Toy Storage/Organization/Picking Up

We use to clean up where we put certain toys in this bin, etc. We've stopped. We put certain things in their containers, but most of the toys just go in bins. End of story. It takes less than 5 minutes for the two of us (my three year old and me) to get the playroom picked up. We pick up her room three times a day, after getting dressed in the morning, after she and her 1 year old brother trash it, and then before bed. Again, I just have bins we throw everything in.

It's working. It needs organizational help, but at least my floors are clean!

Oh, I so feel for you!! We bought two cube storage units for our playroom. Most of the cubbies have the canvas type bins in them (sort of creates an out of site out of mind effect :) My two don't pull out nearly as much at a time since we bought the bins. I got a bunch of the bins at Kmart a couple of weeks ago for $3 each--paid $7 for them at Lowes, anyway) I had my daughter, 4, help with the organization. She decided what to sort in each bin.

About a month ago, I'd had enough with the toys getting out of hand and having to clean up the mess, so I (it's going to sound mean) asked her to clean up and she didn't I brought a trash can over and calmly threw away a couple of junk kid meal toys. She was shocked! After the tears, I told her that if she didn't care enough about her toys to put them away, I'd get rid of them. It was very effective. I only had to do it twice. Now when I ask her to pick up, she actually does it! Amazing!!

In my case dad picks up at the end of the evening. I don't even go in there until he's finished. I do not clean up after him. It's his responsibility to watch the kids and he let them make a mess. But then I am just that way.

Go buy some storage bins that will fit under the beds. Our 7 yr. old has a day bed and several of the taller tubs fit perfectly, we can fit to about 8-10 of them. The 4 yr. old has a twin bed so he gets the ones that have rollers on them and are rather flat. We have to put his bed up on blocks to raise it up a bit but we can fit 2 of those under there. They are heavy so he can't really pull them out. If the 7 yr. old pulls any tubs out she loses many privileges. We also have her off season clothes in tubs under her beds too.

I finally gave up and made a bedroom in our home a "toy room" that can be closed and out of sight out of mind lol! I don't have any great advice because my house is the same way except my younger one is 2 so she isn't much help. Polly pocket and tiny legos are the worst, of course these are my 5 and 6 year old's favorite things. We do make them clean up both bedrooms before they can do certain things, like play the wii, play the DS etc. We have a shelf with small rubbermaid bins that are labeled with pictures, so when the 2 year old is productive during clean up time on those rare occasions, she knows where stuff goes. I do always feel like it is never-ending though...

I feel the same way! And I only have one three year old:-). I do rotate his toys and it doesn't take too much storage. He has a little playspace in the family room so I keep a couple boxes of toys out of the way on the top shelf of the pantry (could you use garage?). I do the same for his bedroom upstairs in a big duffle bag on top shelf of closet. The other thing I just started doing which I wish I started from day 1 is swap a huge garbage bag full of toys with a friend who has son same age, that way they kids are getting "new" toys but you're not bringing anything else in the house. Curious to see what other tips you get...

My kids are still younger than yours, so I think sanity for me might be a few years away. We do have toy bins, but one thing I did was give up on the idea of keeping the bins too organized. I used to keep cars in one, farm animals in one, figures in another ... now I'm just happy when the toys are not on the floor.

I love the way they play creatively, finding new and different uses for the toys and putting them together in different ways, that's awesome I wouldn't limit that. Try making the clean-up fun, I sometimes make a game out of it. Say Let's play the color game! pick up everything red, blue, etc.. or make it a contest, see how many little people you can pick up in one minute, ready..GO!

I highly recommend the Tidy Bug. The Tidy Bug is a scoop that makes it FUN for kids to pick up toys and pour them back into their containers. They scoop up the toys into the TidyBug's open "mouth". My kids fight over it. What kid doesn't like to scoop and pour. I just say "go get Tidy Bug" and they do. It's great for picking up small items like legos, polly pockets, blocks, cars, etc.... It teaches them responsibility for picking up their toys, but does it in a fun way. Makes the job doable, and not so overwhelming when it comes to the small toy pieces. You can call toll free 1-888-988-8683 to order. Good luck!

I have a rack with bins and two separate plastic huge bins (one has only Toy Story stuff which we have a lot of). There are always toys out so at least once a day, we have a race to see how many things we can pick up. Needless to say, I let my 4 year old win and give him a high five for being the winner of the clean-up. That's all it takes for him. Sometimes when it is too messy, I have to tell him we have to clear stuff away so we have places to play. I have a closet with two shelves of games and things that pile well. I think your 3 year old will get better at it soon but your 6 year old should be part of the regular clean-up, just make it a game or kind of fun so she's motivated. Good luck--I think every mom struggles with sanity about toys strewn everywhere!

My daughter is only two, so I'm not sure if this applies. We rotate toys - I have large rubbermaid containers that I keep a lot of her toys in in the basement. When she seems to be getting bored with her current toys I swap some out. As for toy storage/organization, I use lots of large bins and we just throw all the toys in there. When kids have to group the "right" toys together it becomes an overwhelming job. If they just throw everything into a bin - well, that they can do.

My girls got a toy organizer for Christmas. It has 3 shelves with 12 bins. I think it's selling for $60 at Target right now; we got it on sale right before Christmas for $27. I like it a lot. I'm very particular on things being sorted because otherwise my girls (ages - 4 1/2, 3 and almost 2) complain they can't find certain little pieces later on. So, they can take a bin out and play with it, but I make them responsible to put the right pieces away or they'll be the ones looking through the bins later when they want/need something. Of course, my almost 2 yr old doesn't do so well with the sorting, but she is aware of which bins she can play with - none with the small POlly pocket or littlest pet shop pieces. So, that helps for her toys, too.
I don't rotate toys; I go through the girls' toys every couple of months and give away the ones they haven't played with in those months....which always tends to be more than I imagined. They are constantly getting new toys from people and Grandma :) for birthdays, holidays, etc....so, it's not like their toy collection is dwindling....ever!
I do help them pick up when they've made a huge mess with my youngest, but if it's just a bin or 2, I let them know they made the mess so they can pick it up. My helping with the big messes is just because my youngest doesn't quite get the sorting system.
At preschool, I know they have to pick up after themselves, so I think it's only fair that they do that here in their home, too
Good luck. Toys can be so frustrating sometimes! :)