Organizing and keeping the toy room tidy

You love your kids, but what about the mess they leave behind.  The constant clearing out, putting things back, organizing the toys, and still, your bare feet find that one teeny tiny Legos you step on. Ready to get organized?  This professional organizer believes these With these 5 tips, you will get the toys, and the kids, organized and no more aching feet.

Tip 1. Involve your kids

Include your children in the process of tidying up. It is their room after all, so why would it have to be just your responsibility to organize their toys? Last time we checked, parent does not equate to kid’s personal housekeeper.

Start by explaining (at an early age) to your child why it is best to keep things organized. You could say: “When playtime comes, toys are easier to find when they are in their own home.”  Your kids would love to spend more time playing and less time wasted, looking for their favorite toys.

Tip 2. Make tidying up a fun game

Kids love doing fun things, “we all do right?” so make organizing fun for them. You can even make a game out of it. One creative way to approach it is to pick an energetic song that your kids love. At the end of playtime, you start singing a song, and for the duration of the song, kids must pick up and put away all the toys.  Ask “who can you put all the toys in their homes before the song ends?”  Be warned, you might end up laughing on the floor after 3 chaotic minutes, but toys will be cleared out!

Tip 3. Play with colors

Colorful things are fun and your kids do not need to know how to read if you color coordinate where toys live. Children are smart, so choose colors that resonate with them.  For example, Legos are often yellow, and in a child’s mind, they belong in the yellow bin.  If you have a daughter who likes girly things, pick a pink container for all the dolls. Cars and trains to blue ones and so forth. You can even use stickers on the containers to make it more visual.

Tip 4. Plan for easy access

Kiddos are small, so make toys accessible for them. You can find great, affordable, and functional storage ideas especially planned for kids in Ikea. They offer a vast variety of colors, materials, and textures to continue the color play explained in tip 3.

Look for shelving and container bundles. When kids can easily pull a toy box out, they can also push it back. Easy access also means that it is safer for your kids. Never make huge stacks or piles that might fall over.

Tip. 5 Keep calm and trust your kids

Now that you have an organized toy room, and educated children, remember that the room is still meant for playing. So, relax and trust your kids when you see all the boxes emptied and the floor covered with toys. Let them be children and trust them to clear the toys after playtime. And if they need reminding where things live, then you provide that to them. Remember, they are still children, and you are the parent (avoid being the personal housekeeper!).

All the best getting the toy room organized and if assistance is needed, call Corliss.

For more tips on home organizing read here.