I have seen it. The toy take-over, the kids toys have taken over your living space. You think the toys are contained to one area of the house, but they slowly creep into every single room. And then it seems like a gigantic pain to get them sorted and put away again, so they stay. And you are mad. But what can you do? As a professional organizer and writer over at The Organized Mama, I have seen the toy take-over many times. But with a few helpful tips, you can organize kids toys and still have a beautiful home.
Clever Ways To Organize Kids Toys
Start By Sorting
This is the first step to any organizing kids toys. It is also one of the most time-consuming parts. Going through every single toy.
I have a method I use with my organizing clients that helps get things started. I have always found that to be the hardest part!
The biggest piece with sorting every single toy is to group them together by category. This will help when it comes time to store. Then, give every category a “home” or place where you keep them. By keeping the categories together, your children will be able to find what they are looking for and can clean up easily.
Buy Multi-Functional Pieces
An easy way to hide kids toys in living spaces, is to buy multi-functional pieces. Ottomans that have storage, or bookshelves with doors are perfect multi-functional pieces. They can contain the toys when you are entertaining, but are very accessible to the kids.
Create Storage That Fits Your Decor
When thinking about storage, I have seen a lot of people just buy cheap bins with lids. They stick them in a corner of the living room, but get annoyed by them.
My recommendation is to replace those ugly bins with baskets that match your decor. The baskets will fit with your style but still contain toys for the kids!
Store Under Things
Another sneaky place to organize kids toys is under your couch. I am not kidding! There are low baskets that can fit under taller couches. The toys are accessible for the kids, but can easily be cleaned up!
Teach Kids How To Use
After you have created a beautifully organized and decorated living room, there is one major thing you must do! You have to teach your kids how to use the space.
What I mean by that is if you put all the cars and trucks in a basket under the couch, you have to teach you kids how to pull out that basket, and how to clean it up.
By teaching them how to organize the kids toys, they will be able to put things away without much nagging because they know where everything goes.
Keep Toys Near You
Finally, make sure you have a place for toys in every room. Not many, but a few. That way, if you are working in one room of the house, your children won’t be dragging toys around to be near you. They will already have toys in that room, and a place for them to go once they are done playing!
For more organizing tips, head over to The Organized Mama and don’t forget you can pin these ideas for later.
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Rojielyn says
As a parent of a 7 month old baby i can already experience the unorganized toys of my daughter. And so i am glad that i dropped in to your blog. It helps me know how important to be more organized
Jessica :: The Organized Mama says
So glad! If you start getting the toys organized now, when you little one is bigger, you will already have a system!! Good luck!!
Debra says
I love love love all the baskets that you have all over. Where did you get all of those? My favorite is the under the couch ones!! Good job!
Jessica :: The Organized Mama says
Hi Debra,
I got the dark brown baskets from Target! The lighter baskets are from Home Goods, but The Container Store has similar ones too!
The under-the-couch baskets are Threshold trays! They fit perfect under the couch!
Alyssa Ruane says
Can I just say your home is BEAUTIFUL!?! I’m a home/garden writer by trade and get to interview all kinds of homeowners with gorgeous houses (in the Charlotte area), and I would love to get to peruse your pretty place! xo
Jessica :: The Organized Mama says
Thank you! We just remodeled the first floor, so everything looks so fresh! Shoot me an email and we can chat: jessica@theorganizedmama (dot) com!
Brandi with Big Fit Fam says
We have a strict rule of no toys in the living room, which helps a bit, but we also have so many toys that nothing really ever looks as nice as your place does!
Theresa says
These are great tips! My children’s toys have slowly but surely taken over my home.
CourtneyLynne says
Hahaha love it!!! You hide toys like me. You wouldn’t know a kid lived in my house sometimes by how well I hid things in pretty things lol
Blythe Alpern says
Storage solutions are an absolute must with kids. It makes it so much easier to clean up at the end of the day or when company is coming over.
Nikki says
My son is moving out of the toy stage, but into the “collectible” stage. To me, that means more expensive toys, lol. His room is getting out of control, I need to organize it soon. I love the baskets you used because they’re not “kiddie-like” at all, so they’d also work in a tween’s room!
Bill S says
These are great ideas!!! It really is amazing how fast that kids toys can accumulate clutter.
Angela Ricardo says
Organizing toys at home is really tricky. Im so glad I came across your poat about this. This is absolutely a great tips!
Angela Ricardo says
Organizing baby/kids toys at home is really tricky. I am so glad I came across your post about this. This tips are absolutely helpful!
Ana De- Jesus says
It is so important to be organized but sometimes a legion of toys does not help. I think that buying multi-functional pieces is a great idea !
Kiwi says
Great tips I need this for myself. I think storage that can fit under the sofa is smart too!
stagingbycc@gmail.com says
I loved this tip from Jessica! I have slipcovered sofas so no one would be the wiser
Rachael @ This is our Bliss says
Awesome tips, Jessica!! With 2 little dudes running around and running my life, I can TOTALLY relate! Baskets are a life-saver! Love it 😉
Krystal // The Krystal Diaries says
I love trying to stay organized. This is a great way! I’ll have to keep it in mind if I ever have kids.
Jennifer (JenuineMom) says
YES! This is what I did when my son was young enough to have a lot of toys in our living room. Now that he’s older, we’ve repurposed the baskets for other odds and ends. Still works and looks great!
Stephanie Lee says
These are very clever ideas! Boxes are a big space saver for us, and every possible corner can be made useful!
Heather says
Excellent tips! What do I do with the giant ride on toys that end up all over my house? We have an eight year old and almost two year old – I went from almost done to all those toys to starting over!
amber says
I love the look of this living room… warm and welcoming but still so nice! I love the way you’ve organized the kiddos toys… great idea!
Jean says
What great tips, thanks for sharing! I don’t have children myself, but this post will definitely be useful when I do. I really like how you’ve kept your house stylish yet practical and really considered the children.
Toughcookiemommy says
These really are some clever ways to organize the kids’ toys. It keeps the house looking nice and still makes the toys accessible.
leslie rossi says
some good tips, I don’t have kids myself but appreciate the clever ways of masking the toy mess.