organizing toys

amynicole21 wrote: How do you all store toys with lots of pieces... like the little people village and stuff that doesn't really have it's own box? Also, every toy I have that uses blocks gets completely separated and it's so hard to keep it all together? Should I just give up?

kimberley replied: we just bought rectangular tupperware type boxes for things like lego and use baggies for game pieces. as for keeping parts together like blocks, we just let them play with one thing at a time if it was a pain to tidy up. that way they had to put it together and away before they got a new toy. good luck!

Maddie&EthansMom replied: OMG! It is soooo hard to deal with those little pieces. I hate it. Maddie has a bin that she keeps lots of her toys in. She has rubbermaid boxes (small) that she keeps her barbie shoes, clothes, etc in. And her polly pockets. Her room and playroom are a mad house. She will clean up, but the trouble in that is she never puts things where they belong. I am constantly picking up and organizing. The story of my life. LOL!

paradisemommy replied: i say give up!! i just have these huge tubs that i throw everything in unless the pieces are really small in which case i'll put them in a little baggie but for nothing because he likes to bite them open and fling them everywhere..hence my suggestion..give up!

coasterqueen replied: We have several things to keep her toys organized, but this is the best we have so far: http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=b...asin=B0000CEI4L

We bought one of these around the time Kylie was 9 months old when we bought her her mega blocks. I didn't want to keep them in that plastic bag they came in because I would have to keep opening it up for her to get into it. This way she can get them out of the tubs herself.

I keep all her little people stuff in one or two of them, mega blocks in a few of them, etc, etc. I organize them but she likes to mix things up a bit,

HTH!

Kaitlin'smom replied:
I have thought about getting that has kylie ever puuled the bin total out and hurt herself? that was my biggest concern with things like that.

coasterqueen replied:
We have the back of the thing bungi-corded to the window trim. It sets right in front of one of our living room windows so DH put a hook in the window trim and then bungi-corded the thing to it. That way we can replace that piece of trim easy

She has trouble getting the bins off the thing, but most toys she can get out of the bins without taking the whole bin out. But if I am going to play with her and we are going to build something with mega blocks I'll pull the whole bin out for easy use. Lately if she is playing in things she's not supposed to I will redirect her attention over to the bins and pull one out and she can dig around in there and play with her toys

I think it's a great addition to our house So much better than a toybox for sure. A bit expensive, but even Dh thought it was worth it and that's saying alot,

jem0622 replied: Of course the first thing that hit me was 'organizing toys'. Isn't that an oxymoron? LOL. Just kidding. Although many days I feel like that.

I bought some groovy containers at IKEA (orange, blue, yellow, white) that have lids on them. The lids come off, so forget that...but great if you want to stack them up. There is a nice wooden holder thing that you could get and really minimize what comes out.

I keep big bulky cars/trucks on bookshelves. Along with books, stuffed animals, and games.

I also have these drawer storage things (primary colors) that I picked up from Wal-Mart (there are three drawers and it's on wheels). I use these for puzzles, Nathan's Transformers, little tykes people, and tracks for cars/trains.

It is hard keeping everything in its place, but what I have on hand does help. Oh, I keep paints, paper, brushes, sponges, and the like in a roll away tote that has some sturdy locking handles. That helps too.

Do I have enough?

Kaitlin'smom replied:
thanks I think I might go ahead and get one. Until I know she is okay witht he bins I will just out thing in the top ones that are easy to get out and wont really hurt her like her stuffed animals.

coasterqueen replied:
I should have mentioned that we do put softer things in the top. One of the bins has small books in it. Another has some of her baby dolls, and another has something else that really won't hurt her, but can't remember, lol. We did have some things that she could hurt if she got them down, but moved them down below or not in there at all. When she gets a bit taller I won't worry so much about putting that kind of stuff up there.

MommyToAshley replied: In our family room, I bought some shelves for organizing her toys. The bigger shelves hold crates for all of her small toys, and then the "cubby holes" are for her larger toys. It might not be the prettiest thing, but it is great because she can pick up her toys herself. And, she does pretty good picking up her toys with a little coaching.

Our original plan was to make downstairs her toy room, but she has taken over the living room too! So, we stuck a changing table (that we were given at our shower but didn't end up using) in the living room. The top shelf has her stuffed animals on it, so if she pulls anything off the top, it won't hurt her. Then the bottom two shelves have crates for her toys. She has a bunch of the little people stuff too. I had a smaller crate that was the perfect size for all of her little people, but when it is time to pick up her toys, she prefers to pile all of them in her Little People school bus and the Noah's ark. I just let her do that, at least she is picking them up and putting them together.

In her room, she has bookshelves for her books and then some baskets for her toys.

And, in our room, we still have her bassinette near our bed piled full of toys. She likes to wake up and crawl in bed and play for a little while every morning.

Here's a picture of the shelves for our family room. In this picture, she has taken most of the stuff off the shelves, but you get the idea. But, like I said, these shelves are great because she can pick up her own toys

Guest_julesmom replied: The organizing thing booga's mom mentioned is one sale this week at target for $40!