Good way to organize toddler's toys?

Question

My 16 month old girl has a lot of toys that she loves to play with. She is getting into building blocks, leggos, puzzles and always loved books. My problem is that so many of these toys have mulitiple parts to them, and I was wondering what you did to organize all of your children's toys. I have already gone through the ones she doesn't use anymore and packed them up for the next baby (in a few years!).

Answer 1

My sister came up with a solution for the problem of too many toys. She divided them in half, and put half of them away in the closet. Then every 4 months, she would change which half was in the toy box. The kids would be delighted to have something different to play with and she didn't have all the toys to deal with.

Answer 2

A great idea is to divide the toys into seven choices.One for each day of the week.
Put a construction item, a video, a puzzle, dolls,and so on into each box.
Your daughter will feel like she is getting new toys every day.Plus at the end of each day, all the toys out go into one box.
You can use the nice plastic containers .
Good luck and have fun.

Answer 3

We also use the tupperware bins. All of my sons cars go in one, puzzles in another, etc. It works wonderfully! Plus, he can see what is in each container without opening it. (better than a toy box). For the puzzles we put the pieces in a zip lock so that the pieces don't get mixed together with other puzzles. then on the ziplock write what the puzzle is (ie dinosaurs, cars)

Answer 4

We just organized our home and it's great! We got some clear plastic bins, and put "sets" of toys into them. Like all the "Little People Farm" goes into one. All the musical instruments go into the next. etc. etc. etc.

It's so nice, because I'M in control now about what gets pulled out and what doesn't. And I make my twins clean up their mess before I'll take out another one.

My playroom has never looked better, and it's such an "organized" play time!

Answer 5

In addition to the clear plastic containers try using a digital camera to take a picture of the toys and label the bins that way. Its easier for little ones to help clean up on their own!

Answer 6

I saw a really good idea in Parents magazine the other day... Just get some clear tupperware bins and put labels on them (This will also help your daughter learn her letters and stuff!) And when it's clean up time, help her to put all her toys in the right bins! That might work!

Answer 7

Try baskets or buy one of those toy organizers at Kmart or any retail store. There are 3 shelves and 4 square containers on each shelf. Its great. They can come in primary or pastels. They are about 40 dollars and trust me you will use it for years to come.

Answer 8

We have a ton of big tupperware boxes that we use.
One for all blocks, One for all books, One for all weebles, Ect.
it works great but takes up alot of space.

They also sell cubbie bens at toysRus. Its a stand with a bunch of boxes on it, they come with lables and its great for groups of toys that you dont have a ton of, A few blocks, crayons, match box cars, Things like that.

I also love it when toys come with there own contaners that will last for a wile. We got a tub of blocks for my 3 year old for xmas, it came in a sturdy cardbord tub and the top had all the shape of the blocks cut out. She is now picking up her blocks every time she gets them out.

Get creative, Small tupperware can be used for doll cloths (great for my 6 year old), shoe boxed can be a art project that turns into a box your kids will love putting there things in, That ugly free dresser in someones yard can become a nice place to hold toys with a can of paint.
My girls love cute birthday bags, every year they keep a few bags for toys. they dont last forever but it gives them something to put toys in that theycan carry around the house.

If you like crafts and want to go to the extreem make a large box out of paper mache and have your daughter help you paint it. It will last for a wile and you 2 will have something specal you did together. Not only will she love making the mess to make it but she will love cleaning up he toys just so she can uses the specal box she helped to make.

Answer 9

listen the other answers were great but i think you should combine two of the suggestions. get the toy shelf that is all bins or baskets AND only have half of the toys out then rotate every couple of months.

Answer 10

i bought a plastic unit that has three huge drawers and put pictures on the front of the drawers of what goes in them! my daughter thinks it is a great game and gets her to clean up! for the pieces that go with toys, i got a bunch of little purses and handbags on clearence, and put the pictures of the pieces on the bags.