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Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Housekeeping

Toys in your living room/downstairs? 4 & 8 yo

20 replies

Urbanvoltaire · 02/01/2011 05:08

Just a quick q as to how many toys do you have in your living area? I've a messy 4yo DS who has various boxes of cars, trains, jigsaws, board games & books all getting overloaded with stuff. Some of these were my DDs from when she was younger....

Just guaging how much of my previous space should I have for kids toys ? My house is quite small, no playroom but storage space ok-ish, kids bedrooms small though so if they're ever messy it's like tip-toeing over the surplus.

Thanks!

OP posts:

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Urbanvoltaire · 02/01/2011 05:09

Precious space!

Ps DH is minimalist so hates toy clutter, I'm more liberal, happy to let them play.

OP posts:

Guacamole · 02/01/2011 09:10

My DS is almost 9 months and has toys in the corner of the living room (one toy bucket with toys in and his garage is beside our television and he has books on the coffee table) however I'd like to think that by that age his toys will be in his bedroom, brought down to play with a returned tidily before bed.

JarethTheGoblinKing · 02/01/2011 09:15

awww Guacamole, that's sweet :)

readinginsteadnow · 02/01/2011 09:18

Similar ages here, and all we have downstairs are half a dozen boardgames. Plus they might brinh something down with them, but it does all go back up in the evening. And there is a small pile of pads/pens in the kitchen.

truffleshuffle · 02/01/2011 09:21

At the moment there are toys from Xmas all over the lounge...but today is the big tidy up so the majority of them will be going upstairs.
We're in the middle of decorating at the moment so not very organised but I plan to have one wooden chest in the lounge for toys- then I can just put them all in at bed time. The rest of the toys will have to be in their bedrooms.

4andnotout · 02/01/2011 09:23

Since we moved house at the beginning of the month all toys are kept upstairs, if they play with them downstairs they get taken back up with them at bedtime. The toys from Christmas were upstairs by Christmas night.

TheVeryLazyLadybird · 02/01/2011 09:33

DS is 3.5, he has the space behind the sofa (about 3-4ft deep and length of a 4seater sofa) where most of his toys are. We have the Ikea trofast storage, a big wicker basket underneath an Ikea lack table and a box back there that houses most of his crap stuff.
Then he's got another trofast in his bedroom and all his playmobil there too!

Having it behind the sofa means we can sit down on a night and not have to stare at a mountain of toys!

TeaOneSugar · 02/01/2011 13:57

DD is 7 and her toys are mainly in her room, the wii and it's games, controllers etc are in the lounge, we have a wicker basket for the controllers etc and a stand for the games, these all have to be put away at bedtime. Same applied to DH and his XBOX stuff.

We also have a toy box in the lounge, which only has go go hamster things in, again they are are put away at bedtime.

This is a constant battle, but as DD has a reasonable sized bedroom is think it's reasonable at 7.

TeaOneSugar · 02/01/2011 13:58

I should say this policy has only been in place for the last year or so , at 4 the situation would have been very different.

SummerRain · 02/01/2011 14:21

mine are 6 next month, 4 and almost 2 and the vast majority of their toys are in their bedrooms. All toys brought downstairs are brpught up in the evening and they have to help me tidy their rooms before bed (they very quickly become completely impassable if i let it go a night)

The only toys left downstairs are ds2's wheelybug and the ride on fire engine.

We had a toy room downstairs until a few months ago but it's now a study/studio as we needed a space for dp's music equipment and for me to study (OU) and we found when they had the toys there they never played with them in there, they just upended the room and pulled everything around the house whereas with the toys in their rooms they go up there and all three play nicely together.

TeaOneSugar · 02/01/2011 14:27

You definately have to stand firm on putting things away at bedtime (or when they're finshed with as they get older), it needs to become a habit, it becomes harder if you let it slip.

Same applies to DH and his XBOX stuff, magazines etc.

My SIL however (PFB currently in production) on the other hand won't be allowing any toys into the lounge at all, from birth. Looking forward to seing how things develop

SummerRain · 02/01/2011 14:29

Totally agree Tea... I let them get away with it for ages but after just a few weeks of militant night time tidying they're already improving at keeping the rooms tidy and cleaning up as they finish with things (22 month old ds2 not so much obviously, much to ds1's annoyance as they share a room!)

clayre · 02/01/2011 14:35

My dc are 5 & 7 and I only have board games and Lego in the living room, as these would just get lost in their rooms.

JarethTheGoblinKing · 02/01/2011 14:41

Wow.. I think I'm going to take note of all you lot and shift some of DS's crap toys up to his room - our lounge is currently a bombsite of plastic crap!

SantaPawz · 02/01/2011 16:15

DD(4) has a toy chest, building blocks (duplo), doll house and a few jigsaws in sitting room. The rest of her toys are upstairs under her bed. All toys are put way before bed. She puts them away, I take out and organise, put right bit with right bits when she is sleeping slighly OCD

Those Ikea storage things look good. Might get a few of those.

Orissiah · 02/01/2011 16:30

Our lounge is quite large so we keep all of 2.5yr old DD's nice-looking wooden toys there (eg Honeybake cooker, tool bench, wooden piano, building bricks and some nice soft toys, then all the ugly plastic cr*p goes into storage boxes that fit in with the living room decor or in her bedroom. As she gets older I assume more of her toys will migrate to her room.

MrsDmitriTippensKrushnic · 02/01/2011 16:38

Once the DCs were in full-time school all their toys were relegated to the bedroom, and were brought out and then put away as needed (which isn't to say I don't find odd dolls and bakugan wedged under sofa cushions all the damn time) The only things that aren't (but tbh, I don't count them as toys as such) are the consoles, which live in the living room, and board games. Board games don't survive intact in bedrooms, so all of them live on top of the bookshelves.

Orissiah · 03/01/2011 09:44

Out of interest, for those parents who store most of their DCs' toys in their bedrooms - do you have problems with them stalling bedtime or getting up in night/early to play?

SummerRain · 03/01/2011 15:08

Not here.... part of the bedtime routine is tidying up their rooms and we're fairly strict with the older two... I don't mind if their awake in bed playing quietly but any noisiness or getting out of bed isn't allowed.

It's great in the mornings as whoever wakes up first just plays in their room rather than waking their siblings.

gorionine · 03/01/2011 15:11

I have 4 dcs between 11yo and 4 yo the living room is played in with toys but once the game is finished the tous have to go back to their bedroom. I really have not enough space to store toys downstairs as well as upsatairs in their room.

Orissiah, I never had that happening once (DCs waking up to play in the middle of the night to play).

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