our toy rotation is some plastic clear Tupperware containers with lids and a shelf of your choice, plus some closet space to store the unused toys. We use a rolling cart that has 3 shelves. I have removed most of his toys from their original packaging and grouped them into these clear bins. For example all his animals fit in one, all his kitchen food in another, small cars and trucks are together, etc. If they don’t fit than we go through them and see if there are any we want to get rid of, sell or donate.
Now that we have Coyote I have a better idea of the toys I want to keep and the ones I’m ok to part with. I also have realized we have multiple versions of the same kind of toy. For example he has 2 sets of wooden blocks and 2 different types of Legos. I took to a local Facebook sale page to sell one of each.
Toddler Toy- Storage Bins
Back to the bins. Not all of his toys will fit in these bins, but I try to keep the loose small toys in these. Currently we have his animals on one shelf (in a Tupperware container), Big trucks on another and a few miscellaneous items and building blocks on another shelf. He typically plays with these for about a week before he looses interest. I keep his other bins in our shoe/coat closet and in a toy box in Coyotes closet. Because they are all in the same Tupperware they are easy to stack, and because they are clear we can see what is in each of them. This also makes it pretty easy for me to switch them out in the evening when he goes to sleep.
He doesn’t really get bored with his toys because he regularly gets different ones. I do let him switch toys and take out other toys as well if he asks for them. The other day he wanted to play “rock band” so we took out all of his instruments to play with, these are an example of toys that don’t fit in the Tupperware, so they are neatly away in the toy box. This system is not a strict “you can’t play with anything else” system it is just an easy way to keep things interesting. We also rarely buy him new toys because he always feels like he has new ones.
Toddler Toys- Rotation
So to recap on how our toddler toys system works…
1. Use multiple storage containers of the same size to hold toys
2. Use a shelf to hold toys
3. Only keep a few toys on display
Example: magnetic tiles, cars, play food, and doctors kit
4. Rotate toys when you see your toddler loosing interest
Up until the last month, Moose did not have toys in his room. I was very strict on bedrooms are for sleeping. However, I decided to put a few toys in his room since we moved him into a “big boy” room. If it doesn’t work out we will just remove them, but so far it hasn’t interfered with sleep, and has helped keep him in his room in the mornings. Do your children have toys in their rooms?
When it comes to birthdays and Christmas I create an Amazon list with things that I know he is interested in. I give this list link to family and friends so they can get him toys he actually wants. We also ask for experience gifts such as Zoo Passes or Movie tickets.
Click here to see how to create an Amazon gift Registry!
Do you have a toy rotation system that works for you? Is our family system something you would try?
