When you have children, their toys take over the house; you stumble upon them in the hallway, the kitchen, the yard, the bedroom...You see them every day in every corner and it becomes more and more difficult for you to stay in a good mood and have the energy to put them away. Find out in this article how you can store them in an efficient and organised manner.
Sort them out first!
Toys come in many different categories: stuffed animals, figurines, construction sets, etc. As your child grows, his or her sources of entertainment will become more varied and one toy bin will no longer suffice. You will need several compartments. To reduce the amount of stuff you need to store, you will need to get rid of broken toys and those that are not age-appropriate anymore. It's a good idea to turn storage into a game so that your little kids can participate. You'll find that this reduces the amount of time spent sorting toys in the future.
Set aside a bin for clutter!
This involves providing your child with a bin to store all their toys. This saves you having to collect them and allows you to get straight on with the sorting. Wheels on the bin can make the activity fun and convenien; your kid will pick up all the toys scattered around from top to bottom. You can buy a bin, or even make things more fun by building one; a wooden box with wheels and a small rope is a good design. You can also decorate it with drawings and paint!
Label the toys!
Think about using special techniques to make it easier to store the toys by encouraging your kid to contribute. Putting labels on toys can be a good stimulant. Obviously, you need to put compartments for each class of label; a simple colour scheme, such as red panels for the figures, would suffice. At the same time, this helps the child find his/her toys easily. Having a storage card will also make organisation easier as it allows you to see which toy is missing through a checkbox system.
In short, you will not be able to put away all your children's toys every day, that’s why you will have to introduce the kids to the right gestures so that they get used to them. Lastly, don't forget to praise them every time they participate and complete their tasks!