Toy Organization - San Clemente,CA

Bins, baskets and shelves! We have a toy organizer thing in my DD's room with labels on them saying what goes in. There are 12 and here's how I broke them down: Dollhouse stuff (takes up the bottom two bins), balls, toy cars, baby doll stuff, small toy animals (takes up 2 small ones), doctor toys, tea party stuff, and toy food. Then, we have baskets for the littlest petshop stuff and they live on a shelf along with her LPS houses. Dressup stuff has a box that also lives on a shelf. She has another bookshelf that houses a toy castle, barbie car and barbies, and some smaller popular toys and books.
What doesn't get picked up before bed goes in a basket that will sit outside her door until the a.m. (she calls it "mail", lol).
And, I'm always getting rid of things too.

my daycare kids know that they have to pick up & put away each activity before starting another. That does not mean that they can't "mix & match"....for example, the kitchen supplies are always used with the dolls.....occasionally, the blocks are used with the cars....sometimes the doll blankets are used as capes while playing with the ride-on cars. That's all a.o.k.....as long as each round of play is put away before moving on to the next!

I have the 3-drawer storage carts. Each drawer has a use & purpose. The books are kept in a bin. The dolls/clothes are stored in the doll bed. & by 18 months, all of the kids know where it all goes....

Oh, & for those misc little items, I used door-hung shoe organizers. They're perfect for organizing all those little, weird pieces that float around kids! With my daycare, I use one for all of my craft supplies!

Control the chaos.
Purge, anything that is broken, incomplete, or ignored can get put away for 1 month. If they don't ask for it in that time frame, give it to charity, sell, or throw away as appropriate.
Kids don't need to have access to every toy at all times. the toys can go into the pantry, a closet, somewhere inaccessible b/f bedtime, and a set number (5 or 7) can come out after breakfast.
ziplock bags with zippers help keep smaller parts contained.
toys can't travel around the house, they must stay in the bedroom, playroom, livingroom, kitchen, whatever you think is appropriate.
When you go out, no more than two toys can come with you, one for each hand.
If your kids aren't good at making these types of decisions, then maybe you can decide for them, and have a different bin for each day of the week.
find out if your kids have a clean up song at daycare/ preschool, school (use the song at home).
have consequences for toys not being put away- the toy can go into a time out, be put in the charity bin, put in the trash, whatever you feel comfortable with.
if your little one is seriously non compliant with clean up, maybe snapshots on the fridge of toys which s/he lost priveleges to because she failed to clean up will serve as a reminder.

Good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

.

I have one bin for all of my son's action figures and another bin for any accessories. We call this bin the "junkyard" and has graduated to keeping parts, wheels that have fallen off, wayward pieces to a puzzle and stray gameboard pieces. Its makes for easy clean up as I can just toss any small parts I find into the junkyard. I have given up trying to keep accessories separated! If my son is playing w/a certain figure or we are playing a game and find a part missing, we just look in the junkyard.

We have a bin storage system and each bin is assigned only 1 category (cars, transformers, balls, electronic toys, Legos, army guys, etc), which again, makes for easy clean up. Even when every single bin is emptied, we just throw all the bins in the middle of the room and toss the right toys in them.

I also have a strict rule...if we run out of bins b/c of too many toys, then its time to get rid of some toys, not buy more bins. Whenever my kid gets a new toy, even around his bday or Christmas, he knows he has to start making room for the new toys.

One of his chores is to clean up his playroom and his room before bed, and he's never had trouble putting things away, nor do I cringe when we host playdates and every toy has been pulled out.

gl and hth!

I believe I have--through the magic of IKEA, Freecycle, and a daycare center in need.

IKEA: Trofast system: I have 3 of these - 2 lined up against a wall in my family room - combination of large & small drawers & open space on top for oversized items. 1 is in my oldest kids' room for them to keep pieces of small toys that I don't want in the family room, where the baby plays.
When we first started using them, I took pics of the contents of each drawer & taped it to the outside of each bin. It made it SUPER easy for my kids to know which toys go in which bin. SO EASY and they now know where each kind of toy goes.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S49861390/

www.Freecycle.org - When there is an item that isn't working out for us (like Gator Golf--the golf clubs became weapons, or many of the battery-required toys that I can't stand) I post them for free on Freecycle. They are usually gone within a few hours. Before I post them, I ask my sister, who operates 2 daycare centers, if they are items that she could use. She gets first crack at 'em.

I also don't keep ANY of the crappy toys they give out with Happy Meals, or any other cheapo gimmick toy. They get used for a few days, and then they find their way out of our house. My kids have never ever asked for any of them back.

bins! lots and lots of bins. for kids big enough to help clean up use picture or word labels. In DD's room we have a barbie bin a bin for baby dolls a bin for littlest pet shop stuff...you get the idea. I even have a very nice storage bench in my living room with 3 very nice wicker bins, and they all hide toys for the 1 year old. Clean up can be a 30 second chore, where we just toss stuff till the bins are full, or I can take 2-3 minutes and actually keep it sorted. whatever works at the time.