4 Simple Steps To Organize Your Kids Toys

If you are a parent of children, this is a subject that has more than likely come up once, if not numerous times in your house.  How do you organize your kids toys?

One thing I learned very early on in my parenting journey was that kids come with ALOT of stuff!  And if you are not careful, all of that stuff will overtake your house REALLY fast!

Organizing my kids’ toys has not always been one of my strengths.  There were many years where I felt completely overwhelmed with all of the toys.  I was constantly stressed and feeling like I was just this person who just followed my kids around all day cleaning up one mess after the other but never really getting ahead.

Well I am here to say that there is a way out!  You don’t have to live that way forever!  Don’t get me wrong, you will still have messes.  That is just the life of being a parent.  But you CAN keep them under control, and you DO NOT have to live every minute running around like a crazy person picking up after everyone!

Here are some of the things we do to keep our toys neat, clean, and under control…

Step#1 Sort It All Out

Start by sorting through ALL of your kids’ toys.  Sell or donate what they no longer play with or use, and throw away anything that is broken or no longer works.  This is an area that can be hard for a lot of people.  Not only is it hard for kids to get rid of their toys, but it can be just as hard for their parents!  We all hold onto things for different reasons, and that is ok, but something I have come to realize especially when it comes to my kids and their toys is, they actually play SO much better with SO much less!

I don’t exactly know why that is, but I believe it has something to do with decision fatigue.  Too many decisions or things to choose from can overwhelm anyone, especially kids!  So when it comes to kids toys, I try to eliminate that by only keeping toys that they currently play with and truly enjoy!  Everything else finds a new home!

Step# 2  Divide

Once you have figured out step#1, the next thing to do is divide everything into categories.  These categories are going to be different for everyone depending on the age and interests of your children, but for many it means putting trucks in one pile, legos in another pile, barbies in another pile and so on and so forth. Below is a example of some of the categories my daughters toys are divided into. Be creative. Everyone is different!

Step# 3 Find a home for everything

The next step is to find a home for all of your divided categories. Those that are close to me or have been to my house know that I am OBSESSED with bins!  Cloth bins, plastic bins, any kind of bin really!  I love them all and have a LOT of them!  I love the fact that they contain everything so well, and look so neat when put away on a shelf!  So, with that said, you can choose what you would like to store your categories in, but bins have always worked well for me and are relatively cheap so that is my method of choice.

This is a larger picture of all of the toys in her room. I bought everything you see here at Target, including the large stand that holds all of the bins. There are so many cute choices to choose from, you should be able to find something that fits your style! The larger bins on top hold all of her dolls and and doll accessories.

Step# 4 Label

Once you have everything divided out and put in cute little bins, the last and final step is to label everything!  This step is essential in my opinion, because it allows all the hard work you just did to get organized to STAY organized!  If something has a label then there is no question where it goes, and it makes putting everything away SO much FASTER and SO much EASIER!

Below is a picture of the final product. The stuffed animals and their holders is something I plan to cover in another post, but this is basically it!

As a side note:  we have rule in our house, you may only take out one toy bin at a time.  That way bins do not get mixed together, and if they want to play with something else they have to put away the previous bin’s stuff first. This rule has helped tremendously to teach them responsibility and how to take care of their stuff. It keeps me from having too much out at one time and everything quickly spiraling out of control!

If this is an area that you have struggled with, I hope this has inspired you to take control of your space, and it can be a place that brings you joy, peace and less stress! Yes, even your kids toys!

Please feel free to leave me a comment with anything that has worked well for you in this area or any ideas that you may have! I always love to hear others ideas as well!

Please, go check out my other articles about organizing.