Real Life Strategies For Organizing Kids Toys
Whether you’re a stay-at-home or working mom, I can personally attest, that being a mom is h-a-r-d work… like, really hard!
But honestly, dad’s these days, don’t have it any easier. At least, not in the Monte household. Which is why I want to pause for a minute to say, “Thanks John, for your part in raising our handsome little man + helping to keep this ship a float! I appreciate all that you do.”
As mom’s, we are expected to persevere with grace + a smile on our face through all the puking, snotting, coughing, biting (ouch!) + down right disgusting diaper changes!
And while Brooks (now 4) is out of most of these stages…it doesn’t get any easier :)
While I can’t prevent the next game of hair pulling or unexpected superhero punches (oh the struggle is real), I can help ensure you never step on another lego + know exactly how to go about organizing kids toys.
So, let’s dive in + talk about what might get in the way or become a challenge in organizing kids toys + then several strategies for how to do it in your home.
The New Parent Conundrum
When you’re a new parent, the overwhelming amount of stuff you often receive from supportive family + friends is dare I say… Down. Right. Daunting.
At first, you think you need most of it. Why else would people who care about you inundate you with all of this… crap? Excuse me, I mean adorable stuff you’ll likely never use *wink*
Eventually you can’t help but to wonder, when will the inundation with baby stuff stop?
Will you ever be able to reclaim a home that doesn’t feel dominated by kid stuff
or juggle all that comes along with being a parent + have an organized home?
Maybe, you’ll even feel a sense of guilt for thinking or even saying these things out loud, I promise you’re not alone + there’s no reason for you to feel bad. Personally, as a professional organizer + mom, I dealt with this too.
In fact, I’ll be the first to admit that I got over-the-moon-excited discovering that a gift was consumable. In other words, it had a short life span in our house.
But you’re anything like me, you feel an even bigger, sluggish, sigh of anxiety when someone buys your lil one… I don’t know… a musical guitar!!! And you’ll catch yourself thinking… great, how long does that thing need stick around before we can move it along to another house.
Truth be told, there’s an art to saying NO without hurting feelings or coming off sounding unappreciative! And I promise, that John + I have personally had to master this because Brooks has:
6 grandparents
12 aunts + uncles
5 pretty amazing neighbors who have basically become our extended family
and tons of life long friends from John + I who spoil him rotten
Though the problem of too much stuff may be inevitable, that new parent guilt may be too.
Gary Chapman, in the 5 Love Languages, makes a great point when he says “many people express their love + adoration through gifts.”
And so while you juggle the emotional guilt of decluttering + organizing your kid toys, you can also find solace that your kid(s) are being loved, adored + this feeling from you + your loved ones is completely natural.
How To Say No Politely
But one strategy we’ve used when you’re running out of room at home is to politely say in private, “we don’t have room for that because our kids are really loving what you bought them for (insert special occasion), might there be space to keep this at your house?” An often overlooked tip to maintaining an organized home that is free of clutter is simply informing others about your effort.
Your Kids Are Getting Older Challenge
As your kids grow from being lil tykes to full on opinionated roommates *wink* kids toys continue to pile up quick. As they age… the toys, clutter, clothes + all the other stuff accumulates with time.
And what we see as professional organizers is that on top of the every-day-madness of your own life, when you don’t have a solution for keeping it all organized… the mess often feels larger than life.
Not to mention, figuring out exactly what the best way to wrangle all of those stuffed animals #R-O-A-R!, action figures, barbies, cars, and playsets so you don’t have overflowing kids closets or messy playrooms is tough.
Cuz you want their home to feel safe, like it’s a place for your kids to express their creativity + even their individuality BUT still feel like your home, an adult space.
For most moms… heck, for most parents, this is where anxiety, overwhelm, frustration + discontent set in.
You begin to feel as though you’ve lost your identity as an individual. Despite the fact that your kids fill your heart with more joy than you could’ve imagined, the place you call home no longer fills you up.
But there’s good news… cuz, knowing what to do with all of this stuff is part of your journey!
Similar to the steep learning curve that goes hand-in-hand with figuring out what a newborn needs after you bring them home from the hospital learning how to organize your kids toys is a process.
The Messy Teenager Phase
As your kids become teenagers, organizing kids toys isn’t as much of a problem as maybe keeping a livable room is *wink*
Most parents who have a messy teenager think it’s par for the course. And we’re reasonable folks over here at Elegant Simplicity so, some “messy” may be par for the course. BUT, most teenagers who have messy rooms simply don’t have their space setup to be maintained with ease.
And that’s exactly where the “lazy” “messy” cliche crosses the line for us. It’s not entirely that their unwilling to maintain their room — it’s that functionally their space no longer serves what they need.
Maybe it did once but it no longer does.
As a parent, simply being frustrated by the “mayhem” of their room wont fix it. And you want the best for your kids, so if this is something you recognize as a bit of a challenge for them, be there for them like you would anything else.
Help them identify what they need + why they need it.
How To Organize Kids Toys
A las, we’ve finally arrived at organizing kids toys. Below, we’ve compiled a list… yes, organizers LOVE us a list.
These are 6 things you can do to begin organizing kids toys right away.
But I want to preface that organizing kids toys is about them. They’re the ones who will make the mess. They’re the ones who will leave a lego or barbie out for you to step on or fido to eat.
So, as you process these 6 strategies for organizing kids toys focus on how this works for them.
Prime Your Environment
First + foremost, everything successful in life is systematized…
We recently sat down with clients who described their morning routine with two young children as a hurricane. We all laughed + I’m sure you are too. Because whether you have kids or not — you can relate. Add children into the mix of morning routines + you’ve got a category 4 or 5 hurricane :)
Get Up
Get Ready
Get Kids Ready
Cook/Eat Breakfast
Out The Door
And then you ask yourself… is everyone wearing underwear? *wink*
One of the strategies that we put in place to limit + completely remove this morning hurricane was to prime their environment the night before. We wanted to assist them in making this fun, easy + in tune with their routine.
So, before bed, practice forward thinking as parents but also with your kids.
Visualize what the day entails tomorrow. What you need + what your kids need to have success.
In doing this, you build the habit of planning ahead (maybe even for the entire week) by cleaning up the toys that are laying around, packing your bag, picking outfits out, knowing what’s for breakfast and/or loading the car ahead of time with anything they’ll be taking with them.
Your mornings then become hassle free where you feel present with your family. Not a few hours of friction focused around “getting the day started.”
Consider investing some time in learning + building a habit of priming your environment with your kids. This simple routine at night will help minimize toys being left out all over the house, in packing their bags + prepping for their day.
Identify Activity Zones
Activity zones are integral to organizing kids toys. If you don’t have activity zones identified then your kids are likely to do painting + crafting on your area rug or drive race cars off the countertops *BROOKS!*
The imagination of kids is fascinating + so whatever trouble they can get into they will, unless you have identified + defined for them where these activities take place.
Legoland over here.
Barbies over there.
Arts + crafts at this table.
Homework on this.
If this sounds simple it’s because it is. However, unidentified activity zones will lead to a mess. And when kids know where certain types of play should occur, they’ll still test the waters to see what they can get away with but they’ll also be reaffirmed by you that whatever they want to do happens in a specific area of your home.
Create Maintainable Organizing Systems For Your Kids
Brooks is proof that even at the age of 4, kids can maintain organizing systems. The clutter really never stops — there’s always something new + exciting coming into the Monte Household but organizing systems that are easily maintainable by your kids is an achievable goal.
Sure, you may have to add a little muscle to making it happen quickly but the repetition of having your kids organize their own toys is immensely helpful in reclaiming your home.
These toys go over there.
Those toys go in this bin.
That stuff in this drawer.
Right away, your kids may struggle to comprehend the importance of why organizing systems matter. But there is an easy + obvious point to make. The moment little Johnny asks where his Spiderman is, you have any variety of these things to say:
Have you checked in the action figure bin?
Did you put him back where he belongs?
Where did you play with him last?
Be it action figures in a bin, hot wheels on a shelf or barbie dolls in a basket, we want our kids to know + expect where they can find what they want, when they want it.
And for your teenagers, after you’ve identified “where” things go, it’s all about setting clear expectations + holding them accountable in a positive way to maintaining things. Reinforcing for them the perks of not having to stress or feel unprepared.
The best part of it all? It makes cleaning + tidying up, super fast. Having a place you + your kids know where to find things, allows everyone to maintain a system that is well thought out + well organized.
Organizing Small Kids Toys
One immensely impactful strategy for organizing small toys: things like legos, small action figures or hotwheels is to systematize your storage solutions.
You don’t want to rush out to by containers before you’ve identified what will go in them + where they’ll be stored in your home.
However, once you’re at this point creating a unified organizing system with the same sized bins will go a l-o-n-g way in making sure blue legos + green legos don’t mix *wink* or that barbies and race cars can be grouped together in your home but not inside the same bin.
Oh yeah + you’re not stepping on toys… haha!
Organizing Big Kids Toys
When it comes to organizing big toys like large blocks, balls, oversized trucks, dolls or stuffed animals… again consider the scale of the items that need to be stowed away + how you might be able to streamline these particular containers or bins for a shelf, bookcase, or stacked in a closet.
Purge. Without Guilt. But Involve Your Kids.
Yep. You heard it here first. Part of organizing is decluttering + that means you’ll need to purge. But do so without guilt.
And let’s talk about that. Getting rid of or purging your kids toys doesn’t mean throwing them in the trash. The toys that go in the trash are reserved for the well used items that have seen better days, are broken, have missing pieces or simply put, shouldn’t be passed down.
It’s easy to not have guilt in trashing something that’s broken.
Purging without guilt is about finding the right charitable organization to donate toys your kids are no longer playing with.
We always recommend you include them in the process. Brooks, at 4, has learned to love giving away toys, masks or costumes that he’s no longer playing with. In addition to his clothes or shoes that are lightly worn.
I’m not bragging here rather providing evidence that it’s possible for young kids to grow up with purging as a habit. We talk together about what little boy or girl might enjoy this + how they might play with it.
This removes the guilt that can come with trying to minimize the chaos of kids belongings but it also teaches your kiddos a valuable lesson about giving.
Especially if your kiddos are struggling to let go of something, it often helps by explaining to them why you’re getting rid of things.
Emphasize to them that there will still be plenty for them to play with
And also that the things you choose together to donate are because they don’t use them any longer + are going to bring a lot of joy to other children.
As mentioned above, you could even have them take part in dropping them off. Look at you go momma bear… look at the lessons you’re instilling in your kids!
BONUS: Setup A Homework/Art Station
Take a step back + think about what your kids need to be inspired, encouraged + motivated to accomplish school work.
If you’re like most, you want to know what to expect + in this sense, our kids aren’t any different. Having a place that has homework supplies like pencils, paper + pens makes an event out of accomplishing their homework assignment but it also reinforces the importance of activity zones because it minimizes toys (a la distractions) in this space.
Don’t have room for a homework station? Absolutely, no problem. The good news is, kids can do their homework practically anywhere.
We all use our homes differently + that’s what is so great about creating a home you never want to leave. Whether it’s a desk, the dining table, or the kitchen counter… keep it consistent + create a place for their school supplies to return + live when they’re all finished.
BONUS: Banish Paperwork Piles
Honestly, it doesn’t matter what age your kids are. There’s a-l-w-a-y-s a ton of paperwork.
Whether it’s information sheets from their pediatrician, an instruction manual for some crazy toy to build, a syllabus that needs signed or paperwork for another school fundraising event; knowing how to organize important documents at home is incredibly important.
So, how do we keep papers from covering your beautiful kitchen island that once upon a time, you loved so much?
Easy, if you don’t need the hard copy any longer, scanning + filing the document digitally is the best solution to never having paperwork build-up in your home.
For action items that can’t be scanned, the best solution is the easiest one for your family. Whether that’s creating a linear filing system, using a decorative wall or tray organizer that’s labeled with in + out slots or even a car organizer….
The last thing we want is for it to become out of sight out of mind. Then, it piles up fast + if we don’t make paperwork management a priority, it’s a guaranteed recipe for disaster. The key is identifying what works best for you + your kids + ultimately, keeping paper clutter at bay can be whittled down to two things:
Good Visibility
Weekly Paperwork Review Session
So, where will your kids put important paperwork that comes along with a new toy or with their school work?
Where To Donate Kids Toys
Especially if you’re encouraging your kiddos to be a part of purging their toys, then knowing where to donate kids toys is important.
Some of the most obvious are charities, such as the Salvation Army + Goodwill. These are easy defaults because they’re everywhere + that’s a good thing.
However, other less obvious places you could check with are your local hospitals (they often accept toys for patients to play with), doctors or dentists offices, local daycares, women’s shelters + children’s homes.
When you look at that list, suddenly it’s a whole lot easier to remove the guilt of decluttering your kids toys. Am I right?
The Aftermath Of Organizing Your Kids Toys
Once you declutter + organize your all of your kids belongings…
You'll feel an immediate sigh of relief
You'll notice that you carry less stress
You'll develop a positive self-image about your home
You'll not only feel but you’ll become more productive
You'll have an easier time tidying up
You'll save some money
And you’ll discover more time to pamper yourself!
But this is about your kids too..
They’ll feel more secure because they know where things are
They’ll have defined spaces to be creative + play
They’ll develop good habits by maintaining their space
They’ll feel a sense of gratitude for what they have
They’ll learn why giving to others is important + what it actually looks like
So, there’s a whole lot of good that comes with organizing kids toys. When you make it a priority to declutter your home you’re not only finding yourself again (a.k.a. maintaining your sanity as a woman + parent!) but you’re taking action to create habits + values that you hope to one day be instilled in your kiddos.
So there you have it my friend, a professional organizers real life strategies for organizing kids toys. And if you loved this blog post then without question, you’re absolutely going to go nuts for our FREE video course: 4-Days To A More Beautiful + Functional Home
Also, don’t forget to check out our amazing Free Resource Library or if you’re looking to start your home organizing journey, book a FREE 30min.Clarity Call and… let’s chat!