How to organize your kid’s room
How to deal with the mess of having children without:
- Becoming a shouty parent, and
- Revamping your guest room into a playroom and spending more money than is good for you?
Kids seem to generate chaos.
All through their first year you fight against buying plastic toys, you limit birthday gifts and keep on telling people books and clothing instead of Duplo and dollies and it seems to be working…But somewhere between then and now, you have about 500 toy cars, dolls, doll’s clothing, pretend kitchens and toolboxes, trainsets, jars and jars of slime and paint, boxes of glitter and pipe cleaners and the ever present danger of Lego on the floor…
You don’t know how you got here, but you do know you need help.
So, you decide to spring clean your children’s toys and suddenly the kid who can’t remember to flush the toilet is the one who will remember every single toy you just donated and lament the loss with wails and tantrums. Sound familiar?
So what are your other options?
Instead of sneaking toys out of the house and then deceitfully telling your kids you have no idea what happened to their 500 different McDonalds happy meal toys,(Not a great way to build a healthy parent/child relationship), we want to help you get organized in a kid friendly way.
The golden rules for sensible child friendly storage are:
Secure (when needed).
There is nothing worse than cleaning up a whole container full of blocks, stepping out of the room and then hearing the dreaded toy tip-over noises as your kids chucks it all out on the floor again in one simple swoop. That’s why your storage needs to be secure when you want it to be. When the play of the day is over, you want the toys and distractions tucked safely away. This will vary depending on your home setup, but usually a wheelie bin with a secure lid that can be pushed under furniture or up against a wall will protect the clean space from the whims of the toddler-tornado.
Safety is the name of the game.
Top Tip: We suggest you avoid toy chests and cupboards with heavy doors and lids that could slam down and pinch tiny fingers. Similarly avoid airtight storage that can be accidentally locked by little fingers, so that your child can’t get trapped inside a toy bin. Most plastic bins do have “breathing holes” for this purpose and we suggest you check to make sure that your child can’t get stuck or trapped in it. Secure any cubbies or bookshelves to the wall to make sure that they don’t fall on top of a climbing kid and cause serious injury.
Easy DIY cleanup
Another important part of child friendly storage is to make sure that it is indeed child friendly. If you want to raise responsible children, learning to clean up after themselves is a valuable life lesson. For kids who can’t read yet, use transparent bins and sort toys by type. This means that you can ask them to put away one specific type of toy and they will be able to see where it goes.
Conducive to self-play
Imaginative self-play is crucial for building healthy brain functions. By keeping your toy storage containers on the ground, and allowing children to help themselves to whatever they want to play with, you are empowering them to make their own decisions and plan their own play. This self determination will lead to children being confident and secure adults who have a deep sense of self. Keep like toys with like, and even enhance your storage by incorporating it into play. Use stickers and markers to map out a roads and landscapes on the lids of the containers to use with toy cars and animals.
