This week we have something your kids will love and one you can feel good about. A cake they can’t eat! Haa! But they will enjoy endless hours of fun decorating The Twinkle Ocean Cake Kit with more than 50 pieces of creatures from the ocean that they love. The wool felt pieces magically stick to the 3-tier designer cake (your kids being the designer!). It comes in a white cake box tied with bakery twine and everything! I love toys like this, ones that are not messy, fosters imagination, no assembly needed and does not require batteries.
To enter, give your best advice on how to keep toys neat and organized! I admit, this is more for me =) Please put your advice in comments by Friday April 11 at 11:59pm EST. One entry per person, please. You must include your email address so I can contact you if you win. One winner will be chosen at random. Good luck and have fun!
Thank you Twinkle Kids for sponsoring this giveaway! Check out their website to see all the different cakes and gingerbread house!
This isn’t my idea, but I read about it and thought it was fantastic! Hang a shoe rack over the back of your kids door for small toys (barbies, lego parts, etc). You can even label the pockets, but I guarantee the labels would never be followed! 🙂
The girl is at the age where she is really curious about words and starting Dick and Jane books. We’ve updated the phone’s built-in phonebook so she can read the names…she thinks she is hot stuff since she can tell who is calling. We bought some containers for her room and labeled them with words she can recognize (photo boxes with the words “photos” and “art”, totes with the words “games” “books” and “dolls”, a paper storage box for coloring pages with “paper” labeled, and a smaller container with the tag “crayons”.
because of limited space, we’ve been storing our daughter’s toys and stuff in storage ottomans. they blend with our existing furniture.
Plenty of clear storage bins, clearly labelled with pictures for the different kinds of toys!! If the bins are all the same size and color, they don’t look as utilitarian!
I have a hard time keeping things neat. My best advice is to have shelves that the kids can take individual toys off of. This eliminates the digging for toys out of a box and then the inevitable throwing out all toys or spilling the entire contents because the prized toy is at the bottom of the box.
To keep sets of toys together use bins.
I wish I had some more ideas. I can’t wait to read other solutions.
My best advice is when the kids are gone, bag up about half the toys,(not their favorites) and put them in the attic for a month.Repeat the next month, bringing the stored ones down.This cuts down on half the clutter. When you bring them back down they will seem like new to the kids. This only works on toddlers.
We put toys in clear plastic bins and pictures/words of the items on it and then put them on bookshelves. I got the idea when I was working in the schools.
We use canvas storage bins on the lower shelf of a book shelf. That way, when my 2 year old wants to play with something, it’s manageable enough for her to pull off the shelf and quick and easy to clean up and put on the shelf at the end of play time.
Keep some of the toys in boxes/containers up in the closet, where they can’t reach them. Then every once in a while trade the toys out. they play with the toys more if they have less out
I use organizer bins (we got a “Cars” theme one, since that is my 3-yr-old son’s favorite movie… It has 9 separate bins and a 3-level shelf set to store them on.) Keep similar types of toys in each, i.e. balls in one bin, small cars in another, dinosaurs in another. The rule is only one bin dumped out at a time, have to clean it up and put it away before getting out another bin! Doesn’t always work of course, but it gets the best results of anything I’ve tried.
My husband and I recently decided we would take half of our daughter’s toys and put them into storage (boxes in the garage or our storage unit). When our 4yr old daughter seems to tire of her toys around the house, we switch out the played-out stash with the stored stash so that the toys seem new. the perks include extra room around the house, half the mess and less money being spent on (new) toys.
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Get the kids involved! They add extra hands to the job and it teaches them how to be responsible for their own things. Make it easier with lots of baskets and labels. My 3 year old’s motto when it comes to cleaning is “organize, organize, organize.” He is my best little helper!
1)Lots of big plastic bins.
2)Rotate the toys so there is less to clean up. Also the kids will not get bored with the same toys all the time.
3)Get the kids involved in clean up.
4)Limit play area to specific area(s).
My trick is that I have toys all over the place! I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but here’s my method and logic:
No matter where my daughter is in the house (except my bedroom – that’s MINE!) we have a drawer, shelf or box that’s just for her. So if she want’s to play in the kitchen, she doesn’t bring toys in from her room; there already there! It makes it so much easier to put things away, too, because it’s in the same room!
Straighten up and put away toys,books, etc. before another activity. Sing Barney’s “Clean up, Clean Up” song to make it into a game. The kids love singing while putting the toys away.
We use bin but in different colors and sizes. That way I can tell my girls the cars go in the red bin or to remember that play dishes go in the clear bin. Also keeping them in a bin makes it easier to carry those toys into the kitchen when I am cooking dinner. I keep the bin under the bed so that they can get the toys and put them away themselves.
I only have a few toys out at a time so they are played with longer and since there is less to clean up it also is easier
I have large Rubbermaid totes to store toys in and I use a large canvas laundry tote to store stuffed animals in. I hang it on a hook in my daughter’s closet so they’re not all over the place although she does have a few “special” ones for her bed.
Sort and store small toys in see-thru mesh bags from KidsKlutterKatchers.com (a safer and greener alternative to zippered plastic bags). Makes better use of the space within the storage totes, bins, ottomans, etc.