Page 2 | Is it worth trying to organise children's toys?

Bumperrlicious · 2011-01-31T11:27:34+00:00

Just going through my 3 yo toy boxes and trying separate things out a bit, but I wonder if I am fighting a losing battle? Is it worth organising her toys or just having a cull every now and then? What things do you keep separate?

Stillchuckingit · 02/02/2011 10:08

oo yes

forgot to add

we have totally separate art & craft cupboard too - don't want to get those mixed up with toys - oh no - that spells glitter and PVA gloop disaster ...

montmartre · 02/02/2011 10:56

Trofast is spectacularly ugly though...

We have an oldfashioned cupboard (maidsaver type) which has toys in the bottom, and all the craft stuff at the top (out of toddler's reach)

We have 2 boxes that I switch around, and lots of ikea samla boxes (with lids) for cars, teaset/pans, play food, spacemen, haba blocks, trainset etc etc.

The duplo is all in one massive box together (but after this week-birthday- will need a bigger box I fear)

It's not ideal, but it is easy for them to get their things out...

Really id like the storage from GLTC or something like that, but no space

Gentleness · 03/02/2011 22:33

Reading this with interest. So far with just my 16mo son we have a box for hard toys and a box for soft toys and a shelf for puzzles, boxed things etc. I need a strategy for when ds2 arrives and I have 2 ages of kid's toys to manage!

What I want to know is whether my idea of using big ziplock bags for puzzle pieces is just time-wasting nonsense or really worth it. Ds has free access to all the toys and stuff gets scattered so I need a realistic level of evening tidying (given that I am quite lazy) or I'll just not bother...

youngjoly · 04/02/2011 19:20

We have this one from Argos

Its not pretty, but can be painted and you can put pretty boxes inside which improves the look.

with two girls, we have a box for barbie, a second box for polly pocket, one for dressing up, one for board games and so on....

I find it does help us to keep on top of toys and in fairness to the girls all their boardgames have still got all their pieces and so on. I think that's pretty impressive given how untidy I am :)

ilovedjasondonovan · 04/02/2011 19:30

Shoe boxes are also good for storing bits and bobs.

We have 2 girls and show boxes get used for polly pocket and small dolls in 1, ponies in another etc.

Easy to pack away and they know which boxes have what in them.

notquitenormal · 04/02/2011 19:36

We have this seagrass chest in the living room. We put a nice tea tray on it and use as a coffee table in the evenings.

And I have a small sideboard which is full of trofast boxes of books/puzzles etc..

And there are a couple of underbed storage boxes and an ikea popup basket full of teddy's in DS's room

The only thing that doesn't have a home is the lego box.

littleducks · 04/02/2011 19:56

We have trofast, after MN recommendations, we have the step and the just above waist height one. It may not be a thing of beauty but its in the kids room so I dont care!

Its quite simple to split the toys we have:

1 medium box trains
1 huge box duplo
2 medium boxes cars/vehicles
1 medium box plastic teaset
1 tray size one 'figures' of people/animals
2 trays puzzles
1 tray colouring books, paper

Then i have sticklebricks/dr set in boxes on top and dd has a huge dolls house with all its accessories inside

JarethTheGoblinKing · 04/02/2011 19:59

We have Trofast and I wish we'd bough Expedit instead.. so much nicer looking and good for bigger toys and books as well. If kids are little you can move the messy toys to one of the high up shelves (evil, moi?) and can easily rotate stuff around so they don't get bored.

SingingSands · 04/02/2011 20:06

We have Expedit because I think the Trofast system looks cheap and ugly (despite it being anything but cheap, go figure...).

We have two Expedit shelves with 8 squares in the playroom (one vertical, one horizontal) with the bottom four squares in each filled in with pull out box storage.

DD has a 4 square Expedit shelving unit in her bedroom with 4 boxes and another 8 shelve unit waiting to be built (do get a move on, DH....)

Starbear · 04/02/2011 21:21

Reading this with interest Love the small box for random stuff. DS mainly plays with Lego but, in a battle or a trip to the moon (he is 6) everything is used Dinosaurs, marbles, matchbox cars, Playmobil, all at once. DH does not understand that Lego goes in one basket and Playmobil in another so when helping Ds to tidy it gets throw into any old box
But books, craft, pencils, pens and games go on shelves. So the only thing I sort into it's own box/basket is matchbox cars (I love them) and his wooden train set.
About to have a really big cull of the seagrass basket in the dining room

steppemum · 04/02/2011 21:53

we definitely sort toys. We have boxes for the train set, lego, dolls etc. Then shelves for boxed toys and puzzles.

ds (oldest) has lots of his stuff upstairs and dd2 (youngest) has most of hers downstairs.

I find that when I have a good tidy up and sort out then the dcs play with everything more and better. They will suddenly "rediscover" the kitchen, or the duplo.

I think it is really sad for kids to have it all jumbled. It means that when they want to play with something the bits aren't all there to hand.

art and craft stuff is seperate and they are not allowed without asking (this is because my dcs are dangerous with feltpens)

Starbear · 04/02/2011 22:06

steppemum I think I agree but only have time to do this every few months. Maybe I'll block MN and spend more time sorting and training DS. But now thinking about it his toys are too random to sort into small compartments.

NormanTheForeman · 04/02/2011 22:12

Starbear - am that Lego can be mixed with Playmobil!

Btw am usually SoMuchToBits, have namechanged for various threads. But recognise you from 2009 advent calendar thread. Hope you are well!

JarethTheGoblinKing · 04/02/2011 22:12

I can't imagine NOT sorting toys.

Just thing.. Playmobil in with Fisher Price and Duplo, ELC Happy Land in with tat from CBeebies Magazines.. Jigsaws without their boxes..

systemsaddict · 04/02/2011 22:17

Jareth what you describe is my world - we have about 12 large and 25 small baskets of randomly mixed chaos .... I do not recommend this approach!!

JarethTheGoblinKing · 04/02/2011 23:01

ARGH! Tell me not of these things! Off to Ikea to purchase a 2 x 4 Expedit! Go!

TaperJeanGirl · 04/02/2011 23:47

Toys are my personal hell....we are in the middle (day 4!) of swapping 2 dds into my big bedroom to share with ds, while I get their small room and we have been a laid out for trofast and lots of storage type stuff, I TRY and keep toys neatly sorted, I put all lego/megablocks in one lidded box, all playmobil in various sized lidded boxes, all brio in lidded box, cars in another, toy story in another, dolls house furniture in another, nintendo ds's and games in a drawer, everything else gets shoved into many more boxes and moved around the house, I have a very high/unable to be opened by small people cupboard for my most hated toys, these include moon sand/playdoh/ALL craft stuff/magnetix,and anything that makes annoying repetitive noises, these come out usually when I have managed to farm out at least 1 child, or when the dds stay with their nan they get to take a said hated toy

JarethTheGoblinKing · 04/02/2011 23:54

Taper - first tip? DITCH the moon sand. It is the work of the devil.

Lego and Megablocks can't possibly go in the same box? They don't fit?
(sorry. I am actually OCD)

When friends have been here I have to empty out all the boxes and sort them into their relevant categories. It's very important.

SchrodingersCatFliesToOz · 05/02/2011 17:37

Jareth I have expedit in the living room an dtrofast in DD1's bedroom. It is nice there as a book shelf (no plastic drawer) and it makes a bench too.

MoreFruitLoopthanFruitShoot · 05/02/2011 18:03

We have trofast - but gah! so ugly. So have traded up to Lazzari from GLTC. It holds a surprisingly large amount and looks much nicer, but I'm loving the Expedit suggestions.

We have ruthlessly organised toys in each dc's room:

Sylvanian
Barbies
Puppy in my pocket
Schleich animals
Wooden animals (what - you think that's overorganised? )
Playmobil

Lego
Playmobil
Hot Wheels
Knights/dragons
Marine Animals
Reptiles (I know, it looks bad doesn't it)
Dinosaurs

Games are kept separately downstairs, as is the craft stuff.

I like organisation

Starbear · 05/02/2011 20:47

I'm a 60's kid and for Mum, toys were easy to tidy. Cooker and doll for me and cars for my brother. Then she got silly and had two more in the 70's with more money and more to buy. My Brother and sister's room (they shared as my other brother & me couldn't get on with them)
I remember being told to clean their room yukky Playdoh at the bottom with grit and hair stuck on it. Yukky. They had far too many toys & Mum just couldn't cope so never went in to their room just sent me. She nearly had a breakdown when I went on a geography trip for a week as not only did I clean their room I also put them to bed!

CrispyCakeHead · 05/02/2011 21:23

We've got some of those plastic drawer units from the DIY shop....even less pretty than trofast, but they are mostly in the kids rooms and serve a purpose as the drawers hold quite a lot.

DS1s toys are pretty organised, lego, action man, transformers, bionicles, army stuff all in separate drawers ana all in his room. He has a small box that comes down during the day, but it goes back with him at night.

Downstairs is full of DD and DS2s toys and sorting it is a losing battle. Every so often I sort it out, but two days later and chaos reigns supreme again. I'm in the process of trying to get it all up in their room as at 3.5 and 2 they are OK unsupervised for short periods so if I can keep it out of the sitting room then WooHoo.

I desperately need to cull as I go though, but never seem to have the time without one or ither of them there to have screaming hissy fits at what is being sent to the children who have no toys!

How's DD2 bumper? (tis Daisy btw )

steppemum · 05/02/2011 21:25

Although I do sort (and think my dcs play better when they are sorted) I am really sad by houses where they are made to put away one toy before the next comes out. You know - the wooden train set has to go away before the playmobile comes out - that is so killing to creativity. My ds used to build a railway and then drag out the lego to make houses, and then find the dinosaurs to attack....

I generally (actually I've closed the door on the toys from today, too tired to deal with them) but generally I get the kids to help me put away at lunch time and bedtime, unless it is a game they are still busy with.

If you pick up the car box and say - lets put all the cars away- then even small children can quickly learn to do it, and then it isn't left all to you.

Another idea is to rotate toys so they aren't all available all the time, so they can't tip out everything all the time.

systemsaddict · 06/02/2011 05:50

Good point steppemum, this is why ours are all mixed up. They never make the jigsaws, the jigsaw pieces are always tickets for the bus that they have built out of soft toys, etc etc ... it all gets mixed up very quickly! I shall just try and focus on the creativity rather than the chaos! Can't imagine how it would be even possible to put one toy away before another comes out, I'd have to be hovering over them all the time like some kind of toy surveillance bot ...

ragged · 06/02/2011 06:04

I mostly just bung them all together into nearest toy storage box. It bothers me (I normally love organising things), but it gets me even more down to have GroundHog Day, the same sorting out of the same toys day in, day out.

Lego is one big exception, it's too valuable to treat so casually, iyswim. Sporadically I sort some of the toy boxes properly.

Culling is a nightmare, because DD notices. She often asks about the whereabouts of items I gave to charity shop years ago (without telling her, of course). She doesn't forget and she is still fond of them.

Chief problems I have in getting DC to tidy up is "I didn't get it out", "That's not mine", "I don't care if you throw it away", "X has to help because they were playing with it too", "No I wasn't, it was Y!". If you're really strict about tidying, they will also screech hysterically at anybody who gets out their favourite toys because they're too lazy to tidy, but they don't really want me to throw it away/into the loft, etc., either. This is particularly awkward when the child being screeched at is a visiting guest.

So very often it's faster for me to sweep a space clear than try to track down the child who got the stuff out, too.