Ideas for Organizing Toys
Toys can take over your entire home. They start out in a child's bedroom or playroom and before you know it, they've spread to every room in the house. It's almost as though they multiply in the night and move around the house while everyone is sleeping. The key to organizing toys reincarnates that old adage, "A place for everything and everything in its place." It's the best way to curb the toy war, and even small children can learn to put toys away if the method is simple and easy to learn.
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Placement
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Any kind of organizer for toys must be placed close to the floor. This gives even small children the opportunity to try their hand at learning to clean up their toys. Baskets or bins on low bookshelves work well, with labels on each designating which toys go where.
Use labels with words like "Blocks" or "Dolls" for children who can read or are learning to read. For children who aren't old enough to be reading yet, cut out pictures of toys from magazines--or better yet, take photos of their own toys and use the photos as labels.
Hang 'em Up
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For rooms where space is at a premium, try hanging toy organization tools on doors. Over-the-door shoe hangers are perfect for organizing small toys, and may be hung lower on the door for smaller children if you discard the over-the-door hanger and affix it to a door at a lower height, using nails or tacks. In the same manner as the baskets or bins, attach appropriate labels telling the children which toys belong in specific pockets. These hangers are especially good for small items like Matchbox cars, dolls, crayons, art supplies and even small books.
Ziploc Bags
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Use gallon- or larger-sized Ziploc bags for organizing your children's toys. Legos, crayons, puzzle pieces and parts of games fit perfectly inside these bags, and the fact that they zip closed means their contents won't spill out all over the place. Even books fit nicely into these storage bags. Label the bags, and then organize them by standing them up in large plastic dish pans or basins. Take this idea a step further by labeling each basin as well as the bags.
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