Toy Organization System

I realize that this is a First World problem, but nevertheless, it affects all of us here:  Too. Many. Toys!  My oldest child is only four, and although we rarely purchase toys ourselves, as a result of several Christmases, birthday parties and hand-me-downs, we have already accumulated quite a collection.

About a year ago, I began to notice that the more toys we had out, the less the children would play with them.  They would simply get too overwhelmed with the piles of toys to focus on one activity for a length of time.  I also struggled to keep our "farm set", blocks, dress-up ensembles and other pieced collections together.  We would end up with parts here and there, making it too much work to put together and enjoy.

I decided to take on the battle of the toys.  I simplified and gave many toys away.  Anything that was broken or had missing pieces was tossed.  I also started trying to stay away from any branded characters, or battery-powered toys with only one function that the kids did not play with anymore.  Baby toys that I wanted to keep for future siblings were stored away.  Despite all of this work, many of our gifted toys are very fun and beautiful, this made it very difficult to weed through them!

About six-months ago I came up with a toy organization system that has been working very well for our entire family!  One night after the kids had gone to bed, I gathered all of our toys and put them in the middle of our living room.  I did not include a small basket of bath toys, or our bikes and outdoor playthings.  I had five large empty tupperware bins (yes, five!) that I carefully filled our toys into. One-by-one, I organized and stored our toys into the bins until all of the toys were put away.  Our lego set went into one of the boxes, all of our train accessories into another.  I made sure that our mass kit was stored with the priest costume, and our tool set was stored with the construction hats, and combined any other toys that the kids typically enjoyed playing with together.  I labeled each box 1 through 5, and stored them in our large entryway closet.

Each day we take out one toy box.  I don't worry about picking up the toys too much throughout the day, because with just about 5 or 6 toys out, it never gets too overwhelming.  My boys are expected to put the toys back in the tupperware in the evening before bath time, thus greatly simplifying "clean-up time".  Then I store the toy box, and pull out a different one the following day (once in awhile we keep the box out for two or three days, when we are really enjoying it).

It is incredible to see the kids actually play with their beautiful toys again.   It has also been very helpful in keeping our sets and collections together, so that pieces do not get lost and we can enjoy the entire toy together.  We never get tired or bored, because we are constantly pulling out toys that we have not played with for at least four days.  It is a wonderful system for parents too, because we are no longer constantly cleaning up.  I love that at the end of the day, all of the toys are put away and out-of-sight; something all too wonderful for some grown-up time.

If you need help simplifying the toys you own, I couldn't recommend more highly the book Simplicity Parenting.  Happy Toy-Organizing!