Kid's Room Ideas – Organizing your Child's Playroom
If you have had enough of your child's playroom looking like a disaster area, it's time to jump in and organize it. These ideas will help you conquer the clutter and get your kid's room organized.
The first step is to sort through the toys and other items taking up space. Gather them all in one spot and begin filtering them in to 5 categories and dealing with them appropriately. It's best to do this on a day when your child is not at home.
- Broken – Throw it away
- Never used – Donate to your local preschool, church or charity organization like Goodwill
- Outgrown – As above or give to younger sibling, friend or relative
- Not age appropriate – Store in basement or attic until child is old enough
- Popular – Sort and organize in to related piles. Action figures, puzzles, vehicles, books etc.
Put items from category 1 in the trash and 2, 3 and 4 in separate storage totes. Label the storage totes and take the recommended action for those categories.
Category 5 items should now be separated by similarity. If the number of items is still overwhelming, don't despair. Take 1/3 to 1/2 of the items from category 5 and put those in a storage bin. Put these things away in storage and when a few months go by, swap the stored items with items that are in your child's bedroom.
Adding and subtracting from the clutter maintains a sense of newness to your child's playthings. What's old is new again.
Next step: Get the remaining piles organized
Use small storage containers, preferably clear plastic and fill each one with non-breakable like items. Label each container with the contents and put them in the closet or around the perimeter of the room. A common solution is to use huge storage containers to organize playrooms. This will only cause frustration for the child trying to find a toy and for the parent when they see the contents of the large storage container dumped out on to the floor. Toy boxes are also typical storage solutions for kid's bedrooms but once again, will the playroom stay organized if 90% of the toys are taken out of the toy box to find that one special item at the bottom?
Invest in a sturdy bookshelf that cannot be knocked over and store any books, photo albums and coloring books on these shelves. Be sure to use a bookshelf that is low enough for your child to access. If there is room on the shelf you'll want to use small plastic storage containers with lids to store art and craft supplies. The main goal of organizing your child's room is to give them room to play. Sturdy shelves are a good way to keep things visible and within reach but off the floor.
If wall space is limited, try using canvas shoe bags and attach them to the wall or over the door. They are soft and provide lots of pockets for little toys and another benefit, you can rotate toys from top to bottom to keep the selection fresh.
Sort and label
Every box in the playroom should be labeled. If your child is too young to read, cut out pictures to tape on the box that will help identify their contents. Your child will associate the image on the box with what's inside.
It's never too early for your child to learn to put things back from where they originated. Next time you visit your child's classroom, look at how it's organized. Almost all of the toys and supplies are labeled both with a word and an image for quick recognition. It will make it easy for your kids to find things and also teach them where each thing belongs so they can put them away by their selves. If a label doesn't stick to your container, attach luggage tags to the container.
Hang it up
Hooks will come in handy as an easy way for them to hang up costumes, hats and backpacks. You can also use canvas bags to store toys which can easily hang from hooks.
Play centers
Try to group similar playthings together and designate certain areas for playing with those toys. For example, keep all of the play food next to the play kitchen and all of the trains near the train tracks.
Art supplies should also be kept together in one place. An old table can be used for their creative endeavors and gives them a spot in the playroom where they have permission to get a little messy. Keep an apron or big t-shirt nearby to protect their clothes and an old rag close at hand for clean-ups. Having all the art supplies in one area keeps the rest of the playroom neater.
Another good play center is a reading area. Put a bean bag chair or small child's chair near the book shelf and remind them to put the book back on its shelf before getting out a new one to read.
Final Tips:
- Keep things simple so your kids can clean up when they are done playing. As an example of simplicity, keep all doll-related items in a medium container instead of 3 separate containers, one for doll shoes, one for doll clothing and one for doll fashion accessories.
- Toys that don't fit in a logical category can simply be divided into "Big Toys" and "Little Toys" and they each have their own container. Don't be too concerned if your child doesn't put everything away exactly as you would, the important thing is that they are cleaning up after themselves.
- Your child's artistic creations can overwhelm your best efforts at organization. You can have a specific e display area where you can hang their best work a few weeks and when the opportunity presents itself, sneak it into the recycling bin and replace it with a new creation.
- Teach your children from an early age that cleaning up their playroom is their responsibility. At least 2 to 3 times per week have them put everything back where it belongs.
