Toy storage.

If your house is anything like mine, you will now be knee deep in toys and games so I thought that now would be a good time to do a post on toy storage.

 

I find that the best thing to do is to split the toys into different sections, for example; dolls, puzzles, games, happy land and so on. I then put each group into a box and then write the name and draw a picture (or you could stick a picture on if your are not into drawing) of the contents onto a label for the outside of the box. The great thing about this is that you could simply use empty cardboard boxes which are free and then maybe cover them in wrapping paper, or you could buy some and there are so many different sizes and types available at varying costs to cater for most people's budgets. Car boot sales are also good places to look if you are feeling the pinch after Christmas.

 

Once this is done I then have a simple rule that my children have always followed. They can only play with one box at a time and once they have finished playing they must put everything back into the correct box. This makes keeping their toys tidy and organised a breeze.

 

If you find that you have too many toys and not enough space another idea, that I have used myself when I was living in a small flat, is to split the toys into three or four groups and then box them up and put only the toys from box one in their bedroom or playroom. The other three boxes go away and then after a month you pack away box one and swap it with box two and so on. That way all the toys and games get used and your child feels like it is Christmas every month as quite often they will have completely forgotten about the toys in the boxes that have been hid away. This is also a good method if you find that you child doesn't seem to play with their toys very much as it may be that there are too many choices available to your child and they simply find it too overwhelming to decide what to play.