Organizing toys, games, & books

How is it possible that kids can manage to have almost every doll, race car, puzzle, book, or lego strewn all over the entire house in a matter of minutes?!? Ok maybe an hour but it seems like minutes. All you moms out there, if you can answer this question, please call me! Seeing all these items in every room causes me low level anxiety and I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that I have tried to explain to my kids that when you are done playing with something, you NEED TO PUT IT BACK!!!! Well I feel like they are starting to get the message because half the time they succeed in putting their things back where they belong. However, I still do my fair share of cleaning up after them and I'm going to share some tips with you that I have implemented to help prevent the toys from taking over!

You first want to sort through all of your kids' toys, games, books, and art supplies. Create three piles: things to keep, donate, and throw away/recycle. It's up to you if you want to take this task upon yourself or get the kids involved. I personally like to do it while they are not around because otherwise the process takes forever and you only get rid of two things! Rather than pulling my hair out, I declutter their rooms while they are at school and they have no idea they are even missing stuff! I feel like throwing out some broken crayons is like sneaking contraband!

After you have donated and thrown out what you are no longer keeping, it's time to organize what's left! All kids have different interests, some may have a large collection of dolls or stuffed animals or trains or if you're unlucky, all of the above! Here are a few organizational pieces that are versatile with many items:

These storage cubes hold a variety of things and can grow with your child and their interests. I organized my kids' toys in baskets similar to these!

Spice racks can hold books so they are within easy reach but not all over the floor. This allows the books to be displayed as decorative pieces as well!

Shelf ladders are a perfect piece for any space and allow children to find and access their stuff more easily since it's an open space. They can store books, lego builds, and so many other things!

Over the door shoe organizers are not just for shoes! I love this idea of holding Barbies!

Such a creative way to use wall hanging kitchen baskets! Great for small stuffies and Duplos.

Depending on how much art your kid does, this simple art cart could suffice.

Board games can be stored in this hanging closet organizer.

With a little bit of creativity, you can find many versatile methods for storing your kids' fun stuff. Hopefully you found some useful tips to get your kids' play area in tip top shape. It's ok to get messy but cleaning up should be quick and easy! By assigning items a home, even this kids will have fun putting things back!