Do you have a room filled with so many toys that your children have a hard time actually playing there? Or maybe they want some new toys for a special Holiday or Birthday, but you are unsure as to how you’ll fit it all. I’m here to help you declutter and organize your children’s toys today!
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Overstimulation is a real thing.
Before we jump into the 5 ways to declutter and organize your children’s toys, I want to hit on the quick topic of “overstimulation”.
When your child has 24/7 access to ALL THE TOYS, they become bored and tired with them quickly, regardless of how many there are.
In our minds, we often think, “Well since they have so many toys, that should give them countless hours of play.”
But in reality, children become overstimulated and won’t even play with nearly half of their toys.
Have your children ever said, “Mom I’m bored, there’s nothing to do!”…
When they have toys, upon toys, upon toys?
Yup, it’s most likely because of overstimulation. There are too many toys, that they just lose interest in 98% of their toys, and decide to always play with only a mere, 2% of them.
Fewer toys promote creativity
In a recent study, scientists studied young children with individual free play sessions under two conditions:
- Play session with only four toys
- Play session with sixteen toys
With the fewer set of toys (only four toys), scientists noticed that the children played with the toys for greater lengths and in many more ways, than the children did with access to sixteen toys.
Think about back in the day…
Children had to get creative with sticks, rocks, scraps of fabric, etc. and they would use those simple items and create many different games, imaginary objects and countless hours of entertainment with just a few simple objects.
So what do we do as parents in the 21st century?
The answer is simple; we declutter and organize what we have, so we don’t overspend on buying new toys all the time!
5 Simple Ways To Declutter and Organize Your Children’s Toys
Here are 5 easy ways to declutter and organize your children’s toys.
1. Toss or Give Toys Away
Sometimes our kiddos toys just need a good old fashioned, purging!
Now, this doesn’t mean you only need to get rid of the broken toys, but you can also give away toys in good or great condition to others.
This is also a great way to teach our children about giving to others!
Here are two tips on purging toys:
- I like to begin with having the children throw out anything broken, missing an arm/or leg, ripped, torn, etc. Say bye-bye!
- Next, we go through the toys they don’t really play with, or have “outgrown”. These are the toys we will give away to someone.
2. The “Toy Swap” Method
If you aren’t ready to commit to completely getting rid of a bunch of toys, here’s a neat little trick to help your kids feel like they have new toys, without buying more new toys. Let me introduce you to the ” Toy Swap” method.
Sometimes fewer toys, really are better!
Here’s how we do the “Toy Swap” method:
You choose a handful of toys per child to keep out for your children to play with over a certain amount of time; usually a few days, or up to a week. And put the rest away! As in, in a closet, in the garage, somewhere they can’t get to them.
Encourage your children to get really creative with the toys they have out and use them in many ways, and watch and see how engaged in their toys they will become when they have far fewer toys out at a time.
The possibilities are really endless when it comes to using toys creatively! You will be surprised with how you probably won’t have to prompt them much with the different ways they can use “X”, but if you do, just help them some ideas and watch their creativity take over!
And again, with your child’s other toys, they get put away in a room or packed away in bins where the child cannot get to them.
This is when you can get really organized with bins and labels.
Hey hey, label maker obsession! >> Get my favorite one HERE!
After your set of days is up, simply swap out the toys you had out for your children, for another “set” or group of toys. You can even give them the option to choose which group of toys they want next.
You will find that this makes the toys that you bring out new and exciting, and they will play with them in more ways than they would if they were overstimulated with a room filled with toys.
Another PLUS is that you will save money on toys also because by doing the toy swap method, this keeps your children entertained with the toys they have, which means less money spent on new toys to keep them excited.
3. Save The Toys
When birthdays or holidays come, and your child gets a toy they don’t really like or didn’t want…
Simply save them!
Don’t return them, because honestly, does your child REALLY need ONE MORE TOY, or could they survive without it?
Instead, keep them in their packaging, and store the unused and unopen toys in a bin or closet for all the many birthday parties your kiddos are invited too!
High five for a free gift!
4. Organize The Toys
Organizing toys doesn’t have to be expensive. You can organize toys on a budget by using bins from the Dollar Tree, so don’t think this has to cost armloads of money.
However, when you organize your children’s toys, this will really depend on two major factors, and I will give you examples for each.
Your space – If you are limited on space, bins with lids will be your best friend for organizing smaller toys.
I also love using cubby organizers! They work well in small and large spaces and bins fit so nicely in them, giving you that clean, organized look we’re going for.
If you only have a closet to organize the toys, the best way to organize toys in a closet is once again, BINS! Are you catching a pattern here? Bins will be and NEED to be your number one choice for a simple and clean toy organization method.
Also, if you are trying to organize your children’s toys on a budget, make a trip to your local Dollar Tree, or order from them online! They have SO many storage options!
Your storage solutions – Bins with lids are my best friend and my go-to for toy storage ideas. I love them because you can stack them, but you can also use crates for a more rustic feel, fabric bins to match your room decor, etc. The best way to stay organized is to have some sort of bin to put things in! And LABEL, LABEL, LABEL!
Your preference – Do you want to organize toys by “like items”, such as all cars in a bin, or do you want to organize bins by the child, or by color? The choice is really up to you, but just have some sort of method to your madness.
5. Teach Your Children Where Things Go
Finally, to help keep your toys nice and organized, you need to teach your children where things go.
If you have children who can’t read, you can always put pictures on bins to show what sort of items go in that bin.
If they know where to put their toys, this will help you keep your sanity and help keep all the toys neat and organized when they’re done playing with them.
