Have you ever looked at your playroom and thought it might be easier to toss everything and start over? Haven’t we all? Playrooms can be great. They can also be an awful mess. Here are three playroom organization tips to make it easier for everyone.
Limit the number of toys
Yeah, it may seem crazy, but by limiting the number of toys that you have out in your playroom, your kids are more likely to engage and play with them. When there’s less visual clutter in a playroom, it’s easier to find things. It’s also easier to keep a room with fewer toys clean. See how this works.
You can do this in several ways. First, you can limit the number of toys in the playroom. You can intentionally weed out the toys you don’t want them to keep (hello, Happy Meal, and birthday party goodie bag toys) go ahead and toss them out after a few days. The kids are going to forget about them anyway, and they’re most likely just going to take up space and add to the clutter.
You can also rotate out toys. We find if you change out the toys periodically, things that were away for a while are exciting when they return. It’s an excellent way to cycle through toys and see that they get more use rather than less use throughout the year.
Remove any toys that the kids haven’t played with for a few months. Move them to the basement or garage and see if they miss them. If no one notices they’re gone, it’s safe to assume they’ve outgrown them, and you can sell, donate, or give away.
Keep all the parts of toys together
Small pieces and parts of toys, they can be a huge part of the mess. If you keep all of your pieces and parts together, then it’s easier to manage the overall chaos, and it’s more fun for the kids because when they want to play with a toy, they can. They don’t have to spend time hunting for pieces or bugging you to help them look for something that was put away who knows where.
We like small, see-through containers so the kids can tell what’s in each one. It makes it easier for them to play independently. Choose containers with handles that children can easily open and close on their own and teach them to put all of the pieces back together before they put the toy away each time.
Have a set area for each type of toy
When you have a large playroom or lots of toys, it can feel overwhelming if all of the toys are strewn about. By creating set play areas, you help the children know where to look for their toys each time.
Create a dress-up area by adding hooks on the wall and buckets with accessories next to the hooks. Place your containers with small toys in them together on shelves in the playroom. Have a single box for all of the stuffed animals. We’re not huge fans of toyboxes because toys get lost in them, but sometimes, a big container or bucket for stuffed animals can be a great solution.
As your children get older, you’ll want to go through the playroom regularly and weed out the toys they don’t play with anymore. It can be part of your routine. If you ask them to go through the toys, they’re no longer playing with in advance of Christmas or their birthday explain that you’re doing it to make room for new toys. Kids can struggle with giving something up, but if they know they’re getting something new in return, it can help.
Designing your playroom with organization in mind will help keep the clutter at bay. If you’re looking for more playroom organization ideas, check Pinterest. There are tons of ideas available, and many of them utilize affordable storage solutions from places like the Container Store, Amazon, and IKEA. You don’t have to spend a lot of money or time to organize the toys in your home.
