Toys, toys, and more toys!

Let's face it kids and toys go hand in hand. Most kids have A LOT of toys so how do we keep them all neat and organized if we don't have a lot of space? I was faced with this question so I followed these steps.

1. Assess your space. Figure out what works for your family when it comes to the placement of your child's toys. For example, do you spend most of your time in one general area? If so, then try to figure out if there is an area of that room to place your kid's toys. 
2. Find a storage solution that works for that particular space and the toys being placed there. 
3. Purge your kid's toys. Too many unused toys creates unwanted clutter. Keeping your kids involved in this process makes it much easier. Every year before their birthdays and Christmas together we go through their toys and "find new homes" for their old toys to make room for the new. We make a pile of keep and donate. I explain to them that other children will love their unused toys and they will go to good homes where they will be played with more often. Knock on wood, this technique has been working so far.
4. Get your kids involved with the new placement and organizing of their toys.

Here's a peek at our home and where we chose to place our kid's toys. I would love to hear where you keep your kid's toys.

We have an open concept home and our living room is one of the first rooms you see as you walk in so we didn't want it looking like a toy room.

We chose to designate the far wall for kids toys.

We chose this shelving unit from Ikea because it blended in with our decor and the cubbies provide a lot of storage. I have separated my kid's toys by keeping my older son's toys on top and my younger son's on the bottom. Each basket holds a different type of toy for example, cars, power rangers, blocks, etc. By organizing them like this my kids know where their toys "live" and where to put them back.

We chose to double our laundry room as a toy room. It's right off the kitchen so I can help keep them entertained even if I'm cooking. The table and chairs are not only used for breakfast, lunch and snack but also as a place to do crafts and puzzles.

We keep all of our craft supplies in the basket above the kids table for convenience.

On the opposite wall is this shelving unit. It holds my older sons puzzles and toys in the top two bins and my younger sons toys in the bottom two bins. Behind the doors on the bottom are a few more smaller bins with toys for my younger son to play with and explore.

Our basement  is unfinished but we wanted to create an area where our kids could go and expel some energy if the weather doesn't permit us to go outside. We painted the concrete walls and put a carpet down. We keep our Wii and a variety of other toys down here. My kids have a BLAST!

 

 

We like to keep our  big active toys down here.