Help me set up my playroom!

amother

Tue, Jun 07 2022, 1:21 am

IY"H I'm finally going to have a playroom! I never had one before, and my living room was always a mess. We kept toys in bins (some with lids, some without) along the perimeter of the room.

I would love to get deep shelves or closets, but I need something that isn't costly AND something I can buy online.

I also need something for my kids to help them/motivate them to keep the room neat. They are all under 7 and do NOT help clean up.

I don't know if I should get a closet that locks and only take out one toy at a time. I feel like that's so strict and mean, but I really want a nice, neat(ish) playroom.

Advice? Hints? Tips? Links?

Anything would be appreciated! TIA

Heyaaa

Tue, Jun 07 2022, 2:04 am

Go through and purge. Anything that isn’t a complete set or good condition, get rid of. Make sure you have empty space on every shelf. If it’s a puzzle to put things away then kids won’t do it. Get shallow storage, not deep. If kids have to deal with something in the front in order to reach something in the back then they won’t want to put it away. Anything that has too many small pieces is annoying to put away. Too many toys that fulfill the same function are also a waste of space.

What kind of toys do you have?

Heyaaa

Tue, Jun 07 2022, 2:17 am

https://www.amazon.com/Humble-.....410bb

What’s good about this:
It looks decent for a living room.
There are baskets so kids can take them out and carry them around the room when it’s time to clean up
No covers (an extra step with cleaning) but you still don’t see the mess inside
Many different sizes

What’s not good:
It’s not stackable so if you want more storage it will need to be side by side and not vertical.
Canvass may not last more than 1-2 years

My personal suggestion is that if you find that it’s not enough then buy at most 2 of these and if things don’t fit then, rather then buying more storage, get rid of toys.
Also, don’t put too many different toys in the same basket. If you have little Lego’s and play mobile and little race cars then the kids will need to dump out the entire basket of 100 pieces in order to play with what they want. Either commit to play mobile or Lego and get rid of the others

. A drawer should be separated by type, not by size of the items inside. So cars can go with menchies and toy animals becuase they’re used together but if they’re with play mobiles then it gets overwhelming for the kids both to play with and to put away.

amother

Turquoise

Tue, Jun 07 2022, 3:04 am

I like clear or translucent plastic bins (so I can see at a glance if they are empty) with labels. I currently have an Ikea Trofast system with all white bins (I know it's not so popular but don't know why) and a few large but shallow (28 qt?) bins to slide under the couch.

As long as the toys have clear categories and the boxes are clearly labeled, I find that it's very easy to put them all away. As Heyaaa said, I also like being able to carry the boxes around the room and easily put them away.

Also, the only boxes I have with lids are the ones with toys with small pieces, or games. Those I keep in closed boxes up on a shelf and preferably out of sight. I find that lids make it harder to put away toys so I avoid them unless necessary. I've also used plastic drawers in the past but they are hard to open and close so they add an extra step to cleanup, and an extra step can mean the difference between yes put away and not put away.

I label them with the name of the toy written clearly and a photo so that even pre-readers know what belongs where.

In case it helps, here are my toy categories.

In the Trofast system I have:
Mega Blocks, Magnatiles, Mentchies, food toys, dress up

In my big bins I have:
Duplo, wooden blocks, cars, dolls, balls, stuffed toys/puppets

In closed boxes I have:
Lego, tangrams, card games, games

I also have on a shelf:
Doll house, doll stroller, doll crib, Perplexus, bilibo toy

Here are some of my labels:

Also worth adding, some kids are better at putting away than others, naturally. It's still good to make it as easy as possible to put them away and then you can encourage it frequently, or make a game out of putting away at least 20 toys etc.

ora_43

Tue, Jun 07 2022, 3:47 am

Agree with Heyaa and amother-turquoise, you want to prioritize making it as easy as possible to put toys away. Clear boxes and labels so kids can see what goes where, everything within reach, no lids on bins or bins behind bins or anything else that's going to add a step to the process.

And of course making sure that everything has a home. Anything that defies categorization (not a lego, not a block, not a doll...) is probably going to end up on the floor. If bins are too full things will end up on the floor.

After that it's just making reasonable rules and enforcing them. Eg all toys have to be cleaned up at a certain time every day. Old toys have to be put away before new ones are taken out. Etc.