Toy Box Organisation

When organisation and de-cluttering king Peter Walsh talks, I most definately listen!

I recently saw a mini video presented by Peter on the Oprah website outlining three steps to tackling the toy box. You can watch the video here, but I have basically summarised it for you below:

1. Establish limits on the number of toys your children can have - You may decide to limit this to two baskets or one big tub. This is definately one rule I will be enforcing a little more since we currently have numerous baskets and tubs both in their rooms and their loungeroom.

2. Teach children where their toys belong - This means helping your children understand that when they're finished playing with their toys, that those toys have their own special 'home' that they must be put away in.

3. Before they add a new toy, they have to take out a toy - The 'one in, one out' rule is a great idea to ensure you don't end up with the problem of your toys breeding! It's also a nice way to teach your children about giving away to those less fortunate and teaching them responsibilty for their own belongings.

Here's some extra tips regarding toy box management (courtesy of The Creative Mama):

• Prior to birthdays and Christmas (or even on a regular basis) sift through your child's toys and remove any toys that are broken, have been outgrown or just aren't played with any more. 
• Get rid of the traditional bulky toy box. My children rarely play with the toys tucked away in the big tub, probably because it's a little overwhelming for them and they can barely reach all the toys in them. A smaller storage system for toys is probably a better idea and allows kids to find toys more easily and 'try' keep the mess to one basket at a time. 

Monkeysee also has some great mini videos on organising your children's toys.

So, in the coming weeks I will be making some major changes to my kid's playroom including (hopefully) a bigger toy storage area. Here's some ideas that I love.