Post-Christmas Conundrum: Toy Storage
Get Ideas for Storing the Kids' Playthings in Style
For parents, the moment the holiday ends holds a bit of a predicament: After the torn wrapping paper and mangled bows get picked up, what to do with all these new toys? You can start by donating any old ones that have fallen out of favor to clear some space, then check out these options for storing children's playthings in style.
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by Ninainvorm
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| Arranged just so, a pile of toys becomes an adorable vignette. |
by CWB Architects
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A mix of open shelving and cabinets keeps favorite toys in clear view, and easily hides detritus too.
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| Big built-ins hide all manner of games—and even a kid or too. |
| This little furniture piece works as a table for drawing and playing, but open the drawer on the bottom, and with one sweep everything's stored away. |
by Home & Harmony
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Here's a similar version for an older child. It makes a good spot for homework and crafts as well.
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A neat line of buckets can hold anything from building blocks to crayons, all separated for easy organization.
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For busy little hands, storing playthings out of reach can be a good idea.
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And the arrangement works for older kids, too. They can reach items when needed, and clear them out of sight when not.
by CWB Architects
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Space is at a premium when two kids share a bedroom. To keep it from turning into a disaster zone, utilize space under the beds. (That might be a trundle bed below, but could just as easily hold a pull-out drawer.)
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| Left alone, the space under the bed could easily become a black hole for misplaced socks, playing cards, and the like. A container or two, like the baskets used here, will ensure there's at least some organization at work down there.
How do your kids keep their rooms clean? |
Comments
kimandsteve As a mother of three kids under 10, I think the trick to keeping kids' rooms clean is to cull out all the toys they don't play with on a regular basis and stay on top of the little bits of 'junk' toys that seem to accumulate. Once I've picked up the same toy or little trinket more than 5 times, the next stop is the garbage can (or storage). The key to managing toys is to have a manageable amount... sometimes hard in our generation of plenty...
2 years ago · Like
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Lily Gahagan Good points, kimandsteve. The "one in, one out" rule seems to be helpful for toys, too.
2 years ago · Like
Nat When we renovated our childrens' bedrooms and put in a good amount of storage, we found that the kids put things back when there was a place for everything. Like kimandsteve, junk toys get thrown out after a while and at every birthday and Christmas, old toys are bundled up and donated to friends or charity.
2 years ago · Like
amandamoore I have an 18 month old but I have been a toy lover since I was a kid - I have accumulated all kinds of little trinket toys that I can't part with so I put them in a latch top mason jar, my aunt always called it a "pretty jar." Quite similar to a big jar of marbles. The bigger the jar the better. We keep labeled totes full of other toys, books, games, cars, etc., and keep the 'keepers' rotating so they don't become boring.
2 years ago · Like
Beth Start by having fewer toys and then put half away and rotate them so the child sees new toys more often without buying new toys. Also look for a toy lending library. For storage I always recommend beds with drawers under them. I so dislike clutter and being a small house person, less is more.
2 years ago · Like
jonno_g We have five kids under 7 and two bedrooms. A place for everything and everything in it's place. Make toys easier to put away than they were to get out. Limit the number of toys and regularly invite the kids to donate to the less fortunate. My two year old has a shelf of her bookshelf at her own height to store and play with her toys so even she can tidy up. Two toys to sleep with only! A toy chest for stuffed animals with a rule that once it is full, to keep any more, one must be donated - to cull the thrift store finds of "kind" aunts and uncles! NOTHING under the beds so it can be swept and mopped regularly. Store according to a logical system e.g. Toy cars in the "car bucket", blocks in the "block box", toy animals in a large Noah's Ark. A box or shelf for "treasures" with a rule against anything organic!
2 years ago · Like
blowfish Life is short, childhood is shorter I buy my son lots of toys let him play with them and have a ball. Then I built a 32 x16 foot toy room to store them all.
2 months ago · Like
Ideabook published on Dec. 25, 2010.
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