Stuff (toys) everywhere, can't keep up. How to manage this chaos?!

[Jemster]

My living room is a fair size but it's just constantly cluttered with 'stuff' mostly belonging to ds 7 & dd 2.5. I just cannot keep up with tidying it, as soon as I attempt it I turn round and they've got something else out. DS 7 never tidies up and if I ask him to he huffs & puffs about it. I realise this is our fault as we've never been strict enough about putting things away.
Dd 2.5 is better as she has learnt to tidy up at the childminders but even so she will happily empty a basket if stuff and just wander off to something else.

My dh was away last night and I've been downstsirs with both dc since 6.30am. The room looks like we've been burgled!!

The main problem seems to be they are both in to different things and they both don't seem to be able to play with one thing for more than 5-10 mins at a time before getting bored. They literally leave a trail of destruction behind them for example this morning they have played:
Hospitals with every soft toy in the house, loo roll used as bandages!
Toy food out to feed hospital patients!
Duplo
Lego - all over the table
Colouring - pens all over table
Blankets for dens dropped
Chocolate coin maker - attempted until I removed and put on shelf until everything else tidied up
Toddler books
Dvd's - cases lying around
Puppets for puppet show

On top of this they want drinks/snacks and there's barely room to put these in table so they wander off with them.

While they're making all this mess I'm trying to tidy up kitchen, sort washing, get breakfast etc. I am becoming very irritable & shouty with them because I can't bear the mess and am sick of following them round trying to tidy up. Poor dd even said to me earlier no need to shout mummy and I felt very upset.

Please can other people tell me how you manage dc of this age and all their stuff? Perhaps I need to chill out and accept this is how it is while they are young? Thanks for reading, very long!

I've got a 2.5 and a 11month old so things can get outta hand quick in my livingroom lol

It might sound mean but the way I manage is my 2.5 yr old chooses which box of toys he wants in the livingroom ie Lighting Mc queen cars, trains, blocks etc. Once he's done with them it swaps around to another box.

The baby just has one big toybox so its easy for her stuff just to be chucked back in, I rotate her sit on toys, walkers etc too.

Wine and chocolate. 'Tis the only solution.

And a slot built into the end of every day for tidy up time. We even had special tidy up music for a while. The 'one box at a time' thing has never been right for us as I think their best play happens when stuff get mixed up, but when we get to the stage where we can't see the floor, I do insist something is tidied away before anything else comes out. Generally.

I think it's easier with the younger one because attention span is small and you can pack away each night. With my 2 (5 and 7) I have relaxed about the nightly tidying because a game can last several days. But ideally it would just be one thing left out on each flat surface

Meant to say, for your sanity try to think of it as something they will be tidying, not your problem as such. Drinks and snacks - set rules. I have been known to hold back a meal until the floor is clear. Not in a shouty way, just in a routine dinner-comes-after-tidying way. I may be too mean but the structure helps avoid it becoming an issue.

Mum of three, a 5, 2.5 and 9 months, it's a nightmare I find it easier to leave it a mess then when they are in bed pour a nice glass of g&t then throw it all in boxes... Not much help to you but I have given up I just do my other jobs around the house while they are playing ( making a mess) I used to follow them around tidying but now... The house is tidy between 7:30 pm and 7:30 am that's all I'm prepared to guarrantee

This is normal. There are ways to reduce the mess but the most sensible one is to minimise the number of toys kept in there, and have a good clear up at the end of the day once the kids are in bed (you can also do a bit of superficial tidying with them before they head off to get ready for bed, but you will probably need to finish it off later).