Prevent a Toypocalypse and Organize Your Kid’s Toy Room

Does your child have his or her own dedicated playroom? If your child is particularly young, then you’ll soon find out that the playroom isn’t big enough for your little tyke’s growing imagination. Soon you’ll start seeing toys in places like the kitchen, office, or living room. This is an example of a “toypocalypse,” and it needs to be stopped.

If your child has a dedicated playroom, there should be no reason for their clutter to seep into the other areas of the house. Simply adding storage containers to the room won’t remedy the problem if there isn’t a system in place for using them properly.

Divide and conquer

To tackle this problem, start with a house wide toy cleanup of the toys. It’s recommended that you separate these toys into two or more sections of the playroom, since having only a single area to store toys will create a mess when your child looks for a specific toy. Spreading the toys out will reduce the overall clutter, because your child will know exactly where to find what he or she wants. Try and devise a system that is tailored to the way your child plays.

Repurpose other furniture

Next, think about what you don’t utilize in the rest of your home, such as a bookcase with books that you haven’t read in ages. Those books can be donated and given to someone who will make good use of them. As for the bookcase itself, incorporate it into the playroom and use it to store and display your child’s favorite toys. If you never found yourself using your bookshelf, chances are your child will utilize it much more. It’s all about living in the moment.

Maintain a schedule

Lastly, create a schedule for children to put away and maintain items in their playroom. Believe it or not, children really love following a clean up system, especially if you praise them for doing a good job. An example of a good time would be every four days so that cleanup opportunities aren’t too frequent or too few.

Get them started while they’re young, organization is a great skill to cultivate.

Got a little one on the way? Check out our free guide Baby’s First Room.