The kid’s toys seem to be the biggest source of contention with my husband and I lately. It is so hard to keep anything organized that belongs to the kids. They have also become lazy about picking up so things end up piling up one thing on top of another in the play room. Playing with one thing at a time is obviously not an issue when you have more than one kid. Of course one of them wants to play with the Lego’s and one with Barbie’s so of course everything is out. When it comes to picking up I can usually get help the problem being where you put this stuff so that the next time they want to play with it they can get it out without removing everything.

So this is how my quest into organizing the kid’s toys began. I decided it was best to start with a clean slate. After removing everything from the area I went out and bought the brightest yellow paint available. It was also necessary in our case to have a spot for both children’s things with in the same area so I bought block lettering spelling out each child’s name. My goal was to split the space so that each child could claim a part of it as their own.

I didn’t want to break the bank buying all sorts of personalized kid’s toy shelving so what I did instead was to purchase cube shelving in for each of them. The cube shelving is great because it sits at about five feet. Just tall enough that the kids can reach using a step stool. Mainly the high areas of the shelves are used for the toys that are more decorative but can be played with. Such as stuffed animals, banks, books that I need to be there to read to them all the toys that are played with daily live lower on that child’s personalized unit.

My daughter unit is filled with canvas and wicker containers. She doesn’t really need to see what it is to figure if she wants to play with it or not. She is the kid who will pick a basket down, play with its contents or move on to discover another basket without making a huge mess. Now my son would pick the basket, empty it out realize he did not want to play with it and move on to destroy another basket. This is why on his shelving unit I use only clear containers and picture labels. He is then able to look inside of the container see that what he wants is not in there and move on without wreaking havoc on the entire play room.

I also found that loose Barbie shoes and accessories are better kept inside of plastic jars inside the tote. This makes it easier to find a pair of matching heals when Barbie wants a night out on the town without going through the entire box. My daughter would become so frustrated by not being able to find some special piece that she would abandon playing so using these smaller containers inside the main box has been so helpful.

I have found that the creativity the kids have is now used playing instead of trying to find all the pieces to play. It is so great when I look in the play room and see kids actually playing instead of climbing through the mounds of toys littering the floor. Their creative juices are allowed to fly and at the end of the play time it is simple clean up for both of them. Place the stuff back into the bin and put the bin on its shelf. Organizing the kids belongings was so much easier than I ever thought possible and the play room is a fun room where we all want to be not a place we dread walking by.