Share Your Toy Organizing Ideas

**monkeywrangler71** · 04-22-2010, 02:30 PM

Let's share our best ideas for getting and keeping kids' toys organized. Either general ideas for the whole play area, or ideas for keeping a particular type of toy organized. Pictures would be great!

If you're drowning in toys and don't know how to find your way out, here's an article from Sara's blog to get you started: Ways to organize toys | Frugal Village. Then come back and share all the wonderful solutions you came up with once you got going.

**monkeywrangler71** · 04-22-2010, 02:52 PM

My son is a lego maniac. There are a number of ways to organize lego pieces, we choose to sort by type. I have plastic drawers for the pieces, and they are divided into flat pieces, wheels, windows, people, blocks, etc. As his collection grows, drawers get added and the categories get more precise.

My son prefers to build his own creations, but occasionally will build from pictures or instructions. We created a binder where we keep his lego magazines, annual catalogues, and set instructions. Each time he gets a new set I cut the picture from the front of the box and slide it into a page protector, then put the instruction booklet behind it. Then I add it to the binder, keeping related sets together so it is easier for him to find what he is looking for (ie. Space Police section, Star Wars section, etc.). Catalogues and magazines are in page protectors at the front.

Here are some pictures of his binder, he is ready to move up to a larger one and I will likely have to do that after his birthday.

**krbshappy71** · 04-22-2010, 03:00 PM

We used 18 gallon rubbermaid (or off-brand) totes and put a big sign on the front and sides of the totes of what should be in them: Stuffed Animals.....Legos....etc.

The girls could easily grab a tote and dump out its contents, dump the contents back in, and when cleaning their room it was "make a basket" fun. Just toss the stuffed animal across the room and make a basket!

They also stack well for older kids that can safely lift them. (stuffed animal ones tend to be light) so if you are short on space, stack them two or three high depending on the height/ability of the child to get them and put them back safely.

Oh and you can have the kids make the signs themselves or you make the sign and they can color it, etc.

**Palooka** · 04-22-2010, 10:41 PM

Nothing too fancy here. I just use totes and a shelf. This is a good reminder because I need to organize and clean them out and donate the ones that he has outgrown.

I would love to have a house that had a play room to get real creative with.

My friend has a million toys for her kids and she packs them in totes and stores them away. She only takes out a couple at a time for the kids and then rotates them so they seem new to the kids. But she has the room to store them.

My son's books are stacked up in the closet because he would love to tear them up.

I only get one book down at a time at this stage.