Organize a playroom? I have girls that have barbies, dolls tiny stuff. How do we keep it cleaned up but fun?

Question

Our playroom is always a mess. If we expected everything to be put back in order every evening, we'd be up way too late and I don't think they would want to play in there if they were stressed about keeping it clean. How can I have a tidy (room is seen from our kitchen and living room) room but fun for my girls? (we do a weekly clean up as part of their chores right now)

Answer 1

Toyrooms are the worst.

If you can install some shelving, do so. Wall to wall built in would be the best/safest so that pieces don't topple over. The best place, I'm assuming would be along the longest wall OR flanking a window with a storage bench in the middle, to serve as window seating. And no matter what, teach those kids that it is a big no-no to climb, that it is always ok to ask you for help.

To minimize climbing, consider using the out of reach places for things that can come out of circulation (more shortly) and the lower shelves to be sized for sorting containers for everyday storage that the kids can get into freely.

See if you can purge anything. Toys that are the wrong age, toys that are broken or missing pieces, toys that no one plays with. Toss or donate.

OK taking things out of circulation. It isn't saying "goodbye" if that seems heartwrenching for anyone. It is saying "see ya later." Let your goal be dividing toys in half, thirds, or fourths, depending on the overall pile. Then keep ONE of those smaller collections out at a time, store the rest away and rotate them out as a whole collection. You can make a big deal out of the rotation days...maybe the first of every month, or whatever. All the toys will be new again. The key is to get as much out of the way as possible, while leaving a good variety out that the kids will really use.

How to sort:

Like with like. Books, movies, baby dolls and accessories, barbies and accessories, play sets like my little pony and polly pocket, lego, puzzles and games, art stuff, cars and accessories, play food and dishes, play workbench and tools, animals and accessories, music stuff, dressup, outside and riding toys, etc. These are major types of toys, and you will have others. If you don't know what something is, ask your kids. They know and they can tell you what goes together.

Some toys can be stored outside the toy room. Riding toys, sports equipment, pool and bathtub toys, movies if they don't have a TV in there, CD's if they don't have a stereo in there, books if there is a family library somewhere else.

Once you have everything in basic piles, you need to divide those piles into realistic collections of toys that will be out at one time. Making the toy collections can be done different ways:

Divide everything equally.

Keep all the big pieces out and divide all the little things out equally. In your case, maybe all the barbie dolls out and half the clothes at a time, or the jeep in one rotation and the corvette in another rotation. The plane in one rotaton and the dream house in another.

A little bit of both. Put all the polly pocket in one rotation, and alternate them with all the my little pony. Alternate all the Barbie stuff with all the Bratz stuff. Alternate the kitchen and its gear with the workbench and its gear.

A lot of the things you want them to play with, and a little of the other stuff. All the books out but a fraction of the videos. More quiet toys, less noisy toys.

OK so for the collections you want stored away out of circulation, choose rough totes that can be placed on high shelves. Avoid temptation to climb by choosing NON-see through containers. You can micro-sort smaller items into zipper bags and put the bags in the rough totes. Keep the collections separated, maybe color code them. All the same colored boxes come out at the same time.

For the toys that are in circulation, many can be sorted into dishpans. I love them because they are simple in design, go with everything. They can be decorated and clearly labelled. They don't have holes in them like baskets do. They are cheap. They are easy for kids to handle. They are portable. They can make any shelving system into a drawer system.

You can store books in dishpans too, situate them so that the fronts are showing so kids can choose a book by looking at the cover.

By taking at least half the toys out of circulation, you automatically make more room to play and cut down on everyday cleanup time, and everyone will appreciate that. Having said that, you should have the girls clean up every day. It is less overwhelming than attacking a week's worth of mess. Make a couple basic rules and enforce them with rewards and punishments. Playroom needs to be cleaned up before the TV comes on? Everyone helps until the room is cleaned up? Make rules you can enforce, for instance, if you are busy with dinner, you can't police them cleaning the toyroom before dinner. You can also set up a "toy jail" where anything left out gets taken away, you give it back after they earn it back by doing chores or having a clean toyroom a certain number of days in a row. And/or a reward system where if expectations are met, they get something special...could be anything. A weeks worth of clean playroom may get them a trip to the ice cream place, or a chart with stickers where a certain number means they get to invite friends over for a slumber party or whatever. Also try to make cleanup fun. Set a timer and see if they can do it in the allotted time. Put on a CD and see if they can clean up within two songs. Teach them how to clean up efficiently. Maybe keep a sorter empty so that at end of play they can gather a bin full to put away at the shelves? And encourage them to put one thing away before they get something else out.

Answer 2

Get bins for the toys and have the girls pick up the toys every evening before dinner. If they don't pick up then they can't play in there tomorrow. If you pick it up everyday then it won't be such a chore. Then on the weekends you can clean the room and just not pick it up - use a bottle of bleach solution and spray over everything on Friday night before you go to bed. It will kill germs and be dry by morning. If you have the bins it will take no time to put them in there. For crayons, markers have one big tupperware or bucket for those. The key is to make it easy for pick - not each little container or drawer for each item.

You will also be teaching the girls to be responsible for themselves as it happens - not to procrastinate until the end of the week. Clean up should take no longer than 5 minutes.

Answer 3

I would put shelves at their level so they can see what they want to play with and be able to reach it, and also be able to put it back. Also, I had good luck with putting some toys in a plastic bin, putting it in the closet, and then in a couple months or so, change the toys...I did this with my kids. I just kept out the favorite doll and stuffed toys that they slept with and so on

Answer 4

Get bins, wicker baskets work great. Train the kids to pick up and put up. When my kids do not put up - I put all the left out items in a trash bag and put it the attic for at least a week. It works!! They learn -- better put this up or its going away. Hope it helps. I have small kids and I know how hard this is.

Answer 5

for our girls dolls, we used those rubbermaid silverware trays that are divided into segments. a barbie fits perfectly into the segments and theres lots of room for all the accessories. they can also be placed into drawers or on shelves for storage. it keeps each doll and all its accessories seperate from each other.

Answer 6

Go to Shopallstoresonline.com....Toy section....and get some Toy Boxes....they have some niced Themed boxes to keep it fun.

Answer 7

Get (pink) storage boxes to just quickly pack toys away. They are cheap and easy.

Answer 8

Fun colored laundry baskets work really well.....pick up after playing every day, won't be so hard.