Organize Your Life Day 12: Toys

I am sure there are many parents out there who love stepping on Legos in the night or getting out a game only to realize that several pieces are missing. Some people probably enjoy having toys take over their lives. However, if you’re not one of those parents, today’s post is for you.

Welcome to Organize Your Life Day 12: Toys.

This is part of a mini-series on overcoming parenting (and life!) overwhelm and stress by organizing your life. Click here to see the introduction and links to other days.

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Toys tend to accumulate. With holidays, hand-me-downs, birthday parties, and sales, our toy collections are continuously growing. Deciding how to limit and manage those toys can increase our sanity and teach our children important lessons.

As we implement the three steps to simplify, organize, and systematize (SOS) our toys today, I encourage you to involve your children in meaningful ways. When they help choose toys to pass on to others, they can feel compassion and realize that people are more important than things. As our kids lead in organizing and systematizing the care of their toys, they will feel ownership in the process and are more likely to stay on board. Their responsibility can grow through small experiences tending to their toys.

Open your Workbook or journal to Organize Your Life Day 12: Toys. As you read the post, record any notes or tips you want to remember.

1. Simplify

By far, the easiest way to manage toys is to have less of them.

(Just had to put that obvious truth in writing. We need to hear it!)

Limiting our toys may be easier said than done. However, if we choose to (or have to because you move to an island in suitcases), we really can cut back on toys. As we do that, we allow our children’s bodies and minds to develop in new and creative ways. We also help them learn that material possessions are not what is most important.

Here are a few tips for simplifying the toys you already have.

Find a good cause and ask the kids to each pick a few toys to donate.
Pass on anything that hasn’t been used in the last several months.
Rotate toys. This is especially helpful for babies and toddlers. Having a few toys accessible at a time saves on clean-up.
Pull out all the random craft odds and ends and let kids get creative (i.e. use them up 😉 ).
Think about variety and limit quantity. Save a few cars rather than a huge box. One set of blocks works. Give away duplicates.
Experiment with a “Toy Fast.” Don’t use toys for one week (or two days or whatever you want to try). See how creative you and the kids can get or how much time you spend outside. I am a proponent of toys, but realizing how much you actually can do without them is a healthy exercise.

Here are a few tips for limiting future accumulation of toys.

Give experiences for gifts rather than stuff. Examples include tickets to a show, dinner with Dad and Mom, or a night of staying up late and the child chooses the activity.
Don’t shop garage or other sales without specific needs or desires in mind. It’s not a good deal if you don’t actually need it.
Feel free to express gratitude but say, “No thanks” if people offer their hand-me-downs.
If children want a new toy, encourage them to save their own money to buy it. This slows the process and teaches valuable lessons about reality and gratitude.
Before birthdays, Christmas, or other gift-giving holidays, “make room” for incoming presents.
Make the library your best friend and cut-back on the amount of books you buy.

2. Organize

One simple guideline will forever change your toy organization.

If kids can’t clean it up on their own, they shouldn’t be able to get it out on their own either.

Buckets with lids, closets with doors, and shelves with height are examples of ways to store toys that allow increased access with age.

Accordingly, if you want your children to be able to clean-up after themselves, organize toys in such a way that they are able to do so. Toddlers need a basket or bucket where all the toys go in together. Older kids can handle labels and sorted toys. Toddlers require extra space on bookshelves so they don’t have to squeeze books in. Older kids can be expected to squeeze away.

As you choose how to store your toys, remember our three general user-friendly questions. Who is using it? Where are they using it? How often are they using it?

Here are a few additional tips about organizing and storing toys.

Cut the top off your puzzle boxes. Store that picture and the puzzle pieces in zip-tight bags. The boxes tend to get squished and let pieces fall out. All the puzzle bags can store in one box, which also saves space.
A mesh bag hanging in the bathtub is my favorite way to store bath toys. It cuts down on bathroom clutter and allows them to drip-dry, decreasing mold and mildew build-up.
Games are the most likely to be ruined and have pieces go missing. I always recommend storing them high. This prevents that scenario where all the games are dumped and pieces are scattered throughout the house. Rethink the storage when kids show that they will clean-up after themselves, not just that they can.
Hanging nets are a fun way to store stuffed animals without taking over the bedroom.
Place one small Tupperware in a convenient location as your toy Lost and Found. Put any miscellaneous puzzle pieces, game markers, or random screws in this Lost and Found. Vacuuming and cleaning under the couch cushions are gold mines for finding runaway items. Even if you don’t have time to pull down the right game (or can’t place that particular puzzle piece), it will be easy to find the items the next time they are needed.
Store board books on low shelves (you will love finding your smallest Littles looking at books on their own!) and paper books on higher shelves.
Keep your most used craft supplies (crayons, paper, etc.) most accessible, (think prime real estate) but not accessible at all for those prone to coloring on walls or bed sheets. 😉

3. Systematize

Now that the toys have been simplified and organized in their places, we need to decide how we’re going to keep them organized. My guess is that you already know where I’m going with this one…whoever uses it puts it away. 😉 This comes back to those life lessons we want to teach our kids. I know I don’t have a magical fairy that follows me around tidying up as I go. That’d be pretty awesome though! Let’s not let real life shock our children. Instead, we can prepare them for it.

Decide if you want your kids to put toys away after they’re finished or if it will be part of the bedtime routine. We generally clean one mess before getting out the next. However, the kids are great picker-upers now, so if they are consumed in fun play (and getting along), I won’t interrupt it. We’ll clean-up before dinner or bed.

We also have one play space (basement) that I am not as concerned about keeping clean. If it’s messy over night, it’s not a problem. Something interesting happened a few weeks ago though. The kids took initiative and reorganized the whole basement on their own as a surprise. They have kept it remarkably clean since then. There’s another plug for ownership making a difference!

We talked about teaching routines on Day 6, but as it is so applicable to toys we will review it here.

Implementing routines happens in three steps.

1.) Teach the expectations clearly.

Take the time to teach your children what you expect. Where should toys go? Do they need to be cleaned up right away or is okay to wait until the end of the day?
Start this with your smallest Littles. Work alongside your kids, showing what you expect and the pleasant attitude that can accompany clean-up time. Practice together until you know that they know what is supposed to happen, and they can do it on their own.

2.) Hold everyone accountable.

Whether clean-up happens all day, as part of the nightly routine, or for a weekly helper job, hold whoever is responsible for it accountable. At our house this means ___________ doesn’t happen until clean-up is done. Maybe you don’t get to eat dinner, read books, go to a friend’s house, or whatever is happening next.
Another accountability option if things get crazy is to implement a Toy Time-out system. For example, there was a stage growing up when any toys left out after bedtime would go into a gunny sack on top of the fridge for a week. I’d say this was pretty effective.

3.) Follow up.

Be steady in your accountability measures.
This also means you refrain from becoming that magical fairy that does pick-up time for your kids. I know it can be tempting, especially as you can do it so much faster, you amazing you. 😉 We work together a lot, but I’d say I hardly ever just clean-up for my kids completely.
Be CONSISTENT. I promise that makes life easier in the long run.
Be grateful for your children’s best efforts, even if it’s not exactly how you would do things.

If you want more about teaching kids to become happy helpers, read The Five E’s of Teaching Kids to Work.

Tackle Your Toys

Write in your Workbook or journal what system you will use to keep the toys organized in your home. Committing it to writing ensures that you are decisive rather than vague. Outline what you need to do to implement that system with your children.

Set your timer for the remainder of your hour. If kids are home and available, involve them. If not, have them help next time and you get as much done in this hour as possible. Simplify, organize, systematize. Ready, set, go!

After your hour is up, record any thoughts, take-aways, or future action items from today. If you have questions or good news, please share in the comments.

Tomorrow we’ll tackle our last space for this week…Organize Your Life Day 13: Bedrooms. Can you believe we’re almost done?!